Word Choice in ‘War Photographer’ Hannah and Leah

Examples ‘Half-formed ghost’ - Realisation of the death of the man. ‘Sunday Supplement’ – Not much attention. ‘Foreign’ – indirect to us. ‘They do not care’ – the difference between the photographer and the public. (Half Formed Ghost) As the photographer is developing the photos it is becoming more clear that the man in the photo is dead and it is hitting the man right there. The man in the photo is haunting the photographer. ( Sunday Supplement) Its only being shown on one day, so its not going to make a huge difference and not many people are going to see it as it is on a Sunday. (Foreign) Emphasises that it is far away, so people care about it less because it is not directly affecting us. (They do not care) the photographer is distancing themselves from the British public with ‘they’ as he cares about the situation but everyone else does not. It also makes the reader feel guilty as they know that they are part of the people who the photographer is distancing themselves from.

‘Finally alone’ - Sense of relief. ‘Ordered rows’ – Rows of graves. ‘Twist’ – Pain. ‘Hundred agonies’ – Emphasising large scale of pain. (Finally alone) Sense of relief. Everything is over for him. (Ordered rows) Rows of graves of the people he photographed dying (Twist) Out of pain. Unnatural, bent out of shape. (Hundred agonies) Emphasises lots of pain and how the pain is not quick, it’s slow and agonising.

Writing word choice in a essay Essay Question- Choose a poem which you find particularly thought-provoking. Explain how this poet makes this poem so thought-provoking. In Stanza four Duffy’s use of word choice creates thought provoking ideas ‘they do not care’ shows that the general public have no interest for what is happening in the world if does not directly effect them. This is thought provoking as it makes you think about how you read or look at something but skip over it, making you feel guilty of doing this. How is this poem thought-provoking. Go through each technique When writing word choice you: quote and then analyse the quote so that it explains how the quote meets the question. Refer back to the question.