1. Revision of Anthology poetry: power and conflict cluster.
War Photographer
CAROL ANN DUFFY

2. In his dark room he is finally alone
War Photographer
In his dark room 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.
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 a nightmare heat.
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.
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.

3. Giving an inanimate object a human quality.
Intone
Religious connotations – to speak (a prayer, poem, etc.) in a way that sounds like music or chanting
Rural
Of or relating to the country and the people who live there instead of the city
Dispel
To make (something, such as a belief, feeling, or idea) go away or end
Supplement
An extra part that is added to a book or newspaper
Impassively
Not showing emotion
Metaphor
When we say that something IS something else or something represents something else.
Personification
Giving an inanimate object a human quality.
Alliteration
Words in a sequence that begin with the same letter.

4. Carol Ann Duffy
She is a Scottish poet who, in 2009, became the first woman to hold the post of Poet Laureate. ‘War Photographer’ was published in 1985 as a part of Duffy’s first collection, Standing Female Nude.

5. Context
The imagery in line 12 (“of running children in a nightmare heat”) seems to reference a famous photo by another war photographer; Nick Ut.
He took a photo of a nine year old Vietnamese girl during the Vietnam war.
The photo shows the girl running naked towards the camera in extreme pain – she’d torn her clothes off after being severely burned when 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.

6. Have we become desensitised to these things?
Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was intrigued by the challenge faced by people whose job required them to record horrific events without being able to help those they’re photographing.
By viewing this issue from the perspective of the photographer, she also reveals the difficulties of such an occupation.
In the same way that photographers capture certain truths about the human condition, she uses words for this effect.
Have we become desensitised to these things?
Throughout the poem, Duffy provokes us to consider our own response when confronted with photographs we see regularly in papers etc.

7. What’s it about?
A war photographer is in his darkroom, developing pictures that he’s taken in war zones across the world. Being back in England is a big contrast – it’s safe and calm compared to where he’s been.
A photo begins to develop, and the photographer remembers the death of the man, and the cries of his wife.
The final stanza focuses on the people in England who will see his photographs in their Sunday papers. The speaker thinks that they don’t really care about the people and places in the photographs.

8. Major themes in War Photographer:
Other poems?
The Prelude: Stealing the Boat
My Last Duchess
Remains
Poppies
The Emigrée
Kamikaze
Themes
Other poems?
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Exposure
Bayonet Charge
Remains
Poppies
Major themes in War Photographer:
Effects of conflict
Reality of conflict
Memory
Anger
Guilt
Individual experiences
Other poems?
London
Checking Out Me History
Other poems?
London
The Prelude: Stealing the Boat
Bayonet Charge
Remains
Poppies
The Emigrée
Kamikaze
Other poems?
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Exposure
Bayonet Charge
Remains
Other poems?
Remains

9. Form and structure The poem is divided into four regular
The poem is set out in ordered rows which is supposed to represent the photographer’s spools, echoing the care that the photographer takes over his work.
The use of enjambment reflects the gradual revealing of the photo as it develops.
into four regular
six-line stanzas (each ending in a rhyming couplet)
with a regular rhyme scheme.
The style is almost clinical and matter of fact. This sense of distance may be a requirement for the photographer.

10. Form and structure Volta: A sudden change in thought or emotion.
The poem follows the actions and thoughts of the photographer in his darkroom.
“In his darkroom he is finally alone/with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
There’s a distinct change at the start of the third stanza, when the photographer remembers a specific death.
“Something is happening”
In the final stanza, the focus shifts to the way the photographer’s work is received.
“…from which his editor will pick out five or six…where he earns his living and they do not care”

11. Personal response Language Atmosphere Content Emotions and ideas
Be in the right PLACE…
Personal response
Language
Atmosphere
Content
Emotions and ideas

12. Feelings and attitudes
PAIN
The photographs depict real pain (“A hundred agonies”) and there’s also the emotion pain of the woman who’s lost her husband. The horrific pain of war is contrasted with the “ordinary” pain back home.
Anger
The poem ends with a sense of anger at the people who don’t care about the suffering of others.
Detachment
The photographer is detached from his emotions in the war zones so he can do his job. The words “finally alone” and “impassively” suggest that he’s also detached from “ordinary” life in England.

13. Complete this bingo revision exercise to help you remember some of the features used.

14. Personal response.
Answer these questions to help you come up with your own ideas about the poem:
Why do you think the photographer’s hands tremble when he’s developing the photos?
Do you think the photographer enjoys being back in England?
Describe the mood in the final stanza of the poem.
Do you think Duffy admires the photographer? Why/why not?