“War Photographer”
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.
Summary: Stanza 1 is saying that the ‘war photographer’ is coming home from a trip. He’s in his darkroom to develop his pictures, and he
just talks about the different places he has been during his work.
Carol Ann Duffy
● The word ‘dark’ has negative connotations. Metaphorically, it is can be referred to the dark times when
the war photographs are taken.
● The fact that the photographer is ‘finally’ alone suggests that he wants to be alone. Perhaps, he was
eager to see the result of his work, or he has had enough of the sufferings of war, and the fact that he is
‘alone’ gives him relief.
● The hissing and harsh sounds brought by the alliteration of sibilance remind the readers of the images
of sufferings in war. It is also a metaphor for the sufferings of war. The poet intensifies the number and
gravity of sufferings the photographer has experienced.
● The ‘ordered rows’ might remind the readers of cemeteries. The poet tries to sanitize the image as
everything is very structured, but this is not war is like. The fact that the films are organized in ‘ordered
rows’ suggests that the photographer is giving a final funeral to the people who died in war zones and
were captured by him.
● Simile is used here. The way the war photographer views his work place is holy and sacred, as it is
compared to a church, which reflects the serious solid role he sees his occupation. The action that he
takes out the spools of films as if he was a ‘priest’ ‘intoning a Mass’ creates a religious imagery, showing
that his job is repetitive. The ‘red light’ is referred as a tabernacle in a church. As ‘priests’ spread the
word of God, the simile suggests the war photographer shows people the terrible images of war.
● The contrast between the evil and religious imageries presents the idea of trying to make order out of
something chaotic.
● These places are all associated with conflict. The caesura and alliteration of plosives force the readers
to pause and recall the war images of those places, reminding the readers of the sufferings of war. The
short sentences create the action of taking the photograph: a ‘click’ during a short duration and it also
suggests how short life is.
● The phrase makes religious allusion to the Bible. It suggests that human flesh is nothing, highlighting
the transitory nature and fragility of human life. People are weak like grass in the wind during war times.
The vulnerability of men in war is acknowledged by the photographer.
“War Photographer”
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.
Summary: Stanza 2 is saying that the photographer is beginning to develop the pictures and he is reminded of the contrast between the
war zones he has been to taking these photographs and rural England that he returns to when he comes home. The tone of this stanza is
sarcastic (mocking the British).
Carol Ann Duffy
● The modal ‘has to’ gives a sense of obligation. The photographer respects his job so much. His ‘job’ is
compared to the job of a ‘priest’, who makes sacrifices for being so. The photographer is willing to risk
his life to carry out the job as he has the ‘vocation’ to work as a war photographer.
● Literally, the photographer is developing his photo. The word not only point to the chemical solutions
used in developing the image, but also the fact that ‘war’ is a ‘solution’ to all political conflicts at that
time.
● The alliteration of sibilance suggests the harsh nature of war.
● The word ‘slop’ suggests that the ‘solution’ – war – is done carelessly. After taking the photos, the
photographer ‘trembles’, he is allowing himself to express his emotions, which makes the ‘solutions’
‘slop’.
● Caesura is adopted here. ‘Rural England’ is a phrase completely separated from the descriptions of war
zones. The readers are forced to stop when facing this line. The poet is making connections as if the
people in the poem (i.e. the British) are able to separate what they see from the reality of the situation.
The poet juxtaposes the image of England to that of war zones.
● Oxymoron is used. ‘Pain’ should be unexpected in lives and is certainly not ‘ordinary’. The fact that the
contrasting ideas are put together tells that the British are preoccupied with problems like raining; when
in Belfast, Beirut and Phnom Penh people are facing the problems of war and death. The photographer
has experienced the ‘pain’ in both war zones and England; he therefore mocks the British that they do
not experience real ‘pain’.
● The image of ‘running children’ is supposed to bring out a happy image. However, in war zones,
children are ‘running’ for their lives since the ‘fields’ ‘beneath the feet’ do ‘explode’. The image of
British children running is juxtaposed with the image of ‘running children’ in war zones. The poet
further draws a contrast between the people in England and the places associated with war.
“War Photographer”
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.
Summary: The picture is developing in stanza 3. It reminds him of the death of the man who he has taken picture of in ‘the cries of the man’s wife’.
Carol Ann Duffy
● The indefinite pronoun ‘something’ and the use of present tense create suspense and tension. The use
of short sentence increases the pace of the narrative.
● Literally, what is happening is that the photo is developing before the photographer’s eyes. But it can
also mean the photographer is having an emotional response to the horror he has seen and taken picture
of.
● Builds a distance between the person described and the war photographer.
● The word implies a sense of violence, suggesting that the person was likely to be in pain.
● Literally, the image is ‘half-formed’ because the photo is not yet fully developed; it is still transparent
in colour. Metaphorically, the man was injured and slowly dying. The photographer has captured his
last moment. His face is ‘twisted’ (dies of a violent death) and that the image is in a war photograph.
It implies that the war photographer’s job is to take pictures of people who are suffering and dying. It
may imply that the memory is ‘half-formed’: it is not fully remembered by the war photographer.
● The fact that the photographer ‘seeks approval’ to take picture of the man shows that he respects the
dying many. The ‘approval’ is sought ‘without words’ may be due to the fact that the photographer
does not have a common language with the man’s wife, or that the photo is taken in a place where
there is no availability for words.
● ‘Someone’ refers to the war photographer. The word ‘must’ suggests that the action is necessary since
it is the photographer’s responsibility. The action is not pleasant, but ‘someone must’ make sacrifices
for the society, in this occupation, showing the nature of war to others who are not involved, but not
something people dream of doing.
● The image is taken in a foreign country rather than in England. The place where the war photograph
is taken does not matter to the British since their blood is different. They cannot experience actual
pain in war because all these pain occur in foreign land. They have never seen the ‘blood staining’
images of the countries associated with pain. Therefore, they often face ‘ordinary pain’.
● Dust is something useless. As blood is too common in war zones, it is seen as something unimportant,
just like ‘dust’. The word echoes with the phrase ‘All flesh is grass’, which speaks of the transitory
nature of human life in war. During war times, human lives are insignificant.
“War Photographer”
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.
Summary: In the final stanza, the photographer is saying that the people in England who look at these war photographs will be sad for a moment but
then forget and carry on with their life again. The poem ends with the war photographer going back out to a war zone.
Structure of the poem:
● This poem has a very tight and controlled structure. There are four verses, each verse has six lines.
Carol Ann Duffy
● The word emphasizes the vast number that have suffered, which sums up the idea of pain caused by war. It
visualizes ‘spools of suffering’.
● It emphasizes the severe pain before one’s death
● The photos are developed in ‘black and white’ colour.
● The editor would only ‘pick out five or six’ out of ‘hundreds’ of war images. The poet criticizes the editor
and society for trivializing the sufferings and effects of war and the emotional impacts of war.
● Sunday is a non-working day and that the images are published in a trivial section in the newspaper. The
war situations are not cared much by the English. The alliteration of sibilance emphasizes the fact that the
images of war are unimportant to the English. Duffy criticizes the English’s attitude towards war is callous.
● The word has connotations of discomfort. The poet criticizes that the tears are not genuine. This image is
exaggerated (hyperbole). It is not an actual response of a person. The English would be temporarily moved,
but viewing them as something less important than their ‘ordinary pain’ in life. The tone is sarcastic.
● Compared to the sufferings in war, ‘bath’ and ‘beer’ are luxurious. The English would only learn about war
sufferings in their momentary time. They do not really care about the sufferings.
● The alliteration of plosives makes the tone of the sentence sound more aggressive, as if the poet is criticizing
the English.
● Mid-line rhyme is created here. It quickens the pace of the final verse. It reflects the speed at which people
forget the situations inside the war photography as they indulge in luxuries.
● The photographer is leaving England and returning to the places associated with war.
● He ‘stares impassively’ to his home because he feels disconnected from the people of his own country.
● The photographer isolates himself from the British although he is of the same nation. It suggests that the
photographer thinks he cares about the situations of war while the people of his own race do not engage in
it.
● The fact that the photographer calls England, his home place, as a place where ‘he earns his living’ suggests
how he detaches himself from his own nation. This is only a place the photographer ‘gets his money’. He
looks down on the British who do not sympathize the situations of war.
“War Photographer” Carol Ann Duffy

● The rhyme scheme is very similar all the way through : abbcdd.
● Everything is tightly controlled. Perhaps, it reflects the war photographer’s job who is trying to impose order on the chaos of war. He is trying
to make it palatable so that we would at least look at it and be temporarily moved despite the fact that we would forget about it in a very short
period of time. Sufferings in war cannot be controlled and neatly ordered. The unchanging structure may also imply how the war
photographer’s efforts are futile, nothing changes. He is trying to make his readers realize the reality of the horrors of war but everything just
carries on as normal, as represented by verse after verse carrying on, like the previous ones.
● There is also a cyclical structure. The poem begins with the war photography coming back from a trip. In ‘his darkroom’, he is ‘finally alone’.
It ends with the war photographer finally going back to another trip from the aeroplane. The poem ends where it starts again with the photo-
taking journeying to and from the war zone. It links to the theme of ‘fate’, as if everything is predetermined. There is no escaping; it’s just
going round in a loop. It somehow reflects the futility of the war photographer’s job that he is trying to make an impact and make people
realise the true horrors of war. Sadly, the people are just sanitizing the war images and taking it as a quick two-second glimpse of sadness and
quickly carrying on with the very ordered and structured lives, forgetting about the tragic images. This is the futile endeavour of the war
photographer.
● The juxtaposition here is that the poem is very neatly structured but the topic of the poem is about the chaos of war.
● The regular structure gives the readers a composed, calm speaker who delivers the point with great strength. It maintains emotional control.

Theme of the poem: The poet explores the impossibility of presenting the true horrors of war (or conflict). People try to present the horrors of war but
it’s impossible to do so. In ‘War Photographer’, the photographs expressed the true horrors of war but the impossibility comes in people refusing to
acknowledge (or accept) beyond a very superficial level the reality of what war is like.

Tone of the poem:

1. Matter of fact (factual)
2. Pessimistic
3. Calm/ composed (to maintain emotional control of the readers)
4. Cynical (sarcasm)