war photographer

structure: regular rhyme scheme, six lines per stanza- could suggest that the photographer is trying to create a sense of order to the chaos of war. Could also show that the photographer’s effort is futile as nothing changes. message of the poem is that what we see and think of war is different to the reality of war, which is impossible to understand.

the pace of the poem increases in the final stanza, emphasising how quickly people forget about the images of war they are presented with, an how little people actually care about it.

cyclical structure emphasises how nothing ever changes- another war happens- millions of people suffer- millions of people are presented with the suffering and do not care. Also emphasises the futility of the photographer’s job. He tries to get people to recognise the suffering happening, but will never succeed due to the uncaring nature of the public.

Language: Juxtaposition of the hellish and evil language imagery of ‘darkroom’ and ‘light is red’ compared to elsewhere in the stanza where he is described as ‘he is a priest preparing to intone a mass’. could show that he as a priest, he is trying to enlighten people about the true nature of war. the plosives of ‘belfast. beirut. Phnom penh.’ combined with the caesura gives the impression of gunfire, and makes us stop to truly consider what is happening in these places.

The poem emphasises the fragility of life.

comparisons:

poppies- about people who are not directly involved with war but are still affected by it.