In War Photographer, Carol Ann Duffy discusses the death caused by wars. She writes with strong emotions to convince the reader how horrific a war can be and can lead to endless misery. And through the poem she has use a metaphor 'he a priest preparing to intone a mass' to compare the character as a priest showing how sorrowful the photographer is. Moreover he takes photos during wars which allows him to past on messages to other people about the victims like preaching. Furthermore, the comparison of the photographer and the priest also shows the job the photographer is doing is seem to be very sacred and he takes a high responsibility for this mission.
This setting, introduced in the first line of the first stanza, reflects the dark thoughts of war that he has witnessed, and the contemplative mood which runs strongly throughout. The alliterative “spools of suffering”, are the vivid images he has captured, each one telling a horrific tale of pain and loss. It appears cruel and inhuman that these images should simply be “set out in ordered rows”, without a care of their origin. The only light in the darkroom is “red and softly glows”. It resembles the stain glass windows of the “church” which are compared to the room.
Duffy’s poem is about how we deal with the suffering of others, who might be far away. It takes the character of war photographer to present someone more involved and committed than we are. I think war photography keeps us up to date and aware and gets us to know what’s going on in the world with the horrific reality of war. Duffy creates some powerful and disturbing images, images we would rather not think about, or really see. Some of them in particular stand out: “The only light is red and softly glows.” The message here is the connotation of the colour red for blood and its also linked to the Catholic Church, the photo confess the truth of war.
Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were both soldier poets during World War I, and wrote about the horrific events of the Great War. In Sassoon’s poem “They” and Owen’s famous poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, the respective authors deconstruct and critique the glorification of war by the Catholic Church and society through the use of vivid imagery of battle and its effect on soldiers. Sassoon’s “They” attacks the Catholic Church and its beliefs that war is not only righteous, but endorsed by God. This contrast in beliefs is made very clear by the caesura and the line break between the two speakers: the Bishop and the soldiers. The Bishop is convinced that the soldiers fighting the war are combating evil in the name of God.
Introduction Paragraph 1 In his poem, Strange Meeting, Owen recreates the horror of war through his shocking and realistic account of the experiences faced by soldiers on the battlefields during World War One. “And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, - By his dead smile I knew we stood in hell”. Owen has used first person and a pararhyme to reinforce the brutality and horrors of war. Owen came to the realisation, by talking to this man, that no one there was truly alive, breathing or not breathing. What mattered was the truth of war and what he felt he must share and let people know.
Repetition is also used in both poems. In ‘The Sentry’, the repetition of “I’m blind” helps give a sense of the increasing distress of the soldier as he realises he has lost his sight. In comparison, repetition of “Gas!” in ‘Dulce...’ is effective as it creates a sense of
Analysis: War Photographer (Carol Ann Duffy) Through her poem ‘War Photographer’, Carol Ann Duffy casts a harsh light on the destruction and bloodshed which results from war and how apathetic and uncaring the rest of the world, who is not directly affected by it, is. The poem starts with a description of the war photographer standing alone in his dark room. All the photos that he had taken of the war are contained within the rolls which are organized into neat rows, making him feel like a priest who is about to lead a mass funeral. He thinks of all the places he has been to, places which had been torn apart by war, and remembering all the bloodshed he has witnessed he feels that everything has to in the end die and return to the earth. He then carries on with his works, but the ironical fact is that he who wasn’t afraid while amidst gunfire and death, now trembles in the safety and sanctuary of his home in Rural England, where the most troubling thing is the constantly changing weather and where he does not have to worry about the ground blowing up beneath his feet.
It also is a effectual comparison as it shows that it’s not the spools that are suffering, but it’s the photos arranged on the spools. ‘The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass’. The colour red which is used to describe the light, represents blood, and the bloodshed he’d witnessed during the war. The rest of the line moves on to focus on his feelings and the poet uses a metaphor ‘If this were a church and he a priest’. It has a strong effect because of the death and destruction in his photographs and it made him feel like a priest who was about to lead a mass funeral.
Literature essay First draft Q: Write about “War Photographer” by Carl Ann Duffy, which is very effective in highlighting a number of important social issues. Explain what these issues are and examine and discuss the various ways in which the poet manages to help you understand or convey them. 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.
War Poems Q1, 2. Why do you think that the poem is full of descriptions of Nature? Julian Grenfell uses descriptive imagery of the surrounding world to glorify War. He creates colour and life in his poem to suggest the beauty in battle and death. By describing the ‘green grass and bursting trees’, Grenfell creates a bright and triumphant image in the reader’s mind, illustrating a positive outlook on War.