Here you will find detailed summary notes for "War Photographer" (1985), including: (1) a short summary of the text, (2) analysis of the language/form/structure, (3) a list of key quotations with some analysis (4) background context. I hope that you find this resource useful.
Story
• A war photographer was in his darkroom, developing pictures that he’s taken in war zones across the world.
• Being back in England it’s a big contrast – it’s safe and clam 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.
Structure
• The poem chronologically follows the actions and thoughts of the photographer in his darkroom.
• There’s a distinct turning point at the start of the 3rd stanza (“Something is happening.”), when the
photographer remembers a specific death.
• In the final stanza, the focus shifts to the way the photographer’s work is received.
Language
• Religious Imagery: The references to religion make it sound almost as of the photographer s a priest conducting a
funeral when he’s developing the photos – there’s a sense of ceremony to his actions.
• Contrasts: The poem presents “Rural England” as a contrast to the war zones the photographer visits. The
grieving window is compared with people in England whose eyes only “prick / with tears” at the pain. Ironically,
the photographer is detached in the war zones but deeply affected at home.
• Emotive Language: The poem is full of powerful, emotive imagery which reflects the horrors of war seen by the
photographer and captured in his photos. Like the photographer, Duffy tries to represent the true horror of conflict
in her work in order to make the reader think about the subject.
• Pain: The photographs depict real pain (“A hundred agonies”) and there’s also the emotional pain of the woman
who’s lost her husband. The horrific pain of war is contrasted with the “ordinary” back at home.
• 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 the “ordinary” life in England.
• Anger: The poem ends with a sense of anger at the people who don’t care about the suffering of others.
Form
• The poem has 4 stanzas of equal length and a regular rhyme scheme – it is “set out in ordered rows” like the
photographer’s spools, echoing the control the photographer has over his feelings.
• The use of enjambment reflects the gradual revealing of the photo as it develops.
• Rhyming couplets at the conclusion of stanzas give a solemn tone.
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