Month: May 2016

Power is the capability or potential to do something. But power alone has no assured influence, pretty vague. Remains and War Photographer sifts through various kinds of power such as Power of Memory and Power of Guilt. Different types of power affect different types of people in various ways, shown in the following poems.

In Remains, power of memory is shown. “..his blood shadow stays on the street… I walk over it week after week” is a perfect example of how the protagonist is traumatised.He regrets, but is constantly reminded of it, because of the blood shadow on the street. It’s hard for him to accept that he will not be able to move on, due to the fact that he will be repeatedly reminded,he is unable to leave the past behind. Even if he tries to forget, the shadow will always be there, constantly refreshing his memory.  On the other hand, power of guilt is shown when he describes “I see every round as it rips through his life- I see broad daylight”. This shows how quick and violent the stage of the shooting was.

War Photographer focuses on power of commitment, “… a priest preparing to intone a Mass” shows that religious imagery is effective in highlighting the commitment the photographer has towards his job. But also as a priest, he is frequently exposed to hardship, torment and death.The “red light” symbolises the candles that burn in churches that portrays the attendance of Christ. But the “red light” could also depict blood, which the photographer is too familiar with. However, instead of preparing for a mass, he is developing photographs of the unseen parts of war. Slaughter and barbaric actions, which contradict the Churches practices.

In Remains however, power of guilt along with power of memory is represented. This is illustrated in the quote  “…the drink and drugs won’t flush him out – he’s here in my head when I close my eyes…”.So he is constantly reminded of killing the looter on patrol, so he tries to drown out the memory by getting drunk and taking drugs, but the memory is immensely powerful. “Flush” is associated of getting rid of waste, and in this case, the shooter wants to purify himself by trying forgetting his wrongdoings. He has to resort to such extremes like drugs, which makes no difference. The line “he’s here in my head when I close my eyes” implies this because even when he tries to rest, the sight of the looter is stuck in his head, the memory of the situation can’t leave his brain.

“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Pneh. All flesh is grass.” This is a list of the different war torn places that the War Photographer has been to, in order to witness and capture moments of war. The way Duffy lists the countries in such a way that visiting the different countries is seen as a vacation to the War Photographer. She is normalised to the sight of suffering, and has no emotional effects or attachment. The full stops used to list the different areas help enforce the images of war and conflict into the readers mind. “All flesh is grass” is an extremely powerful simile. Grass is grown all over the world in infinite amounts and is compared to bodies in conflicts. This shows the huge impact of war and conflict, implementing that hundreds and thousands of people are murdered, and in most cases left to rot. This could also be used to show how death is a normal, common sight to the people, and that they don’t get bothered by it any more. Power of war and conflict are portrayed in the quote m, because it explains how the different countries and many more are gravely affected and torn apart by the actions of the people in the higher power, which result in the innocent civilians suffering.

Differently, “On another occasion, we get sent out to tackle looters raiding a bank..” points out the power of force and authority. This quote shows that it’s his job to     “tackle looters” and that he has the power to use weapons, where other people aren’t allowed to. “…we got sent out…” shows that there someone above him, ordered him to go out. Even though he has the power of using offensive weapons, there is still someone above him. The people in higher authority send people, such as the soldier to attack dangers like armed bank looters. The soldiers and officers are exposed to the danger, whereas the boss is completely safe. So this quote shows two different levels of force and authority. The soldier has more authority on civilians, but the chief has even more power on the soldiers and officers.

Both poems show power. The key point in War Photographer is the fact that The War Photographer has frequently been to all these war torn countries and as a result, she is not moved by the image of agony and distress anymore. The War Photographer has adapted to sights of suffering, and death. This could be seen as an advantage for The War Photographer, as if feeling interfered with the photographers job, she wouldn’t be able to conduct her duties correctly.Whereas, the soldier in Remains gets directly affected. The power of guilt and memory is prominent in Remains, as  he gets permanently scarred by his actions.The soldier doesn’t get “normalised” by the sight of death, like The War Photographer, but quite the opposite ,he gets haunted and traumatised and explains how he tries to “flush him out”, by getting drunk and abusing drugs.

1. The speaker of the poem has power in a senior position-Remains
2. The power of conflict that the war photographer sees-War Photographer
3. War Photographer has a lot of responsibility – is compared to the priest
4. Power of guilt in Remains, his life is dominated by the thought of killing the man
5. Power of guilt in War Photographer
6. Power of fear in Remains-he’s scared of what he’s done
7. Power of authority in Remains-second guessed the man
8. In Remains, the speaker is overpowered by his authority
9. Power of memory in both poems.

• “…The drink and drugs won’t flush him out-he’s here in my head when I close my eyes…”

Power of memory and guilt is shown here. The shooter tries to forget, in every way, but the memory is incredibly strong, that it cannot be forgotten.

• “He has a job to do…”                       

This explains how feelings shouldn’t interfere with his job. This Aldo’s says that the War Photographer picked this job, and that he knew everything that came with the job, including risks etc. and that if you want to do a certain job

• “His blood shadow stays on the street… I walk right over it week after week…”                                    

This shows how he is constantly reminded of the life he has taken away and that the past couldn’t be left behind him, he will not be able to forget what he had done.

• “…A priest preparing to intone a Mass…”

This shows the importance of the role of the War Photographer, either for propaganda or shows the truth to the world. Either way, the company and the War Photographer see this process as sacred.

• “…Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Pneh. All flesh is grass.”

The listing of countries followed by “…all flesh is grass” shows the extremity of the situation. Grass is compared to the vast number of dead bodies left to rot.

Power Of Memory

“…But my memory of it is clear”

“…I am branded with an impression of sunlight”

“…Cannot break my original view”

“…But I cannot get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.”

I would use “cannot break my original view” because this shows that whatever someone says or thinks about her country, wether bad or good, she will always believe in her point of view.

We’ve been planning this for the past month now and the time has finally come. We were in sandals, dad was barefoot and we were waiting for the specific truck. It was early, around 1:30 (in the morning) and we were freezing.

It took forever to get here, but finally, we got the all clear, and we proceeded to get into the back of the truck. It wasn’t comfortable, but my dad told me “stop thinking about the present and build towards the future”. I didn’t really understand it, but it seemed wise. So we were in the back of this truck for ages, and it was a freezer of some sort, because of the incredibly low temperature and the frozen meat and fish we were surrounded by. Then we came to an abrupt halt. “Are we here mum?” my little sister questioned and my dad told us to keep quiet and low. We heard foreign voices outside, encircling the truck. Then with a sigh of relief, the truck started to accelerate, then suddenly we heard a shout and the truck suddenly stopped. The doors opened, with a flood of light streaming in, and I tried to make myself as small as I could, silently praying, hopefully we don’t get caught. Commanded voices broke the silence and I heard my sister cry and my mum screaming in  . A rough hand violently grabbed my arm and pulled me up, as if I was a rag doll. I got pushed out towards the back of the truck.

We got caught.

Where the woman is from:

The meaning of language:

Why the woman left:

Her life now:

The story:

Speaker in general:

Her old country:

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“He remembered the cries of this mans wife”

“He earns his living and they do not care”

“Which his editor wil pick out five or six”

“A hundred agonies in black and white”

Carol Ann Duffy uses language to suggest that the speaker feels conflicted. This is seen when the red room is compared to a “church and he a priest preparing to intone a mass” this shows that there is something highly important about to the photos. It shows that the etc photographer has a lot of respect for the photographs. Then, the short sentence “he has a job to do” explains the importance of his job, and that maybe he doesn’t enjoy his job, but it’s something that he has to do.