grade 9 analysis of War Photographer - in the power and conflict poetry anthology

'War Photographer' was first published in 1985 so does not refer to more modern conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. A 'darkroom' is where photographers developed their photographic films before digital technology.

The alliteration of 'spools of suffering' draws attention to the wide range of traumatic experiences recorded by the photographer. The juxtaposition of 'ordered rows' with 'spools of suffering' reflects the photographer's ability to maintain a distance from his subject matter. The 'red light' is symbolic and reflects a sense of unease, secrecy and potential exploitation.

The 'darkroom' is compared to a 'church' and the 'photographer' is compared to a 'priest'. The audience for these photographs become a congregation: guided, influenced and challenged. The poet lists cities that have been torn apart by conflict: the photographer has seen them all. 'All flesh is grass' (Isiah 40:6) suggests that human life is brief and fragile; we grow and then we die. The nameless protagonist has escaped again from places of suffering and chaos, back to a place where he has some control.

In the second stanza, the verb 'slop' betrays the protagonist's stress and implies psychological damage. 'Rural England' has connotations of peace, tranquility and traditional values. The 'ordinary pain' of home is not as traumatic or long lasting as the terror of war zones. We are confronted by an image of landmines that 'explode', napalm attacks and dying children in the final two lines of the stanza. The photographer may be away from the 'nightmare' but he can't get the memories out of his head.

In the third stanza, the 'stranger' is a man terribly wounded in conflict. The photographer needed the 'approval' to take pictures rather than help. His decisions were difficult; he had to take photographs to convey the terrible situation to the wider world. The 'foreign dust' reflects the fragmentation of this far off land and also how the photograph will soon be forgotten.

'Agonies' is a powerful and emotive plural noun that emphasises the pain and suffering of the people the man photographs. The selection of the photographs, 'five or six' that are picked out, is superficial: many of the images will never be seen. Rhyming 'tears' and 'beers' creates a sense of bathos (anti-climax); the reader is only affected for a moment. The adverb 'impassively' implies a lack of emotional connection from the photographer to his work. The assonance of the last two lines reflects the drudgery and predictable nature of his work. The 'they' of the last line is a comment on society: people don't care about people suffering in far off places. The poem concludes in a sad, depressing and disturbing way.

We must consider the impact of PTSD on anyone who has worked in areas of conflict, not just soldiers. This poem has very similar themes to those explored in 'Remains'.

'War Photographer' was first published in 1985 so does not refer to more modern conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. A 'darkroom' is where photographers developed their photographic films before digital technology.

The alliteration of 'spools of suffering' draws attention to the wide range of traumatic experiences recorded by the photographer. The juxtaposition of 'ordered rows' with 'spools of suffering' reflects the photographer's ability to maintain a distance from his subject matter. The 'red light' is symbolic and reflects a sense of unease, secrecy and potential exploitation.

The 'darkroom' is compared to a 'church' and the 'photographer' is compared to a 'priest'. The audience for these photographs become a congregation: guided, influenced and challenged. The poet lists cities that have been torn apart by conflict: the photographer has seen them all. 'All flesh is grass' (Isiah 40:6) suggests that human life is brief and fragile; we grow and then we die. The nameless protagonist has escaped again from places of suffering and chaos, back to a place where he has some control.

In the second stanza, the verb 'slop' betrays the protagonist's stress and implies psychological damage. 'Rural England' has connotations of peace, tranquility and traditional values. The 'ordinary pain' of home is not as traumatic or long lasting as the terror of war zones. We are confronted by an image of landmines that 'explode', napalm attacks and dying children in the final two lines of the stanza. The photographer may be away from the 'nightmare' but he can't get the memories out of his head.

In the third stanza, the 'stranger' is a man terribly wounded in conflict. The photographer needed the 'approval' to take pictures rather than help. His decisions were difficult; he had to take photographs to convey the terrible situation to the wider world. The 'foreign dust' reflects the fragmentation of this far off land and also how the photograph will soon be forgotten.

'Agonies' is a powerful and emotive plural noun that emphasises the pain and suffering of the people the man photographs. The selection of the photographs, 'five or six' that are picked out, is superficial: many of the images will never be seen. Rhyming 'tears' and 'beers' creates a sense of bathos (anti-climax); the reader is only affected for a moment. The adverb 'impassively' implies a lack of emotional connection from the photographer to his work. The assonance of the last two lines reflects the drudgery and predictable nature of his work. The 'they' of the last line is a comment on society: people don't care about people suffering in far off places. The poem concludes in a sad, depressing and disturbing way.

We must consider the impact of PTSD on anyone who has worked in areas of conflict, not just soldiers. This poem has very similar themes to those explored in 'Remains'.

I was about to ask what evidence you had that this was grade 9 before I checked who posted it. It seemed like it was, but I was just about to foolishly check. I need to try and avoid being too hasty!

I've got a few like this. Don't know whether you've heard of the 'Show My Homework' application. Basically you can set up multiple choice quizzes. Each sentence in the above essay is an answer to one of the questions. My students do the quizzes to consolidate their understanding of the poems and build serviceable essays too as a happy consequence. The only slight flaw is the essays lack a bit of fluency in my opinion; however, I think there's enough quality here to support the OP.

As an aside to the rest of the community, if your school is on 'Show My Homework', all my resources are public and I think they're better than a lot of the similar material that's available on there.

There's a full set of quizzes for the OCR Conflict cluster, several for AQA conflict and plenty of resources for 'An Inspector Calls', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Jekyll and Hyde'.

Let me know if you want details of how to get to them; your teacher will have to locate them in the shared area (which also contains a lot of dross).

what if your school doesn't use 'Show my homework'. any other way i could access it??

Just to let you know, for AQA, War Photographer came up this year. So, if you're sitting the exams in 2020 or 2021, it's pretty unlikely they'll go for it again.

Very true but it could still be used for comparison.

Nope, sorry. It's all on the app. I can send you similar essays for 'Remains', 'The Prelude', 'Ozymandias', 'Exposure' and 'London' if that would be helpful?

ohh yess please, that would be very much appreciated.

Here you go. 'Tissue' too. I'll get the rest done over the next few months no doubt.

Sure. Here are three essays and a 'Jekyll and Hyde' revision resource that I use.

Sure. Here are three essays and a 'Jekyll and Hyde' revision resource that I use.

Are you a teacher?