War Photographer
“War Photographer” critical essay
“War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that uses features such as word choice, imagery and tone to make us feel pity for the main character. The poem is about the emotional struggles that the war photographer faces daily in his job. The author has written the poem to make us question the morality of taking photographs of people suffering in war zones.
“War Photographer” makes us feel pity by using effective word choice. “Hands...tremble” The word tremble suggests that the photographer has been so traumatised by what he has witnessed at war that he is unable to control his own body. We pity him here as we understand how overwhelmed he must be by the horrific images of war. Later on in the poem, we feel pity again towards the end of the poem because of word choice. “...eyeballs prick with tears...” The word prick makes us think of a small, short-lasting pain that will soon be forgotten. Although the readers are generally upset by seeing images of war sufferers, the emotions only last momentarily as the reader is detached from the experience and is unable to fully relate to the true terrors of war. This causes us to feel pity as the photographer has become mentally scarred undergoing this entire trauma to capture these photographs when the public back home are left unaffected by them in the long term.
Imagery is an effective technique used in the by the poet in “War Photographer”. As well as feeling pity towards the photographer, we also feel pity towards the victims of war. “...running children in a nightmare heat” The word nightmare suggest that the victims of war are having to live out their worst tribulation. Also, the fact that children are mentioned makes us feel compassionate as children are associated with innocence. The children had no involvement in the starting of the war yet they must live out the inferno of war. Another example of imagery being used to create a sense of pity towards the
“War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that uses features such as word choice, imagery and tone to make us feel pity for the main character. The poem is about the emotional struggles that the war photographer faces daily in his job. The author has written the poem to make us question the morality of taking photographs of people suffering in war zones.
“War Photographer” makes us feel pity by using effective word choice. “Hands...tremble” The word tremble suggests that the photographer has been so traumatised by what he has witnessed at war that he is unable to control his own body. We pity him here as we understand how overwhelmed he must be by the horrific images of war. Later on in the poem, we feel pity again towards the end of the poem because of word choice. “...eyeballs prick with tears...” The word prick makes us think of a small, short-lasting pain that will soon be forgotten. Although the readers are generally upset by seeing images of war sufferers, the emotions only last momentarily as the reader is detached from the experience and is unable to fully relate to the true terrors of war. This causes us to feel pity as the photographer has become mentally scarred undergoing this entire trauma to capture these photographs when the public back home are left unaffected by them in the long term.
Imagery is an effective technique used in the by the poet in “War Photographer”. As well as feeling pity towards the photographer, we also feel pity towards the victims of war. “...running children in a nightmare heat” The word nightmare suggest that the victims of war are having to live out their worst tribulation. Also, the fact that children are mentioned makes us feel compassionate as children are associated with innocence. The children had no involvement in the starting of the war yet they must live out the inferno of war. Another example of imagery being used to create a sense of pity towards the