Essay Question

1. Essay Question • Higher English, 2011 Choose a poem which seems to you to be critical of a person or a point of view. Discuss how effectively this criticism is presented by the poet. Your answer should address the central concerns of the text and techniques such as imagery, form, structure, mood, tone, sound, rhythm, rhyme, characterisation, contrast, setting, symbolism, word choice...

2. How to structure a poetry essay? • The simplest way to structure an essay on ‘War Photographer’ is to include paragraphs on the following: • Intro • Stanza 1 • Stanza 2 • Stanza 3 • Stanza 4 • Conclusion

3. Introduction • EVERY critical essay should include 5 key points. • Title • Author • Brief plot summary • Reference to the task • Personal reaction

4. Example The thought provoking poem ‘War Photographer’ written by Carol Ann Duffy is critical of warfare and its impact on humanity. She explores this criticism through the persona of a war photographer. The poem’s circular structure shows the character of the war photographer retuning home to England to develop his photographs and deal with his emotional reaction to the destruction he has witnessed before he once again departs to document another battle. This poem challenges the reader’s attitude to war and the role of the war photographer.

5. Main Body Paragraphs • PEAR • Ensure analysis is lengthier than your point and evidence.

6. Stanza 1 is critical of the death and suffering experienced in war. Duffy shows the impact on the photographer in the opening of the poem: “In his darkroom he is finally alone.” Our initial impression of the photographer is of someone who is lonely and tormented. The word ‘finally’ implies his relief at escaping the war. He seeks the solitude and sanctuary of his ‘darkroom’. This isolation is a contrast to the violence and hoards of people present in the war zones he visits. The darkroom is literally the place where he develops his photos but the word ‘dark’ has connotations of the nasty, evil side of war and of the dark side of human nature, perhaps even of the dark places the photographer has travelled to in his mind. The photographer has ‘spools of suffering set out in ordered rows’. The word ‘spools’ hints at both the sheer number of photographs he has taken and the multitude of casualties the war photographer has witnessed. It could also imply the impact the war has had on the photographer himself. Like a spool he is tightly wound – a reaction to the traumas he has experienced. This image of ‘spools’ subverts our idea of photography. We normally record images of happiness. Here the images are of devastation and suffering. The ‘ordered rows’ could remind us of the coffins of the dead, laid out neatly. Duffy uses sibilance in the repeated ‘s’ to recreate the sound of the camera rewinding through the hundreds of images the war photographer has recorded. Duffy goes on to further criticise the impact of war on people when she describes the dark room as having a “red” light which “softly glows”. The word red ‘connotes’..................... The word “glow” could mean..... There is religious symbolism here........ The final line of stanza 1 is bold and hammers home the impact of war on humanity: “Befast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass.” Here Duffy is naming war zones. The plosive sounds of the ‘b’ and ‘p’ reminds the reader of the ...... The minor sentences mimics the quick shutter speed of the camera absorbing the horrors of war. The biblical reference “all flesh is grass” reveals the temporary nature of life in a war zone...

7. This shows… • Highlights • Suggests • Implies • Connotes • Mimics • Hints at • Reveals