The structure of the poem is in four regular stanzas, the regularity emphasizes both the monotonous pattern of the photographer’s job and also the commonalty of war. The text starts with the photographer returning home from one job and ends with him leaving for the next one, to reflect the repetitiveness of his job as if his life runs in a cycle. Furthermore, “a hundred agonies in black-and-white”, the dead as revealed from the Sunday newspaper is only one of many, as the editor only chooses five or six. This emphasizes the scale of war and the massive sufferings it cause. It also indicates the ignorance of the public as they are not fully informed about the tragedy of war so they have no idea of the circumstances of war as most photographs are not being published.
The darkness in his room, “in his darkness he is finally alone”, is a reflection of his depressed feeling in remembrance of the awful events he has witnessed. The horrific experience is so long lasting, which will dwell in his memory continually as represents by run-on-lines.
The simile chosen to compare the photographer with “a priest preparing to intone a mass” is effective. The reader can clearly picture the inside of a catholic church in their mind, with red lights glowing softly. It also assures that what the photographer is doing is holy and heroic as danger and risks are involved, “fields which explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat.” But the photographer still accepts the challenge.
As for the sound effect, the alliteration of the “s” sound, “with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”, illustrates the silent and isolated atmosphere the photographer is in—the photographic studio. With “eyes” rhyming with “cries”, it heightens our sympathy towards the victims in war as it appeals to both the readers’ sense of hearing and seeing. Not only does the suffering turn out to be more descriptive and imaginable, we can sense the speakers’ anti-war attitude by revealing the reality of war and the dreadful consequences war brings about. The speakers’ sickness of war reaches its climax when blood and dust are mentioned, “how blood stained into foreign dust”. The blood is a reminder of the blood shed in war, the injury and death of innocence. The ground is dust suggests that the land the soldiers are fighting for is worthless, which points out the purposeless of war.
Lat but not least, there is a contrast between the place where the photographer is in, which is peaceful, simple, and rural with the place where he undertakes his job. There “fields explode beneath he feet of running children in a nightmare heat” and “blood stained into foreign dust”. It reinforces the existence of the photographer in two separate worlds, which separate him from the newspaper reader geographically and emotionally as he has different views from the public towards the issue of war. He moves from place to place from time to time and cannot possess a stable home. The speaker hints the photographer’s desire to return to rural England as in line one he is “finally alone”, which stresses that he has been waiting for this moment for some time.
After having a clear interpretation of the poem, I feel shame on the newspaper reader, as they are obviously more interested in their own lives as the readers will only shed tears over the tragic photographs as they are “between the bath and pre-lunch beers”. Not only did they ignore the agonies of the victims, they didn’t express much appreciation towards the heroic task performed by the photographer. I really hope that the public can focus more on the suffering of others some day.
