Feelings About Photographer in Prose. Carol Ann Duffy's the War Photographer.
2) What are your feelings about the photographer and his work as you read the poem? Show how the words of the poem have created these feelings in you.
After reading Carol Ann Duffy’s poem the “War Photographer”, I feel pitiful for the war photographer, knowing that he cannot that he would not be able to lead a normal life once the memories from the battlefield haunts him. I also feel that we as society are glad to keep a distance from the harsh realities of war while being just superficially sympathetic to the sufferers of war.
In the first stanza, the photographer is all alone in the room, “with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.” He needs the personal space to reflect upon the horrors of war and get into grips with the harsh realities of war. Duffy describes the photographer as “a priest preparing to intone a Mass.” Rather than reflecting upon the death of Jesus which is the purpose of Mass, the photographer is reflecting upon the deaths of countless innocent people and the soldiers. It would be hard to empathize with the photographer, to understand how he feels. I pity him as no one would be able to understand the magnitude of his suffering, how he could not just leave the painful memories of war behind and continue living as if nothing has ever happened.
In the second stanza, the photographer thinks about the safety of his home Rural England, where “fields… don’t explode beneath the feet of running children.” He is trying to grasp whatever remnants of the normality of life remains, once he knows that children in war-torn places are running around mine-ridden fields. He being alone in the room could symbolize again, how no one could be able to empathize with him and again, I pity him for that as he has to carry the burden all by himself.
Asides from pitying him, I also feel that society is glad to keep a distance from the harsh realities of war, and that we are only superficially sympathetic for the war victims.
In the last stanza, Duffy writes
After reading Carol Ann Duffy’s poem the “War Photographer”, I feel pitiful for the war photographer, knowing that he cannot that he would not be able to lead a normal life once the memories from the battlefield haunts him. I also feel that we as society are glad to keep a distance from the harsh realities of war while being just superficially sympathetic to the sufferers of war.
In the first stanza, the photographer is all alone in the room, “with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.” He needs the personal space to reflect upon the horrors of war and get into grips with the harsh realities of war. Duffy describes the photographer as “a priest preparing to intone a Mass.” Rather than reflecting upon the death of Jesus which is the purpose of Mass, the photographer is reflecting upon the deaths of countless innocent people and the soldiers. It would be hard to empathize with the photographer, to understand how he feels. I pity him as no one would be able to understand the magnitude of his suffering, how he could not just leave the painful memories of war behind and continue living as if nothing has ever happened.
In the second stanza, the photographer thinks about the safety of his home Rural England, where “fields… don’t explode beneath the feet of running children.” He is trying to grasp whatever remnants of the normality of life remains, once he knows that children in war-torn places are running around mine-ridden fields. He being alone in the room could symbolize again, how no one could be able to empathize with him and again, I pity him for that as he has to carry the burden all by himself.
Asides from pitying him, I also feel that society is glad to keep a distance from the harsh realities of war, and that we are only superficially sympathetic for the war victims.
In the last stanza, Duffy writes