Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer Essay

In’ War Photographer’, Duffy uses an oxymoronic title to contrast ‘war’ with suffering and death with a ‘photographer’ as life, peace and memories to present life and death. To highlight the contrast, the poem is laid out in four regular six-line stanzas. This rigid structure shows that the job of a photographer is methodological and systematic in the way he sets out the film - “spools of suffering” and “in ordered rows” to restore order on the destruction and bloodshed of “The hundred agonies” that war results in. The word “agonies” clearly demonstrates the impact of war on people’s lives as it depicts the suffering and pain caused by violence. Duffy uses a variety of literary devices to depict the horrors of war resulting in death. In the metaphor “spools of suffering” it isn’t the spools which are …show more content…
She writes with strong emotions to convince the reader how horrific a war is and the endless misery. Duffy’s use of words such as “in ordered rows” implies he feel like a priest who is about to lead a mass funeral. Again “ordered rows” is a metaphor, comparing the rows to the coffins of the dead soldiers which are neatly organised neatly into rows. To develop a intense contrast between life and death Duffy uses juxtaposition. She refers back to the photographer’s life in “rural England” and those in the rest of the world, where people are innocently unaware of the brutality and impact of war. The use of imagery “Fields which don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat” gives the reader a strong impression of what actually happens on the battle field, in contrast with what the reader would normally associate with “running children” in “fields”, which is fun and playful. Duffy uses a metaphor “All flesh is grass” to emphasis that living in a war zone, life is more fragile and very much