Précis: The poet describes her feelings towards society and the agonies of war, in addition to the lack of interest of mankind toward it through the story of an anonymous war photographer's life.
Context: The poem is written about a war photographer who has returned home and is developing his photos. The process of developing old-style film photos is rather unusual for many to understand today. Old style film is very sensitive to light, so it must be done in a dark room lit with red light. The photo itself is developed using chemicals which slowly bring out the photo, it is then hung to dry. All of this can create quite a sinister atmosphere, red light, surrounding by hanging photos and chemical smells. The poem is also looking at the contrast between the war zones and safety of being back home and the way people just do not understand the truth. After all, a single photo cannot show everything. War photographers do a very dangerous job, many are killed and injured as they must get in harm's way to get the photos they are after.
Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was especially intrigued by the peculiar challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects.
Duffy perhaps shares an affinity with these photojournalists - while they use the medium of photography to convey certain truths about the human condition, she uses words and language to do the same job. Throughout the poem, Duffy provokes us to consider our own response when confronted with the photographs that we regularly see in our newspaper supplements, and why so many of us have become desensitised to these images.
By viewing this issue from the perspective of the photographer, she also reveals the difficulties of such an occupation. By the end of the poem, it is clear her subject straddles two vastly different worlds yet increasingly feels he belongs to neither.
Belfast is mentioned as a war zone due to "the Troubles", an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century. It was fought between Catholic Irish nationalists and Protestant Northern Irish monarchists. Places in Northern Ireland and even mainland UK were bombed by the IRA (Irish Republican Army).
Beirut is mentioned as a war zone due to the Lebanese Civil War, a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. It was fought between the Lebanese Christian and Muslim populations.
Phnom Penh is mentioned as a war zone due to the Cambodian Civil War, a military conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge) and their allies North Vietnam and the against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia and, after October 1970, the Khmer Republic, which were supported by the United States and the South Vietnam.
Themes:
The poem focuses on two main themes:
-the horror of war -our increasing indifference to the victims of conflict
These themes are revealed not only through Duffy's word choice and imagery, but also through the central paradox that while the imagery of war is more widespread and prevalent than at any other time in history, its impact upon those of us exposed to it is rapidly declining.
The horror of war
Duffy's skilful yet understated imagery helps to convey the terrible personal stories that lie behind every conflict. Perhaps almost in an attempt to counter the graphic imagery that we have become so used to seeing, her depictions are subtle and understated and she often leaves the reader to compose their own images.
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English GCSE AQA: Comprehensive Analysis of the Power and Conflict Poems
Non-FictionI decided to make a book on all the Power and Conflict poems for the English GCSE exams. NOTE: This book's analyses are very long and wordy due to much information from different sources. Although they are segmented, some may not find too much comfo...
