Monday 01/10/12
• Critical essay NAB – 1 hour.
• Choose one question.
• Answer on ‘War Photographer’ by Carol
Ann Duffy.
• Take 15 minutes to choose question and
plan answer.
• Take 5 minutes at end to read over work.
• Aim to write 6 paragraphs
Paragraph plan
• Introduction – 5 key points (on wall)
• Paragraph 1 – stanza 1. (words of
question, point, quote and comment,
personal response, words of 3rd part of
question
• Paragraph 2 – stanza 2 (A/A)
• Paragraph 3 – stanza 3 (A/A)
• Paragraph 4 – stanza 4 (A/A)
• Conclusion – brief mirror of introduction.
Group task
• In groups break down the question into 2
or 3 parts – what is the question asking?
• How will you answer it? What are the key
words of the question?
• Take a paragraph each? How would you
answer this?
• What evidence would you
use? How would you relate
this to the question?
Choose a poem in which contrast is
important in developing theme?
• Examples of contrast. Evidence
• Why is it important in developing a key
theme.
Stanza 1
• Example of contrast – darkroom and war zones
• This is important as his desperation to be ‘alone’
highlights the impact war has had on him.
• ‘light is red and softly glows’
• ‘Red’ has connotations of death, danger and war
contrasts with ‘softly’. This highlights that war
can bring out goodness in people as well as
violence.
Contrast – stanza 2
• ‘Solutions slop’ contrast with ‘ordered rows’. This
reveals that the war photographer is a complex
character.
• This is important in developing the theme of the
impact war has on the individual and how people
cope with war.
• The contrast between ‘Rural England’ and war
zones highlights that some parts of the world are
peaceful whereas others have very difficult
events.
To maximise success
• You must know the poem off by heart (key
quotes)
• Summarise each stanza of the poem in your
mind – as that is the basis for each paragraph.
• Read the question carefully, underline key words
and identify the 2 or 3 things the question is
asking you to do.
• Keep your answer to the point – answer the
question.
• Use technical jargon – metaphor, contrast…if
appropriate.
Key points
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•
•
•
Who - Character – War Photographer
Where – darkroom
When – 1980s
What – developing his pictures and reflecting on
his experience
• Why – highlights the theme – the damage
caused by war
• How – through a 3rd person, apparently ordered
poem with religious and thought provoking
images.
Task 1
• Individually you will take 10 minutes for
you (on your own!!!!) to write a summary of
the stanza you are allocated.
Then – in your groups. Share your
summary and write out a group
one.
Stanza one
• Establishes setting and character. The
photographer is relieved to be alone in his
darkroom. The darkroom is peaceful like a
church and soothing with the light that
softly glows. The photographer is
compared to a priest suggesting he is a
good man who has dedicated his life to his
work. However, the stanza ends with
reference to where he has worked and the
final line is a religious reference to death.
Stanza 2
• This stanza begins in a mundane manner ‘he
has a job to do’. This makes his job sound
ordinary which is in contrast to the image of him
as a priest. Moreover ‘solutions slop in trays’
making him sound careless. However, we
realise that his hands ‘tremble’ and realise he
has been affected by what he has witnessed.
‘Rural England’ contrasts with Beirut etc in
stanza 1. The oxymoron ‘ordinary pain’
emphasises the confusion war has created and
how he has little sympathy for ‘ordinary’
problems.
Stanza 3
• The tone changes again – ‘Something is
happening’. He experiences a painful
memory ‘twist’ of a dying man whom he
has photographed. Moreover the ‘half
formed ghost’ reveals that he has been
haunted by what he has seen. It highlights
that war punishes everyone. Also these
memories will stay with him with the use of
the word ‘stained’. It will be difficult to
remove.
Stanza 4
• This focuses on the attitude of the editor and
readers. From the ‘hundred agonies in black and
white’ the editor will only pick 5 or 6. This sounds
very cold as though the editor does not care – it
is only a job. The idea of black and white is a
reference to the truth. The readers are only
affected for a short period of time and in the final
2 lines the war photographer questions the
purpose of his job. The tone changes and he
wonders whether all he is doing is earning a
living. In other words can he make a difference?
Homework
• Answer ‘War Photographer’ questions
• Learn poem
• Discursive essay due – 08/10/12
No 1 – complex character
• Theme – damage that war can do physically and
emotionally / how war changes or impacts on
people.
• Complex character
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Isolated versus war zones
Organised
Important
Careless/messy
Physically affected
memories are painful
Haunted
Tries to tell the truth
Feels his job is worthless
No 2 – aspects of structure
• Theme – impact of war on people.
Verse form and rhyme
• Ordered, regular rhyme scheme
• Like soldiers, like soldiers graves.
• Enjambment
• Chaos like a war zone and reflecting the inside of his mind
Contrast
• Setting
• Character in stanza 1 and stanza 4
– Job important to job worthless.
No 3 – conflict or danger or death
• Theme – impact and consequences of
war.
• Mood – serious, sombre, reflective…
• Show how – setting ‘darkroom’ – peaceful,
safe and ‘dark’ – reflective. Character and
imagery
• Central idea = theme
Evidence
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•
•
•
•
•
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•
•
•
•
•
Darkroom
Spools of suffering
Ordered rows
Red
Church/priest
Belfast…All flesh is grass
Tremble
Fields which don’t explode…nightmare heat.
Cries of this man’s wife
Half formed ghost
Blood stained into foreign dust
A hundred agonies in black and white
He earns a living and they do not care
No 4 – central concern – last lines
• Central concern – the impact of war and the fact
that society cares so little.
• Start with final lines and analyse what they mean
then go to start of poem. Think of a film told in
flashback.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Priest
Ordered rows
Belfast…All flesh is grass
Tremble
Fields which don’t explode…nightmare heat
Twist – connotations? Are the public twisted?
Ghost
A hundred agonies
Editor’s reaction
Public reaction