War Photographer Poem Essay

How is contrast between innocence and experience presented?

The Piano, The Tyger, War Photographer, The Lamb, In Mrs Tilscher’s Class, The Early Purges

The six poems that I will be discussing are all linked by themes of innocence and experience; however, these themes are expressed differently by each poet through their tone, language choices or structure.

War Photographer by Carol Anne Duffy, presents the photographer’s experiences of a world being torn apart by war. Duffy uses a number of literary devices to describe the horror and agony of war; the phrase “spools of suffering” is a metaphor, along with containing alliteration, as it isn’t the spools of film which are suffering but the people pictured in the photographs. Duffy cleverly presents a paradox where by the chaos of pain and suffering, is elegantly organised into “ordered rows”. The phrase “ordered rows” could also be classed as a metaphor, comparing the rolls to the coffins of the dead soldiers who lay in orderly fashion in memorials. Duffy also uses the colours to convey that the red light might symbolise bloodshed and that the pictures are “black and white” which may present contrasts between good and evil. At first the photographer feels disgust towards the uncaring world and guilt a being the one exploiting the pain to the rest of the world via newspapers. But later, he adopts an impassive attitude, realising that no matter how he feels, he cannot change the world, nor stop the war or bloodshed from happening; all he can do is his job. His photographs can show what the photographer saw but not what he felt as there is no way for his photographs to show his memories. The War Photographer, is a chilling and disturbing view of experience, where conflicting feelings ...

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...dea of the kittens being innocent by using the word “soft”. Enjambment is quite commonly used to help change the pace of the poem, which mirrors the man’s changing attitudes towards the cruelty. Heaney in The Early Purges, like Piano and Mrs Tilscher’s Class conveys to the reader that innocence is important for people as it is a freedom from sin because of being ignorant about evil. However, The Early Purges also brings the idea that experience is much more valuable than innocence.

All the poems agree that innocence is an important stage of mankind’s life, but they differ in how much time innocence should last - for example, The Lamb may suggest as long period of innocence than Mrs Tilcher’s Class. Experience with the exception of The Tyger, is perceived a being a must in everyone’s lifetime although as expressed especially in Piano it may seem hard to contemplate.