
Make sure you are familiar with the ins and outs of the texts on the AQA English Literature Paper 2 exam with Beyondâs âreviseâ blogs, which tackle each poem on the AQA Power and Conflict module. This blog tackles War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy, exploring:
- Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer context
- War Photographer Carol Ann Duffy summary / structure
- Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer analysis
Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer Context
Carol Ann Duffy made history in 2009 when she became the first woman to hold the post of Poet Laureate.
War Photographer is a poem about war and its effects on civilians. The poem discusses the lasting effects of war trauma on those photographers who take pictures of famine and battle. It also deals with the broader ethical issue of whether observing and photographing war rather than helping is the right thing to do.
The poem makes us question, along with the photographer, the worth of risking life to document conflict around the world. Through the newspaper business, money is being made with these pictures of human suffering.
This poem was written by Carol Ann Duffy and published in 1985. The subject of the poem is a war photographer, used to taking pictures of graphic and disturbing conflicts around the world. It is a poem written in the pre-digital camera age and so deals with an earlier form of photography in which pictures were taken from rolls of film and had to be developed manually. Here the photographer has returned to his darkroom to process the images he has taken in conflict zones. He is clearly suffering from some form of PTSD but the poem deals not just with his feelings but the wider issues of journalism in war situations.
The poet talks about Phnom Penh where the Cambodian genocide occurred. The poem also mentions fields that explode âbeneath the feet of running childrenâ. This might be in reference to a famous image from the Vietnam War of young children running from a napalm attack. It is one of the most famous war photographs in history.
Context summary:
- Carol Ann Duffy was the first woman to hold the post of Poet Laureate in 2009
- The poem explores the effects of trauma and the ethics behind documentary photography in times of conflict
- War Photographer was published in 1985
- Written in a pre-digital age, exploring “film photography”

War Photographer Carol Ann Duffy Summary & Structure
The poem is set out in four stanzas, equal in length, and follows a regular rhyme scheme. This reflects the âordered rowsâ of his photos in the darkroom as he waits for his pictures to develop. At âSomething is happeningâ in stanza 3, a clear volta occurs. The photos begin to develop and the focus shifts to individual images. While the actions of processing the film happen throughout the poem, his thoughts continue to return to the scenes he has witnessed while taking his pictures.
In the last stanza we see the way the photographer feels about the public who will view his pictures in âSundayâs supplementâ. Each one of the places where he witnessed terrible events is punctuated with caesura: âBelfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh.â There is further use of caesura in the simple openings to the second and third stanzas. These are matter of fact references to the job he is doing by developing his film. The full stops may indicate the end of ordinary life in these conflict areas, the brutal harshness of the world in those places.
Structure summary:
- War Photographer has four stanzas
- Each stanza is equal in length and uses a regular rhyme scheme
- This could reflect the “ordered rows” of photos in the photographer’s darkroom
Carol Ann Duffy War Photographer Analysis
The poem is full of emotive language. The nature of the photographerâs work is immediately apparent when we learn that he is developing âspools of sufferingâ. The photos he produces are âa hundred agoniesâ. The photographer is âfinally aloneâ, showing us that he has hardly had time to be alone with his thoughts while away collecting images. Now he has time to think and his hands âwhich did not tremble thenâ seem to once back in âRural Englandâ. We are left to wonder whether the trembling is from stress and PTSD symptoms or from anger at the indifference he perceives around him.

The photographer has clearly put his own emotions aside in order to take these pictures, as he âhas a job to doâ. The photographer remembers how, on seeing a man dying, he sought permission to take photographs, to do âwhat someone mustâ. He sees his role as documenter of the conflicts as important but still struggles with the way his pictures are received by the public. The pictures contrast with the âRural Englandâ he has returned to and there is a sense that the readers of the newspaper supplement where his pictures will appear are apathetic to the issues shown in the photos. This is known as compassion fatigue (the inability to process images appropriately and empathetically owing to the sheer volume of news seen).
He has taken images of âa hundred agoniesâ and his editor will only pick out five or six to put in the Sunday supplement that people will read. Although he feels the readerâs âeyeballsâ will âprick with tearsâ this will only be temporary: âbetween the bath and pre-lunch beersâ. The word âprickâ reminds us of the phrase âpricking the conscienceâ, it is neither a deep nor abiding wound/feeling. In the last line he stares âimpassively at where he earns his livingâ. This seems to reference him flying away on yet another trip to a conflict zone. He is emotionally cold to his homeland and, in the final phrase, he notes that âthey do not careâ.
Religious imagery makes us see the seriousness of the photographerâs work. Duffy speaks of the glowing red light as âthough this were a churchâ. She imagines the photographer in the guise of a priest âpreparing to intone a Massâ giving the production of the photographs the solemnity of a religious act. In particular the reference to âMassâ and the sombre nature of the subject matter makes the reader think of a funeral service.
Analysis summary:
- War Photographer is full of emotive language, such as “spools of suffering”
- The photographer’s professionalism and conscious decision to remain focused is explored via âhas a job to doâ
- Religious overtones are present through the word “mass” and phrase “though this were a church”
Power and Conflict Revision Bundle from Beyond
Further blogs featuring poems on the Power and Conflict module can be explored in âChecking Out Me Historyâ, âThe EmigrĂ©e or âThe Charge of the Light Brigadeâ. The theme of memory can also be explored in âPoppiesâ and the theme of the power of nature can be found in âOzymandiasâ and âStorm on the Islandâ.