1. Main meanings and themes Language, Imagery and tone
Context: Poem and Poet
Carol Ann Duffy present. Her poems often explore ‘real’ events, including dramatizing events from childhood and adolescence. She states “I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way”.
In the 1970s Carol Ann Duffy was friendly with Don McCullin, a famous photographer whose photographs of war were widely published.
The poem explores the dual role of being a War Photographer, having to take pictures of terrible suffering without being able to help. The gap between these sufferings and those viewing the poems is explored through the perspective of a photographer. The poem has elements of social commentary on the apathy of Westerners.
Main meanings and themes
Duffy is exploring the horrors of war and contrasting that with the increasing indifference of those who might live in ‘safe’ environments and viewing these photographers.
One central theme is the horror of war explored through photographers memories and the contrast between ‘rural England’ and ‘running children in a nightmare heat’.
Theme of religion is also central, with the photographer conducting a mass over his pictures.
Language, Imagery and tone
Stanza One:
‘Finally alone’ adds a sense of relief for the photographer to be away from the suffering – a sense of sanctuary perhaps.
‘Spools of suffering’ set out in ‘ordered rows’ adds a sense of ceremony. Ordered rows could refer to photographs as well as grave stones. The sibilance of ‘spools’
The theme of religion is established through references to ‘priest’ and ‘mass’ as the reference to ‘all flesh is grass’ underlining the photographers desire to catalogue this suffering and pain.
Stanza Two:
Potential double meaning of ‘solutions’ can the photographs solve the conflict?
‘Did not tremble then’ – photographer must be impassionate, but struggling to maintain this when confronted with memory.
‘Ordinary pain’ – Oxymoron? Underlines the stark contrast between pleasant ‘rural England’ and the ‘nightmare heat’ and fields which ‘explode’
Stanza Three:
the developing picture painfully ‘twists’ before his eyes. ‘Stranger’ confirms distance and ‘half formed ghost’ underlines the idea of death.
The ethics of war photography are questioned ‘sought approval’ but ‘what someone must’ could hint at his vocation, a necessary task. The photographer attempts to conduct himself sensitively in this bizarre and unenviable situation.
Stanza Four:
Insensitivity of the editor as ‘a hundred agonies’ are discarded with only ‘five or six’ picked out.
The indifference extends to the readers (us?) whose eyeballs ‘prick with tears’ but ultimately are more committed to ‘pre-lunch beers’ in a fairly unflattering portrayal of newspaper readers who ultimately ‘do not care’ about the suffering of others despite the best efforts of the war photographer.
Structure and Form
Four, Six line stanza with a regular rhyme scheme, with ach stanza ending with a rhyming couplet.
Perhaps the order reflects the ‘ordered rows’ of the photographer.
The first stanza focusses on the actions of the photographers ‘darkroom’ where he conducts his work.
The second, focusses on him beginning his work and brings contrasts between his current setting and where he conducts his work. The stanza starts with a simple sentence ‘he has a job to do.’ Structurally, this contributes to a somewhat clinical and matter of fact style (again reflecting the nature of his work).
The stanza hones in on a specific agony, having previously dealt with photos as a collective. Here, a photograph is developing and forces the photographer to remember the agony this image represents. The opening line ‘something is happening’ contributes to a sense of drama and action in this stanza.
In the final stanza, Duffy shifts the focus away from the photos themselves and towards the reactions of the readers, with a comment on the apathy and indifference of the editor and reader.
Links to other poems in the anthology:
Links to other poems in the anthology: