1. Homework: Everyone read the next 2 poems. In place of Commentary:
Read “Stealing” and “We Remember your Childhood.”
Half the class – Focus on “Stealing” the other half focus on “WE Remember your Childhood”
Annotate on first read
Fill out poetry worksheet
Write a thesis statement
Be prepared to speak about it

2. War Photographer
From Duffy’s first collection: Standing Female Nude 1985

3. Warm up
Take your commentary and either read it to partner, or tell them what you discovered about the poem.
If you were not here on Friday, read the poem on your own and write down your first impressions of it. What is it about? Identify two most significant poetic features.

4. War Photographer
The poem comes from Duffy’s friendship with Don McCullin and Philip Jones Griffiths, two well-respected stills photographers who specialised in war photography.
Duffy is fascinated by what makes someone do such a job and how they feel about being in situations where a choice often has to be made between recording horrific events, and helping.

5. Vietnam War

7. Vietnam

8. Iraq, 2005

9. Iran, 1979

10. War Photographer Terms:
Alliteration: repetition of (usually) consonant sounds at the beginning of a sentence. Big Bad Bear
Connotation: the emotional association we have with a word.
Caesura: a pause within a line of poetry. Used for dramatic effect, or to create tension, surprise
Diction: word choice (contributes to tone)
Imagery: use of figurative language to create images in mind of reader

11. Make notes on the structure of the first verse
In his darkroom he is finally alone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
The only light is red and softly glows,
as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.
Is this continued throughout? Why?

12. Structure 4 stanzas 6 lines per stanza
Regular rhyme scheme – ABBCDD, etc.
WHY?
Imposes order in the chaos of war
Like the photographer – order with the photos, making sense of the chaos

13. Imagery Four groups…underline and analyze images in assigned stanza.
how do they support topic & theme of poem?
First by self
Discuss with group
-class

14. In his darkroom he is finally alone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
The only light is red and softly glows,
as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

15. In his darkroom he is finally alone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
The only light is red and softly glows,
as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to atone a Mass.
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

16. alliteration – what is the effect?
Contrast to what?
alliteration – what is the effect?
What are the connotations of the colours?
In his darkroom he is finally alone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
The only light is red and softly glows,
as though this were a church and he
a priest preparing to atone a Mass.
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.
regularity/order – reflects structure
Suggestion of graves/bodies
Litany of horror; what is the effect of the caesura?
Simile – reverence and devotion to the pictures
Isaiah 40:6 – shortness of life

17. He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays
beneath his hands which did not tremble then
though seem to now. Rural England. Home again
to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,
to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet
of running children in nightmare heat.

18. Why did they not tremble then? Why now?
Ambiguity – chemicals/solutions to war
Implies carelessness
He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays
beneath his hands which did not tremble then
though seem to now. Rural England. Home again
to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,
to fields which don’t explode beneath the feet
of running children in nightmare heat.
Why did they not tremble then? Why now?
Suggests idyllic life
Contrast: barefoot children running in grass for fun/those running from war – end of innocence and, possibly, life.
True meaning to the poem - contrast
Cannot compare to pain of war

19. Something is happening. A stranger’s features
faintly start to twist before his eyes,
a half-formed ghost. 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.

20. Ambiguous: Literal – developing the photo. Figurative – person in pain
Something is happening. A stranger’s features
faintly start to twist before his eyes,
a half-formed ghost. 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.
Photographer’s dilemma – has a job to do.
Metaphor – 1. image on photo, 2. death

21. A hundred agonies in black-and-white
from which his editor will pick out five or six
for Sunday’s supplement. The reader’s eyeballs prick
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.
From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where
He earns his living and they do not care

22. Suggests they are used for entertainment
Photo
Good/evil
Truth/lies
Trivialises; we are only moved momentarily
Contrast to war zone
A hundred agonies in black-and-white
from which his editor will pick out five or six
for Sunday’s supplement. The reader’s eyeballs prick
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.
From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where
He earns his living and they do not care.
En route to another assignment; poem is cyclical; unceasing wars
Chooses photos to suit the article; don’t convey the full horror of war
Who are they?
Suggests they are used for entertainment

23. Discussion Points
How do you think this photographer feels about their job? Pride or guilt?
How do you think Duffy feels towards the newspaper editors?
What does Duffy seem to be suggesting about the way the readers react to seeing these images?
What is Duffy trying to point out about life in Britain compared to Beirut etc?
Themes?

24. Diction
Which words or phrases seem significant in contributing to the tone of the poem?
For example alone…in first stanza
Suggests isolation, detachment.

25. Theme?
Effects of war
Shows trauma caused by witnessing tragedy, horrors of war.
Juxtaposition of photographer’s inner conflict, (being impassive, objective among such horror) and the public’s fleeting interest and lack of concern for such events..

26. Think about how Duffy uses certain literary devices; for what effect?
For example, in “War Photographer,” Duffy uses rhyme scheme to impose order on a chaotic world.
The alliteration of Belfast. Beruit. Phnom Penh is a harsh sound, suggestive of bombs or bullets.
Also, the caesura created between each city creates a pause, similar to a sacred recitation or prayer for the dead.

27. Group Thesis
How does author +verb+ lit. feature+ verb+lit. effect + why.
War Photographer
Duffy uses________, ______, and ______ to reveal_______________.
Write it down and share with class. turn it in.

28. Thesis example
Duffy uses a regular rhyme scheme, a shifting tone, and the contrasting imagery of war and rural England to reveal the cyclical nature of conflict and the impassivity that some feel toward others’ suffering.