War Photographer

By
Carol Ann Duffy
“The Terror of War” Vietnam Napalm 1972

Photographer Nick Ut caught nine-year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc with other
children immediately after a napalm attack; she had torn off her burning
clothes and was running naked, screaming down the road.
 Nick Ut
– The Photographer

 Nick Ut's ambition to be a photographer has origins in his family and

in his reaction to the horrors of Vietnam. Recalls Ut: "I wanted to
show the picture of people dying."

 After his brother, an Associated Press photographer, was killed in

Vietnam, he convinced AP to let him work in the darkroom, where
he would cry over the photographs he printed. He spent long days
in the darkroom before he could eventually take his own pictures.

 In 1973, Nick Ut won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph "The Terror
of War," which shows children running from a napalm bombing.
 Carol Ann Duffy – The Poet

“What interested me in writing

the poem was the
photographer and the difficult
decisions he or she might have
to make while taking pictures
in a war zone.”

Carol Ann Duffy wrote this

poem after conversations
with famous War
Photographer, Don McCullin.
 “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.

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 bath and pre-lunch beers.
From aeroplane he stares impassively at where
he earns a living and they do not care.
 Theme
 Shows contrast between the reality of war
zones and safety of home.

 Photographer moves between these two

worlds but belongs to neither

 Photographer is shown as a conscious

recorder of the truth.
 Form and Structure
 Poem is set out in 4 six line stanzas of equal length.

 Each stanza ends with a rhyming couplet.

 The structure follows the process of photographic

development and the thought process that
accompanies it.

 Poem moves from series of observations to a clear

conclusion.
 His mind

Sense of peace
In his darkroom he is finally alone contrasts with
Films of horror
war zone
with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.
Repeated ‘s’ lengthens suffering Rows of bodies, gravestones
alliteration
The only light is red and softly glows,
Connotations of red –
danger, blood, death.
as though this were a church and he Red light is also known
Ritualistic. Place of peace as ‘safe light’ - irony
Highlights
serious
a priest preparing to intone a Mass.
nature of
task. Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.

Uses punctuation to fix places in

mind. - also creates a list of Highlights brevity of
war zones. life. Short time we
are on earth.
 Statement – he has to get on Alliteration – messy sound.
with it. Solution used to ‘fix’ photo – irony
that there is no ‘solution’ to war

He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays

Now he Onomatopoeia – slop messy –
has time to highlights messiness of war
think beneath his hands which did not tremble then
about his safety
work it has
a though seem to now. Rural England. Home again
disturbing
effect on
him to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,
Contrast with war and how easily problems can be solved
to fields which don't explode beneath the feet

of running children in a nightmare heat.

Reference to famous Nick Ut photo of the ‘Napalm Girl’. Also
contrasts between safety of home and danger of war zone.
 Injects drama – suspense.

Something is happening. A stranger's features

Connotations of distortion
faintly start to twist before his eyes

Suggestion a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries

of still
being alive
Highlights
and of this man's wife, how he sought approval moral
suffering
predicament
without words to do what someone must of war
photographer
and guilt
associated
and how blood stained into foreign dust. with it.

distanced
 Nature of his work

Contrast
100 with A hundred agonies in black-and-white
5/6

from which his editor will pick out five or six

for Sunday's supplement. The reader's eyeballs prick

Short, sharp, but no lasting
effect
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.
Internal rhyme tears/beers - Highlights small space of time and how
Although little attention is paid to images and the little impact they have
these From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where
people No feeling for home
pay his
wages
he has he earns his living and they do not care.
no
feelings Photographer lives between two worlds but belongs to neither.
towards
them
Now compare Carol Ann Duffy’s attitude
to war photography to that of Steve
Turner in his poem, “Exclusive Pictures”.
 “Exclusive Pictures” by Steve Turner
 Give us good pictures  Give us five page spreads
of the human torch of the airliner that fell
which show the skin like a pigeon to the ground.
burnt like chicken, And make sure you get there
bursting like grapes. before the victims are pulled out.
 It will teach us  It will teach
to avoid flames. engines to function.
 Give us good film
 Don't give us
any of that shaky
of the lady on the ledge hand-held stuff
as she leaps open mouthed where the trapped children
and hits the streets are smoke-like shapes
like a suicide. and their screams barely audible
 It will teach us beneath the wailing sirens.
to use stairways. Get in there with your lenses
and your appetite for danger
 Give us sharp colour and your hard newshead
coverage of the African and give us what we're after.
troubles. Show us Make us informed.
interesting wounds, Make us feel we're really there.
craters in fat and flesh. Provide us with education.
Broaden our backgrounds.
 It will teach us We live in a democracy
not to point guns. and we need to know.
What’s your attitude to war photography?