3. ‘War Photographer’ — Carol Ann Duffy
Summary:
A war photographer returns home to England and develops the photographs he took in war zones. As he watches the images emerge, he is haunted by the horrors he captured. Yet he knows that the public, viewing these images comfortably at home, will only feel momentary sympathy before forgetting. The poem highlights the emotional burden of bearing witness to suffering and the casual apathy of society.
Analysis:
- The tension between the photographer’s duty to document and his personal trauma is central.
- Home is safe but emotionally sterile compared to war zones.
- The poem critiques the media’s commodification of pain.
- Regular stanza structure suggests the attempt to create order from chaos, but enjambment undermines it, showing emotional overflow.
Key Techniques:
- Religious imagery (“as though this were a church”) elevates the darkroom into a sacred space.
- Juxtaposition: “fields which don’t explode beneath the feet” contrasts safety with violence.
- Caesura and short sentences mimic shock and trauma.
- Irony in the public’s fleeting concern.