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Introduction

In my essay I will be comparing power in two poems, Simon Armitage’s – Remains & Carol Ann Duffy’s – War Photographer. These two poems both show the power of guilt as both characters in the poem have demoralising jobs involving conflict. I will also discuss the contrast in power in both poems.

In Simon Armitage’s Remains we see the power of assumption as the officer does not know whether the robber is armed or not however makes his own choice in shooting the man. This is seen when ‘Probably armed, possibly not’ is written by the poet. This is the power of assumption as it shows us that he didn’t have second thoughts of shooting the robber. He did not know whether he was armed or not but still shot the bank robber. The assumption is powerful as it is a matter of life and death and he chose death despite not being certain. In a sense, this is also highlights the officer abuses his authority. The word ‘probably’ tells us that the character thinks that the bank robber is most likely to be armed. The word ‘possibly’ tells me that it could be an ‘armed’ robber. The order in which the poet chose to put the words in this phrase is significant because it shows the character’s first thoughts were that the robber was more likely to be armed. The power of assumption is shown where the man has the mentality which let him just make a possible bad decision all down to instinct. Here we see that the police officer is not considerate and could easily make him feel regretful after shooting the ‘possibly’ armed man.

Similarly, In Carol Ann Duffy’s War Photographer, the protagonist also has a job surrounding power. The protagonist in War Photographer has power as he has to go to war zones and take pictures of those that suffer without being able to help. We see this when ‘spools of suffering [are] set out in ordered rows.’ This tells us that some deaths are more important than others determined on the fact whether they are powerful images or not. Out of these only one or two will be picked for the newspaper. The word ‘spool’ shows us that there is more than one photograph which itself suggests the war holds many casualties.

In Simon Armitage’s Remains we also see the power of guilt as the man is constantly plagued about the crucial decision of killing the ‘possibly’ armed robber. We see this when ‘the drink and drugs won’t flush him out’ this shows the police officer is feeling guilty as he is trying to ‘flush’ away the memory by drinking excessively as well as abusing drugs. The word ‘flush’ suggests the protagonist is trying to get rid of a wasteful memory that he no longer wants. This can show the man feels he has made a bad choice which now affects him mentally. The poet then goes on to say ‘ he’s here in my head when I close my eyes stuck in behind enemy lines’. Here we see the poet use rhythm to give a serious thing a less serious metrical pattern. But this pattern also shows the guilt in a less serious way. The man can’t get this out of his mind even though drinking and using drugs to attempt to delete the memory.

In the poem ‘War Photographer’ we see also see the power surrounding the protagonists job. We see this when ‘A hundred agonies in black and white from which his editor of 5 or 6’. This shows the power of his job as he is solely responsible for what agonies are shown in the media. This can show the power surrounding his job and the danger doing it. The word ‘agonies’ shows the pain of  those that are photographed. The image created is a dark one showing that the photographer is scarred because of all the things he has seen while in the dangerous war zones. The photographer has taken many photos. We see this when he says ‘a hundred agonies in black and white’ the power is shown here as he has taken many photos but only ‘5 or 6’ will make the front page implying that thebmost gruesome or touching deaths are superior to the others that don’t feature in the paper.

In Simon Armitage ‘s Remains we see the power of regret. This can be seen in the quote ‘I see broad daylight on the other side’  The robber is killed by the gunshots that the police fire at him, and with the bullets that go into him. They can see the broad daylight through him where bullets have gone through his body. The poet uses a prosonification before this quote. ‘I see every round as it rips through his life’ this shows the damage done to the man and the ending of his life. This is a use of figurative language used to show that the mans body is torn apart and his life ends, but you can’t literally see something rip through a life. The poet says this to emphasise the impact bof the bullets on the robber.

In War Photographer we see the power of war. It can be very hard to use to relate ourselves with suffering as it is out of our comfort zones and likely to make us feel sad and guilty. Duffy creates a very strong image which many wouldn’t want to see. We see this when the poet says we live by ‘fields of running children in a nightmare heat. This image is useful as when we usually think of kids running it is an image of fun. We also would think of children as innocent and notbdeserving of suffering. However Duffy says running in a nightmare heat. This leaves the decision of us imagining it ourselves as she doesn’t tell us exactly what she means. Leaving it up to us. We assume children are also affected by the suffering in war.

My final conclusion on the two poems are that they have many similarities, however they contrast as both show power but in different ways. For example they both show power surrounding the protagonists job and how both are very dangerous. But both are guilty of different things despite just doing their jobs, in Remains we see a police officer make an assumption take fire and live in regret. He tries to flush away the pain by abusing drugs and alcohol however he has feelings and morals. We see in War Photographer it is not quite the same the protagonist doing his job is demoralised to war and does not seem to have any emotions left in him as he has seen it all. The photographer has to take pictures of those dead or in need of aid without helping. Sometimes even seeing kids in pain. The photographer becomes heartless where as the police officer in Remains has a guilty conscience and knows although it is his job it is hard to live knowing you have killed someone. We know he is a hundred percent guilty as he walks past the area of crime scene a pictures a shadow of where the robber was slain. I think that the more effective poem is Duffy’s as it shows how the photographer is desensitised  to war. This is effective as we see that someone can literally become emotionless due to the power of conflict. The power of the photgraphers job is shown better in War Photgrapher as Duffy uses good techniques. For example she bucket lists countries ‘Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh’ the short and snappy full stops suggests that all these locations are just a holiday for the protagonist. Both poems show the harsh reality of something seemed to be so simple a job right? However sometimes a job can scar you physically and mentally.