War Photographer

Who is "War Photographer" written by?

Carol Ann Duffy

What is the context of War Photographer?

• Duffy is friends with two famous war photographers hence why she is interested in the difficulties and responsibilities posed by their role

• The imagery in line 12 is a reference to a famous photo of a Kim Phuc running naked towards the camera in extreme pain after her village was hit by a napalm bomb. The photo was published on the front page of the New York Times and won a Pulitzer Prize (one of journalism's most prestigious awards)

What is the structure of War Photographer?

• Six lines per stanza and a regular rhyme scheme - echoing the care that the photographer takes over his work but as this structure does not change throughout, it can also be interpreted that the war photographer lacks the power to change anything as his work falls upon an unreceptive audience

• Cyclical structure shows the futility of the photographer's attempt to make a change and creates a sense of futile repetition and continuation of past mistakes

What other poems can you link “War Photographer” to?

• Remains (Memory)

• Bayonet Charge (Reality of conflict)

• Checking Out Me History (Anger)

“Rural England…ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”

• Rural England is a place of comfort and safety, contrasting with the earlier quoted war zones. This is forcing the reader to think about how far removed the photographer’s life (and possibly their own life) is from the lives of war victims. The pause before this short sentence forms a caesura, a break which enables the photographer’s thoughts to transfer from developing distressing photographs to the comfort and calm of English countryside

• People who live in comfort endure no real hardship and cannot imagine what life is like for those affected by war. British people often complain about the weather, but this is not true suffering. The words “ordinary pain” is an oxymoron, suggesting that the photographer is turning his back on painful memories and focusing on the day-to-day “pain” of life in a country that is relatively peaceful — problems so mild that they can be solved by a change in the weather

“A hundred agonies in black and white”

• ‘A hundred’ is hyperbolic, an ironically round number, and yet close to reality; designed to shock us. In the process of elimination he has to select those suitable to be seen, rather than those that convey the full truth. Black and white is also an expression of clarity; But this may be ironic; an edited photograph can never express the true experience of those who live through terrible ordeals. The agonies of war are curated for the Sunday supplementary papers - this seems distasteful

• the hyperbolic ‘a hundred agonies’ actually detracts from the suffering during war. ‘Agonies’ is extremely emotive and more severe than mere pain and by putting the words ‘a hundred’ in front of it reduces the suffering of individuals because the readers can’t comprehend what a hundred agonies would be like. There are no names in this poem, ultimately making it harder for the reader to care and sympathise

• ‘Black and white’ is commonly used to describe what is right and wrong, suggesting it should be obvious to the readers that war is morally wrong.

“The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”

• People may be slightly upset by the pictures, but they do nothing to end the wars. The word “prick” refers to the pain felt when pricking one’s finger suggesting fleeting and quickly forgotten about pain. Duffy likens this to the effect the photo has upon the reader (they are apathetic about others’ suffering). Although the photographer hopes to impact the readers' point of view and inspire change, he knows realistically that he will not be making a difference, as the audience is not able to relate to the pictures or see the stories behind them as he can.

• “eyeballs” instead of eyes suggest the act of crying after seeing the photo is almost mechanical, a reflex; the readers don’t have a genuine, non-superficial emotional response. The tears will quickly be placed with beers

• Note the rhyming ‘tears’ and ‘beers’, creating an ironically jogging rhythm like a cosy​ nursery rhyme. Suggests happiness and children which could imply innocence, where the photographer is trying to show the public as being treacherous as they only care about things like first world problems.

“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care”

• It is implied that the photographer is numb to the significance of his task, as are the readers. The word ‘impassively’ reinforces this. Alternatively, it could imply sadness and hopelessness — the photographer may care but he thinks his readers don’t. His work has become meaningless.

• There’s also an irony at play here in the word ‘living" – he earns money and 'lives’ on the back of exploiting those who are not ‘living’ - they are dead.

• The aeroplane is the means whereby the photographer is flown from assignment to assignment. He has taken his pictures and can move on physically, but the subjects in his pictures have no aeroplane, no means of escape. There is no aeroplane either for the photographer’s emotions. He is still spiritually with the suffering people he has photographed.