Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer Essay

In war poems, war is always condemned, dispraised and demonstrated as a futile and tragic event. In both poems, "War Photographer" by Duffy and "Exposure" by Owen, poets illustrate their suffering and acrimony of conditions of war. "War Photographer" is an inspiration of the friendship of the poet with a photographer of war. It is also an illustration of the brutality of war and the apathy of those who might see the photos in newspapers. Whereas, Exposure is a poem written by a solider who was honoured for his bravery and then was killed in the battle; therefore, Exposure has more authenticity.

Tolerance and tenacity are two characteristics that most writers and poets struggle to maintain. They must summon the will to push themselves in order to do their work and produce meaningful art. The same goes within society, individuals have to choose whether or not to continuing trying to fight for what they want or give into all the objects that are restraining them. In the poem “Marching Through a Novel”, John Updike contrasts his characters’ undying devotion with his own lack of power through the use of a forceful tone and imagery that is homogenous with life in the military in order to prove the importance of persistence and perseverance.

The topic of war is hard to imagine from the perspective of one who hasn't experienced it. Literature makes it accessible for the reader to explore the themes of war. Owen and Remarque both dipcik what war was like for one who has never gone through it. Men in both All Quiet on the Western Front and “Dulce Et Decorum” experience betrayal of youth, horrors of war and feelings of camaraderie.

War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy

Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively conveys his perspectives on human conflict through his experiences during The Great War. Poems such as ‘Futility’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ portray these perceptions through the use of poetic techniques, emphasising such conflicts involving himself, other people and nature. These themes are examined in extreme detail, attempting to shape meaning in relation to Owen’s first-hand encounters whilst fighting on the battlefield.

Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these

In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

From both poems we see how people use their power and strength to determine how we live our lives today. Carol Ann Duffy portrays the true horrors of war and how it affects people whereas Norman McCaig shows us how thin the line is between good and evil. Both poems are linked by the ongoing cycle of good and bad but both have their own ways of showing it. The concept of mankind causing suffering is apparent in both poems.

It is seen that the photographer’s feelings are brought out in two contrasting situations, at home and while at warfront. The poet continues to describe the sufferings of the photographer when his mental state is compared as he is travelling between the two contrasting worlds – one the warfront which is full of destruction and chaos and the other is ‘Rural England,’ probably countryside that is peaceful and serene. He compares the pain of war to simple pain of changing weather back at home in England. There being nothing worse then the harsh weather that the children have to face as against the mines that explode on the running feet of the children affected by war. This only tells us that the photographer longs peace and he is deeply moved by the affected children. His prolonged thoughts are presented with great effect by the use of enjambment in this line and this adds to the effect of continuity of thoughts.

War literature derives much of its impact from the fact that many readers will never have (and are never likely to) experienced the subject matter themselves. It has been postulated that poets such as Ciardi have been damaged psychologically by what they have seen and felt. In his case much of the evidence for this lies in his abandonment of his war diary, leaving it unfinished. Readers derive meaning from the unwritten words and see it as evidence of the concept that war is an exclusive experience, only comprehensible by those that have participated in combat. If one is to accept such a statement, one is likely to discover difficulty in the war literature and poetry of James Dickey, a man that has created a fiction around his war

The dark grim reality of war is powerfully addressed throughout Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and Duffy’s ‘War Photographer’. Each poet approaches the subject of suffering, pain and isolation in a different yet unique persona. ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ gives a glimpse into World War I soldiers struggling for survival and the hardship they endured. On the other hand, ‘War Photographer’ reveals the difficulties a war photographer faces in an internal battle between helping metaphorically and physically lost victims, and fulfilling what his job entails.

When she wrote the poem, in 1985, it is said that Duffy was friends with a war photographer and after hearing the stories and experiencing the photographer's life wrote this poem. War Photographer has been called “a chilling and disturbing poem which casts a harsh light on the destruction and bloodshed which results from war and how apathetic and uncaring the rest of the world, who is not directly affected by it is” by H. Rehman on litxpert.wordpress.com. Four stanzas of figurative language cause the reader to feel the sadness and pain the photographer feels daily. Similes are used, such as “The only light is red and softly glows as though this were a church and he a priest preparing intone a Mass,” revealing how serious and reserved the photographer is when he does his difficult job. Personification is another form of figurative language used in the poem.

The idea of futility can be classified into a simple form or quality of being hopeless. Many poets like Vernon Scannell, ‘Hide and Seek’; Carol Ann Duffy ‘War Photographer’ and Chinua Achebe, ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ exploit the theme of futility to express their personal experience and ambiguity of the horrors of war and the terrible human loss that accompanies it. In ‘War Photographer’, the poet demonstrates the futility by detailing the inner conflict within a war photographer by exploring the suffering and devastation- both physically and emotionally- caused by the

Natchwey’s images about war are powerful and they tell stories that language cannot describe. However, some categorize Natchwey’s personality as someone who does not care about the people in the picture because his photos represent people who are suffering, but only cares about the art of it. One critic describes Natchwey as a “heartless opportunits” that “find it hard to understand how anyone can think either about composition or style when they are in the middle of a war situation, among physically and mentally dying and murdered people”(Linfield 210).That is when Linfield asks the question: “Does the poetry of Natchwey vision overwhelm the prose of his subjects’ distress?” (Linfield 211). Does it overcome the reality? are his pictures immoral because critics characterize him as sadist?