War Photographer (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology at GCSE contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem - printed in full - and asked to compare this printed poem to another. As this is a closed-book exam, you will not have access to the second poem, so you will have to know it from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages of the poet 
• How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
• How do these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

Below is a guide to Carol Ann Duffy’s poem War Photographer, from the Power and Conflict anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s Methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to Compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Duffy’s intention and message

War Photographer in a nutshell

War Photographer was written by the poet Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019. Published in 1985, War Photographer depicts the solitary experience of a photographer at home in England developing photographs taken in conflicts around the world. The poem comments on the personal distress of the photographer at what they have seen in warzones, and how people back home respond.

War Photographer breakdown

Lines 1-2

“In his dark room he is finally alone

with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”

Translation

• The poem narrates the moment a war photographer begins to develop the photographs taken in warzones:
• A dark room is a room with low lighting designed for processing film 
• The narrator describes the spools of film containing images which display the tragedies of those in conflict

Duffy’s intention

• Duffy alerts readers to a moment of relief for the photographer when he is alone in his dark room:
• This implies the photographer’s distress in the external world 
• Duffy highlights the many painful images the photographer has taken in conflict which he is about to process

Lines 3-5

“The only light is red and softly glows,

as though this were a church and he

a priest preparing to intone a Mass.” 

Translation

• Duffy sets the scene with soft red light and religious imagery
• She compares the photographer’s task with a religious ceremony
• Taking Mass or taking the sacrament is a ritual in Catholicism which represents sacrifice

Duffy’s intention

• Duffy evokes a solemn mood to present the significance of his work
• She compares the processing of photographs of war with a religious ritual of sacrifice
  • The allusion to sacrifice highlights the sacrifice of those in the photographs

Line 6

“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.”

Translation

• The poet lists several places of conflict, referring to Ireland’s troubles and civil wars in Lebanon and Cambodia
• The line, “All flesh is grass”, is a biblical reference which suggests life is temporary

Duffy’s intention

• Duffy’s list of warzones connects the photographer’s “spools of suffering” to particular places, highlighting the reality of the persona's job
• Duffy refers to a famous photograph, “The Terrors of War”, to remind readers of the power photography can have
• The biblical line alludes to the fleeting lives of those in the photographer’s photos

Lines 7-8

“He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays

beneath his hands, which did not tremble then”

Translation

• Here, the narrator tells us the photographer sees his work as a job which must be completed, a duty
• The photographer, now developing the photographs, feels the impact of his memories where before he had to keep a steady hand

Duffys intention

• The narrator begins to explain the photographer’s feelings about his task to convey the perspective of a war photographer
• The narrator explains that he finds it emotionally painful to remember the conflicts he has witnessed 
• Whereas before he had to stay in control, here, the photographer begins to weaken

Lines 9-12

“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.”

Translation

• The narrator comments on how life in England is ordinary compared to warzones:
• Duffy refers to the weather as something that causes people pain but can easily change
• The narrator refers to a warzone filled with landmines and bombs:
• The reference to children running through “nightmare heat” alludes to a famous photograph of a child running from a bomb in Phnom Penh 

Duffy’s intention

• These lines present a contrast between life in the English countryside and life in warzones to show the photographer’s displacement:
• The phrase “ordinary pain” contrasts the violent action of “children running” to show the problems in England as trivial compared to those in areas of conflict
• Duffy’s contrast of bad weather and “nightmare heat” shows how different things are in England compared with war-torn areas 
• She highlights the devastation of conflict on vulnerable children

Lines 13-15

“Something is happening. A stranger’s features

faintly start to twist before his eyes,

a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries”

Translation

• The persona describes the moment the photograph begins to develop and the image of a man caught up in conflict begins to form in the film
• This reminds him of the moment he took the photograph

Duffy’s intention

• These lines depict the slow-forming image reminding the photographer of the horrors of conflict:
• The “half-formed ghost” implies the person in the photo was killed in conflict 
• Duffy depicts the agony of the man and how vividly clear the memory is to the photographer, conveying the suffering experienced by all involved in conflict

Lines 16-18

“of this man’s wife, how he sought approval

without words to do what someone must

and how the blood stained into foreign dust.”

Translation

• The persona refers back to the moment he asked if he could take the photograph
• He refers to the man’s death in vivid description

Duffy’s intention

• Duffy depicts the difficult moment the photographer intruded into others’ tragedy:
• The speaker implies a sense of duty to take the photograph
• The modal verb “must” shows his sense of moral obligation to try to change things
• The vivid description implies the photographer is haunted by the images and highlights again the distance between England and the war zones

Lines 19-22

“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.”

Translation

• The narrator represents the tragedies in the photographs as numerous and with much suffering 
• Referring back to the photographer’s job, the narrator tells readers that of all the images developed, only a few will make it into the newspaper
• Duffy describes how the readers respond to the photographs: a temporary sadness that  is quickly replaced by daily activities

Duffy’s intention

• Referring to the many photographs, Duffy emphasises the death toll and the impact of war to evoke sympathy from the reader
• Indirectly taking on the voice of the photographer, the narrator suggests the response from the readers, despite the sacrifices of those involved, is brief and temporary
• Duffy implies the English public is desensitised to war and the individual suffering of those involved

Lines 23-24

“From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where

he earns his living and they do not care.”

Translation

• The poem ends with the photographer back on the aeroplane going to his next job
• The description of the photographer, looking down “impassively” on England, tells us he feels numb towards his homeland
• The third-person reference “they” refers to the public below

Duffy’s intention

• Duffy’s poem ends without resolution to show the futility of the photographer’s job and the continuous and unrelenting nature of war
• Duffy’s cynical tone comments on how the public have become numb and desensitised to tragedy in war
• She suggests the photographer does not feel similar to his compatriots at home and is therefore left isolated and frustrated

Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes the writer’s intentions behind their choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem is a rigid, third-person narration depicting a war photographer’s complex emotions as he processes the photographs he has taken in warzones.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
The wide-reaching impact of conflict	Duffy shows a third-person  perspective of a war photographer haunted by the photographs and memories of conflict	The perspective is detached and distant to present the photographer’s isolation, showing how conflict isolates individuals even after war
		This offers a different perspective on conflict, presenting the quiet suffering of those who report on war
	Duffy’s poem represents the photographer’s personal grief through the photographer’s disjointed reflections: Free-flowing reflective enjambment is disrupted by caesurae	The persona’s tone changes from emotional to cynical to convey the complex pain of the photographer

Structure

The poem follows a cyclical structure which ends with the photographer going back to warzones, suggesting the futility of his work, as well as a sense of continuing conflict.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Suffering and powerlessness due to conflict	The line “they do not care” suggests the public are indifferent to the photographs he takes, and to war	Duffy’s use of third-person “they” shows the photographer’s sense of isolation
	The poem ends with the photographer returning to warzones, repeating the painful process	The ending suggests the futility of his job as nothing changes. Duffy presents a lack of resolution for the photographer, as well as his powerlessness to bring about change
	As the photographer stares “impassively” back at England he mirrors the detachment commented on in the poem	Duffy’s poem criticises the desensitised attitude of the public towards conflict
		The poem’s ending suggests the photographer’s powerlessness to change his life or heal his own suffering

Language

Duffy’s imagery describes a variety of settings, from a dark room in rural England to conflict zones around the world. The contrasting imagery conveys the very different lives of those involved in conflict to those safe at home.

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Response to conflict	Duffy’s imagery contrasts a “rural England” with a warzone where “running children” try to escape exploding bombs	The contrasting settings (from a dark room in England where the photographer feels safe and alone, to a warzone where he interacts with dying strangers) suggest the photographer is caught between two worlds
	Duffy contrasts the tragedies elsewhere (“blood stained into foreign dust”) with the luxurious life in England (“bath and pre-lunch beers”)	Duffy’s contrasting imagery at the end of the poem comments on the apathy of those at home, and, thus, the continuous nature of conflict elsewhere
	Duffy juxtaposes religious imagery with a list of warzones, “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh”	Duffy weaves Christian ideals of peace through references to conflict: she highlights the photographer’s role as significant within society, and also presents the incongruous response of the public to war
	The plosive consonants create an aggressive tone which contrasts the softer “priest preparing to intone a Mass”	The aggressive tone conveys a sense of frustration and anger toward the response to conflict
Suffering as a result of conflict	Pain as a result of conflict is conveyed in the sibilance, “spools of suffering”	Duffy highlights the numerous examples of individual suffering by referencing “a hundred agonies” caught on film
	The narrator refers to the hands of the photographer trembling as develops the photographs	The sensory experience of the photographer remembering the suffering he has seen evokes sympathy in the reader; this helps convey the emotional impact of conflict
	Duffy describes the  haunting image of a “half-formed ghost” twisting before the photographer’s eyes	Duffy comments on how the photographer has to revisit the painful experience, illustrating the individual suffering of those involved in conflict

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about Carol Ann Duffy, or historical facts about war zones which are unrelated to the ideas in War Photographer. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Duffy in War Photographer which relate to power or conflict. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Duffy explores:

• The wide-reaching impact of conflict
• Suffering and powerlessness due to conflict

The Wide-reaching impact of conflict

• The poem, published in 1985, refers to a famous photograph called “The Terrors of War, taken during the Vietnam War:
• The powerful image shows a naked, terrified child running away from an exploding bomb
• The line “children running in nightmare heat” connotes to this photograph
• In the photo a photographer can be seen taking a picture of the child
• This image had a powerful impact on the public at the time, and raised debates about the moral duty of those witnessing conflict  
• Referring to this photograph helps raise awareness of the wide-reaching impact war photography can have
• The emotive reference to the children highlights how conflict affects even the innocent

Suffering and Powerlessness due to conflict  

• Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate in the United Kingdom between 2009 and 2019, was friends with two war photographers:
• This may have influenced her to write from the perspective of a war photographer
• In the poem, Duffy presents the photographer as haunted and traumatised by his work
• This presents the suffering of all those involved in conflict
• However, her poem encourages the public to pay closer attention to their work
• Duffy’s poem depicts the suffering of a war photographer haunted by memories of the many horrors he has witnessed around the world:
• She names international conflict zones he has been involved in to represent his repeated suffering
• She refers to the troubles in Belfast and the conflict in Beirut to remind readers of the reality behind her poem
• Duffy’s message is that these are just examples of the many conflicts around the world, and the photographer feels powerless to change things

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about power, or conflict, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that War Photographer explores ideas of suffering and powerlessness due to conflict and the wide-reaching impact of conflict, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• War Photographer and Poppies 
• War Photographer and Kamikaze
• War Photographer and Remains

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

War Photographer and Poppies 

Comparison in a nutshell:

This is an effective comparative choice to explore the impact of conflict on those other than soldiers themselves in order to present the wide-reaching impact of conflict. Both Duffy’s War Photographer and Weir’s Poppies present individual perspectives on powerlessness and suffering due to war. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems show that conflict has wide-reaching influence by showing particular individuals affected by it
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Poppies
	Duffy shows the experience of suffering from the perspective of a war photographer remembering images of war	Similarly, an unconventional experience of grief is presented through a narration of a parent visiting their son’s grave and remembering his childhood
	Duffy’s poem represents the photographer’s personal grief through disjointed flashbacks as he remembers those who have suffered in conflict: “a half-formed ghost”	Weir’s poem is structured to represent the parent’s personal grief as they stand at the grave and remember their son. The poem uses adverbs of time such as “before” and “after” to depict the way the parent’s life has been impacted by the loss of their son
	The poem ends with the line “they do not care” suggesting a lack of resolution for the speaker as he realises the futility of his work	The speaker is left remembering their son at the end of the poem, suggesting their continued suffering
	Both poets reflect on the impact of conflict by presenting the experience of grief by speakers who are traumatised by their memories and whose lives have been affected negatively
	The poems consider the experience of grief as a solitary one; they convey the isolation of the parent and the photographer in their settings
	Both poets wish to raise awareness of the effect of conflict on individual lives beyond the battlefields, at home or at work Therefore, both poems could be considered a social commentary on the wide-reaching negative impact of conflict The memories of each character are not resolved at the end of the poems, suggesting continued suffering for all those involved in war

Differences:

Topic sentence	While Duffy’s War Photographer uses a detached, third-person voice, Weir chooses a nostalgic and emotional first-person reflection in Poppies to portray the wide-reaching impact of conflict
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Poppies
	Duffy distances the reader by telling the story of a photographer in a dark-room in third-person narration. The omniscient voice of the narrator allows the reader insight to the photographer’s thoughts while emphasising his solitude	The first-person perspective of a parent addressing their son has an emotive effect, in order to build empathy for the parent’s suffering
	However, the photographer’s emotive memories in Duffy’s poem are disjointed, caught between a detached and cynical tone of the omniscient narrator: “stares impassively at where/he earns his living and they do not care”	The parent speaks to their son, remembering intimate moments of his childhood: “I pinned one onto your lapel”
	Duffy’s poem uses pronouns to convey the photographer’s isolation from the public: “they”	As the reader listens in on the parent’s thoughts, they are aware the son does not reply, creating a sense of solitude and an emotive commentary on personal grief
	Though the tone and perspective of each poem is different, they both present individual powerlessness and suffering due to conflict

War Photographer and Kamikaze

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both War Photographer and Kamikaze present personal and individual suffering due to conflict. The poems explore ideas related to the wide-reaching impact of conflict by describing a sense of powerlessness experienced by those involved.  

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems present wide-reaching suffering due to conflict
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Kamikaze
	Duffy distances the persona by showing the perspective of a war photographer through a third-person omniscient narrator	Similarly, in Kamikaze, a third-person narrative creates a distance between the reader and the poet persona, a Kamikaze pilot, to represent the distance between him and his daughter
	The poet shows the effect of conflict on the photographer as isolating: “in his dark room he is finally alone”
	Duffy uses enjambment to present the photographer’s emotional reflections as he is reminded of the horrors he has witnessed	In Garland’s poem, the perspective alternates between the father’s evocative memories as he leaves for war, and the daughter’s recounting of his dishonourable return
	Although, at points, Duffy changes the tone with caesurae to break the flow, signifying a disrupted and cynical break in voice	The shift from personal and emotional pain of the father contrasts with the pragmatic retelling of the loss the family felt on his return
	Duffy contrasts imagery to show the photographer’s sense of detachment. The “ordinary pain” of “Rural England” contrasts with the “blood stained into foreign dust”	The speaker in Kamikaze also uses sensory imagery to describe the intimate moments the father remembers about his past as he flies to war These images convey the difficult choice the father had to make as he chooses between his home and fighting for his country
	Duffy illustrates the photographer’s sense of displacement, caught between two worlds
	Suffering of individuals after war is presented through memories and displacement in order to build empathy in the reader and convey the wide-reaching impact of conflict

Topic sentence	Both poets represent powerlessness of those involved in conflict
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Kamikaze
	The sense of powerlessness a war photographer feels in the face of an apathetic public is expressed through the cynical tone: “his editor will pick out five or six for Sunday’s supplement”	Kamikaze’s third-person narration shows the father as silent, only present through his daughter’s voice: “he must have wondered which had been the better way to die”
	Duffy represents the photographer’s powerlessness to change the cycle of conflict as the poem ends with the photographer returning to another war zone The line “they do not care” highlights his isolation and ineffectiveness.	Garland presents the daughter’s powerlessness as she is told to alienate her father for his dishonourable behaviour: “we too learned to be silent”, suggesting the daughter’s broken relationship with her father was not autonomous and without clear resolution

Differences:

Topic sentence	While both poets suggest conflict leads to suffering and powerlessness for individuals, the poems present different relationships to home
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Kamikaze
	Duffy’s war photographer looks down upon his homeland from the aeroplane with an impassive stare.  His attitude to his home has been affected by his involvement in war, as he feels unable to fit back into society	The poet persona in Kamikaze, looks down on his home from his aeroplane positively. He looks back on his childhood, describing it in sensory imagery connoting colourful treasure: “pearl-grey pebbles” and “shoals of fishes flashing silver”
	The “ordinary pain” of bad weather presents the photographer’s bitterness toward England’s trivial problems and superficial attitude to conflict	Here, the father is convinced by his memories to return home instead of dying for his country: Nevertheless, upon his return, he too is unable to find a place to belong
	While both poets suggest returning from conflict isolates individuals, Duffy shows a photographer’s bitterness towards his homeland and Garland shows how the pilot’s love for his home kept him from conflict

War Photographer and Remains

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Duffy’s War Photographer and Armitage’s Remains highlight the unrelenting nature of suffering through haunting memories in the wake of war. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems highlight relentless trauma through the presentation of unrelieved memories related to conflict
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Remains
	In Duffy’s poem, the narrator describes a photographer reliving the horrors of “a hundred agonies” as he develops photographs from “spools of suffering”	In Remains, the speaker has a flashback to a moment during battle: “On another occasion, we get sent out to tackle looters raiding a bank”
	The photographer sees a “half-formed ghost” twisting before his eyes, suggesting he is haunted by the suffering he has witnessed	His description of vivid memories implies the speaker is unable to forget the images: “I see every round as it rips through his life” He confirms this: “the drink and drugs won’t flush him out”
	The speaker in War Photographer acknowledges the futility of his job as he returns to yet another warzone at the end of the poem, aware of the passive response the public will have	The speaker in Remains is left in the desert sands, in the “here and now” without resolution (“end of story. Except not really”).
	Similarly, both poems show the speaker’s powerful and detailed memories in order to express the haunting effects of conflict
	The poems’ personae are both caught between the present and past throughout the poem, suggesting the relentless nature of their trauma

Differences:

Topic sentence	While both poets explore the suffering of individuals reliving memories of conflict, the poets choose to present varied perspectives
Evidence and analysis	War Photographer	Remains
	The third-person perspective of the photographer is distant and detached.	On the other hand, in Remains the first-person speaker conveys intimate thoughts. His personal pain is raw as he constantly relives the violence of conflict:  “he’s here in my head when I close my eyes”.
	Although the photographer is haunted by the memories, his tone is one of apathy and resignation.	The private monologue of the soldier evokes sympathy from the reader.
	However haunted he is by the images, he still returns to a war zone at the end of the poem	The speaker in this poem confirms that even “the drink and drugs won’t flush him out” and at the end of the poem the soldier conveys his trauma: “his blood life in my bloody hands”
	Duffy also suggests that the public easily forget the images of war they see in the newspapers: “The reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers”
	Although both poets criticise the trauma associated with conflict, Duffy’s persona conveys a tone of detachment and apathy which contrasts with the emotional and poignant tone of Armitage’s speaker
	Duffy shows the external world of conflict via a photographer and the public, while Armitage explores the experience of a soldier