War Photographer

-Carol Ann Duffy

In his darkroom he is finally alone 1

with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows. 2
The only light is red and softly glows, 3
as though this were a church and he 4
a priest preparing to intone a mass. 5
Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass. 6

He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays 7

beneath his hands which did not tremble then 8
though seem to now. Rural England. Home again 9
to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel, 10
to fields which don't explode beneath the feet 11
of running children in a nightmare heat. 12

Something is happening. A stranger's features 13

faintly start to twist before his eyes, 14
a half formed ghost. He remembers the cries 15
of this man's wife, how he sought approval 16
without words to do what someone must 17
and how the blood stained into foreign dust. 18

A hundred agonies in black-and-white 19

from which his editor will pick out five or six 20
for Sunday's supplement. The reader's eyeballs prick 21
with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers. 22
From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where 23
he earns his living and they do not care. 24

Guided Questions:
1) Comment on the use of literary features in the poem, specifically the use of allusions.
2) Discuss the use of tone in the poem. How does the tone of the poem affect the poem’s main
theme?