How to Compare Poems: Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade, Duffy's War Photographer

[@seededbread7985]

Hi Sir, could you give a little look at this extract from a comparison I have made and make a guess at around what level and grade as well as marks you think it may get in an exam? BTW I love your videos :) What is the effect of conflict on the individual in War Photographer and one other poem... In the poem War Photographer, the photographer is fine when carrying out his job; however when he gets home he begins to feel his hands 'tremble' as he lays out the photographs, whilst images of 'nightmare heat' come to mind - being a reference to the Vietnam war and emphasising the emotive effect not only on the photographer but also the reader - By using the verb 'tremble' this is a stark contrast to the cold phrase 'he has a job to do' to 'tremble' indicates to the reader how he has become enthralled and overridden with emotion once at home, in his own isolation. The use of enjambment as a structural device also supports how he has allowed his emotion to take over. This creates the effect that the conflict only has an affect on the photographer once away from the action. The same applies to the soldier in the poem remains. The soldier ruthlessly murders a civilian who is 'possibly armed, probably not' the decisive action of murder contrasts greatly to the unsure nature of the solder when juxtaposed next to one another. The soldier describes how the guts of the victim were 'tossed' this verb and cold actions that take place contrast to the feeling he has once at home. When the solder returns he describes how the scene is 'dug in' his mind; creating the effect to the reader he is at war with his mental self over the actions he has taken and when away from the action is deeply disturbed by the effect of war. This point is further consolidated when the phrase to describe how the blood of the victim 'stained' the street. The verb to stain, not only literally shows how the blood remains -no pun intended- yet also symbolises how the action has branded the soldiers mind and left a lasting impact; and like in War Photographer, the soldier is only truly at war when in the safety of his own home - ironically.

[@ibrahimqureshi7397]

U absolute legend

[@moz7617]

innit

[@maksrid8365]

Amazing love your videos

[@_amn2168]

I am currently studying love and relationships but when I watch some of Mr Bruff's analysis I feel like he waffles on a little bit and I lose concentration easily, should I move onto power and conflict and watch your videos on them as I prefer your analysis on English Lit in general rather than Mr Bruff's?

[@charlotte8746]

Hi Mr Salles, about a month ago I wrote up a comparison between 'Remains' and 'War Photographer' for my teacher to mark and she said that she would mark it but she still hasn't marked it. I know it may seem desperate but could I please possibly email/type up what I wrote? Our school started analysing poetry too late in the yesr which is why I have been analysing the power and conflict poems at home and so it's left us with little time to remember quotes and even so, practise questions. I really hope you don't mind but with just over a month until the exams start, I'm a little panicked!

[@MrSallesTeachesEnglish]

Hi Charlotte. If you type it up following the BOOTSE model, I'll mark it and hopefully video it. How's that?

[@charlotte8746]

Sounds like a great idea! I'll type it up tomorrow. :)

[@charlotte8746]

Charlotte Comparing ‘Remains’ with ‘War Photograhper’ (30 marks) The poem ‘Remains’ begins with a group of soldiers robbing a looter and how they are “possibly armed, possibly not.” The soldiers’ uncertainty could perhaps suggest that his memories are a blur because he reflects his actions constantly through the repetition of ‘possibly’ to signify that he has thought about his actions so much that he can't recollect his memories at that time. Although the poem is spoken by a soldier rather than Armitage himself, the true emotions and uncertainly that the soldier expresses represents his fear of that very shooting and could perhaps suggest the sheer danger of the war since they had little protection. This can therefore tell us that the soldiers’ are perhaps treated unfairly since they are there to fight and fight only and the idea of protection should be the least of their worries. The idea of being treated unfairly can be linked directly to ‘War Photogrpaher’ as the photographer is “in his darkroom he is finally alone.” A darkroom is where photographs can be developed and so the lighting is quite dim. However this could reflect his emotions since the colour ‘dark’ has connotations of misery, dullness and dreariness. Therefore, this represents his feelings towards his job and perhaps the emotions he feels once returning from war after taking many disturbing images. However his feelings go unnoticed, which is similar to the soldier in ‘Remains’ as they both leave with negative emotions yet they must live as if nothing has happened. Duffy uses this to show that anyone involved in war can be effected by it no matter their position during the horrors of World War Two. In ‘Remains’, Armitage expresses the after effects of war through the soldiers’ persona as “the drink and the drugs won't flush him out.” The verb ‘flush’ is a direct link to sickness which could represent his mental state. Therefore he can't simply ‘remove’ the memory from his mind, it is forever stuck with him and even by using drugs and drinks, it will never erase the memory of the looter. A similar idea of this is used in ‘War Photographer’ as during his visit, the photographer sees “a stranger’s features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half-formed ghost.” By the use of the ambiguous phrase, it almost foreshadows the fate of the picture as it could suggest that the image begins to fade into existence or a more sinister approach could be that he is seeing an injured or perhaps dead person in his mind, suggesting that his memories are haunting him. This is further supported through the use of the metaphor ‘twist before his eyes’. This suggests that war is playing with his mind as he cannot seem to stop thinking about it. There is a similar contrast between ‘Remains’ in this instance as they both find themselves almost over-thinking regarding what they saw at the battlefield. Both Armitage and Duffy signifies the importance of their emotions to give us a literal feel for those involved in war. The title of the two poems are quite blunt as the title ‘War Photographer’ should be titled ‘The War Photographer’. Since this isn't the case, it could perhaps suggest that the job of the photographer doesn't deserve to be mentioned with a proper authoritative title. The title of the poem also tells us that we will be presented with a series of pictures that will hopefully stick with us and forces us to respond to these images. It could also juxtapose one another as ‘war’ is futile, horrifying and unpleasant. Whereas a ‘photographer’ is a pleasant, enjoyable, relaxing job/hobby. Therefore the juxtaposition suggests that there is a conflict between the photographers emotions since he perhaps enjoys his job. But this is not on the case at the frontline and so shows us the difference between horror and pleasure. In relation to ‘Remains’,the title of the poem is quite ambiguous as it simply suggests that a small part of someone/something is left behind. In this case it's the soldier and so judging by the title, this shows that there is little left of the soldier in terms of his mental state. Armitage perhaps titled the poem ‘Remains’ as it has synonyms such as ‘leftovers’ and ‘scraps’ which is a direct link to the soldier in the poem as there is little left of him. In ‘War Photographer’, the poem follows a cyclical structure as the poem ends where it starts. In this case, the photographer returns back to his ‘darkroom’ in stanza one, before leaving ‘from the aeroplane’ by stanza four. By doing this, Duffy has tried to make an impact on ‘Sunday's supplement’, yet no matter how hard we try, our views won't change. This could perhaps suggest anger on Duffy’s part since war is war- it will never change and so everything is pre-determined. In contrast to ‘Remains’, we see that the soldier is back at home as it says: “Then I'm on home leave.” The use of caesura suggests a sense of finality into thinking that going home will change him, but despite his efforts, it won't. This is supported by the conjunction ‘but I blink (new stanza) and he burst again through.” Even by the use of enjambment shows that even on return, simple actions such as blinking triggers him to remember the robbery so it shows the constant blending of domestic and military actions in his everyday life which therefore reflects his suffering. By the end of ‘War Photographer’ and ‘Remains’, the two poems end quite negatively as in ‘Remains’ the soldier describes the dead soldier as “his bloody life in my bloody hands.” Here there is a shift, the narrator has almost seemed to acknowledge the fact that what he has done cannot be alerted and will have to live with the consequences forever. Similarly in ‘War Photographer’ the poem ends with Duffy saying: “he earns a living and they do not care.” It's as though both poems end with an un-ending message being that what people experience during war doesn't have a long lasting impact on ourselves and so the likes of the photographer and the soldier are left to suffer, alone. (I apologize if this is too long but it took me just over 45 minutes to complete. Hope it's ok!)

[@MrSallesTeachesEnglish]

Charlotte Yes, you touch on all the skills of level 6, with terminology and reference to the poets' viewpoints. You understand War Photographer better, although not it's context. My video shows you how the references are post Vietnam war, not WWII. In Remains, you ignore the context. You also ignore the fact that he has slaughtered a mere looter, and got away with it - this is what so affects his conscience. Armitage is questioning our involvement as peace keepers in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. Your language analysis is excellent, and you score highly for writing so much. But, because your context is weak, I would put it on the border between 5 and 6 (level that is, not grade). Hope this helps.

[@charlotte8746]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I see what you mean in terms of context so that's definitely an area that I need to improve on. I shall watch your videos and perhaps add some context into my response. Thank you for all your help, I really do appreciate it!

[@Josh-gy1xk]

Screw this