War Photographer Key Quotes

"In his darkroom he is finally alone."

"In his darkroom he is finally alone."

• The darkroom is where the photos are developed but it is also dark due to the nature of the photos

"spools of suffering set out"

• Alliteration of 's' sounds conveys the photographer's sadness

• Transferred epithet suggests that he is suffering

"The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass."

• Red symbolises the blood of the people in the pictures

• Also symbolises the sanctuary light of a church

• The photographer takes his job seriously - it is almost a religion to him (which links back to the red sanctuary light)

• He is preparing to pass on his message about war through his photographs by developing them

"Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh."

• The message that war is worldwide is conveyed through the list of the three different places where war has occurred

• Caesuras allow for the individual place names to be emphasised

"All flesh is grass."

• Biblical quote (links back to religious theme of the lines before)

• Conveys that everybody dies and returns to the earth

"Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now."

• The word 'solution' indicates the chemicals used to develop the photos but also suggests that he is trying to solve the problem by raising awareness of the issue

• The photographer is in control when taking the photos but now his emotions are overwhelming him

• Caesura before the line emphasises his hesitation as he prepares himself to do the job

"Rural England."

• He is now detached from the war entirely

• This is a well-to-do area with little suffering

"Home again to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel"

• There is little to complain about as there is no suffering

• The only problem is the weather

• Emphasises just how detached this place is from what he has just witnessed

"to fields which don't explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat."

• Reference to a famous Vietnam war photo

• Emphasises the distance of the war from the people in England

"A stranger's features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half-formed ghost."

• The word 'twist' suggests that the face is in pain or agony

• 'Ghost' suggests that the person is dead but has come back to haunt the photographer

• Soft sounds indicate the picture beginning to form and become clear

"He remembers the cries of this man's wife, how he sought approval without words to do what someone must and how the blood stained into foreign dust."

• The length of this sentence indicates that it is a long and painful memory for the photographer

• Photographer felt he had to take the photo to let people see what really happens during war

• 'Stained' indicates that the photo has left a mark on him

• 'Foreign dust' suggests that the war was far away, again emphasising the distance of England/the UK from the war

• 'Dust' represents the poverty of the country and links back to the message that everybody returns to the earth

"A hundred agonies in black-and-white"

• The picture is full of the pain and agony that war creates

• The photographer is also in agony as he sees the pain of the people (transferred epithet)

• 'Black and white' suggests that what is in the photo (war) is inherently wrong and this is clear to see

"five or six for Sunday's supplement"

• It is not front page news as it should be

• 'Sunday' links back to the religious theme and the idea of the photographer being the priest conducting his sermon - trying to get the message of war across

"The reader's eyeballs prick with tears between bath and pre-lunch beers."

• 'Reader' (singular) indicates that the message has not reached many people

• The reader is close to crying but does not as the sadness doesn't last long

• The reader forgets the pain and agony of the people in the pictures and returns to his day

• 'Prick' does not quite rhyme with the word in the line before it, so the photographer has failed (it almost works but not quite)

"From aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns a living and they do not care."

• The photographer does not feel that England is his home as people do not feel the way he wants them to ("they do not care")

• The rhyme emphasises the ignorance of the people