In the second stanza, the photographer struggles internally. He has no emotion in this work, or, at least he tries to tell himself that. The second stanza contrasts the photographer's calmness when taking pictures with his attitude as he develops them. Duffy has used an abrupt tone throughout the second stanza as it says, 'He has a job to do'. It is as if the photographer is trying justifying his work. This shows that the photographer is trying to put his feelings aside to forget about what's happening in the images. Duffy has used the onomatopoeia, ‘solutions slop’ so that, as the reader, it helps you to imagine the noises in the photographers developing room. The word ‘solutions’ refers literally to the developing fluid in the trays, but also suggests the idea of that he is imploring the reader into solving the problems which caused the war; the ‘solutions’ which he does not have. The reader gets the feeling that a person who has felt the suffering is unveiling himself to you as you read on. You get the same feeling of helplessness that the people in the photographs must have felt also.
It is also apparent that the panic has been delayed for the photographer. Suddenly the facts hit him, but the irony is that the after effects of the war are now catching up with him. When he was in the middle of danger he wasn't afraid; it is now he is back home that he finds his ‘hands tremble’. Furthermore the intensity of what he has witnessed also seems to hit him as he reviews the images.
The line 'rural England' stands out as it's suggesting that England is peaceful place in comparison with the panic and chaos of war. The photographer is glad he is now ‘home again’ where there is no war. Duffy is emphasising the fact that the people living in England do not have to fear for their lives everyday like the people suffering in the photographs. Duffy also makes it clear that in England ‘pain simple weather can dispel’. This means that in England that everything can be made alright just with a simple sunny day as opposed to war torn countries they live in fear as landmines explode and blow up ‘running children’. Duffy uses this strong juxtaposition to emphasise that our lives in rural England are much better and safer that those in the war torn countries.
Duffy contrasts the fields in England with those abroad; as if the photographer thinks English fields unusual as he is used to them being filled with mines. The image is shocking, because he thinks of land mines as exploding not under soldiers but under ‘the feet of running children’.
The third stanza details a haunting photograph. The photos bring back bad memories. As the picture develops he sees the ‘half-formed ghost’ of a man. It isn't literally a ghost but it is someone who has died, slowly forming in a photograph. It is the man's wife he remembers screaming. This could show the comparison to the reality that the people in the photographs are actually dead turning into apparent ghosts. This shows that there is pain and suffering behind his work. In looking at a particular picture, the photographer envisions a ghostly apparition of a dead soldier's wife. He did not seek this wife's permission to photograph the dead soldier, yet he felt someone had to do it, ‘he sought approval, without words to do what someone must’ and now he feels he is now being haunted. The opening lines of the stanza inject drama and suspense as the readers don’t know what is happening.
It is apparent that photographer doesn't really enjoy his job as he has painful memories as he 'remembers the cries'. This shows that seeing people dying is something that he never forgot about. He feels the best help and reconciliation he can give to the dead soldier is to publish the photograph to publicise the horror and maybe aid other dying people. Duffy uses the alliteration, ‘without word’ to emphasise the fact that just like the dead people, cannot speak for themselves, he is lost for words as he is in shock in what he is seeing. In the concluding sentence of the stanza there is another reference like the one at the end of stanza one, which suggests there are dead bodies all over the land, ‘blood stained in foreign dust’. It really makes the reader think about world events a bit more and about what we don't get to see or hear about things such as wars.
In the final stanza the photographer has now finished developing his photographs and is now reminiscent of his next job. Behind every photo there are so many different stories that are described as ‘A hundred agonies’ but only a small selection will be chosen to make an impact on the reader of the ‘Sunday supplement’. The fact that these pictures are sifted through, ‘editor picks out five or six’, shows a lack of respect for the dead featured in the pictures. Furthermore, the idea that they are only to ‘supplement’ a Sunday paper simply publicises them. This is emphasized in describing a sort of false emotion the reader will feel by glancing over the newspaper. They will have a slight effect on the reader, enough to make the reader perhaps have tears in their eyes shown when ‘The reader's eyeballs prick’, but it is only temporary. For that moment when they read the paper it will stir them but quickly the reader will be thinking of something else such as ‘pre-lunch beers’. The pain and suffering is trivialized in the ordinary lives people have.
The concluding lines show that once again the photographer has to move on with his work. As he sets off to a new location, he knows that what he does won't make a difference. It is his career but the public aren't bothered shown in the final line that sums up the whole poem, ‘they do not care’. This is a bitter image of the real truth.
