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Overview

Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer.

She was especially intrigued by the peculiar challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects.

Duffy perhaps shares an affinity with these photo journalists - while they use the medium of photography to convey certain truths about the human condition, she uses words and language to do the same job.

Throughout the poem, Duffy provokes us to consider our own response when confronted with the photographs that we regularly see in our newspaper supplements, and why so many of us have become desensitised to these images.

By viewing this issue from the perspective of the photographer, she also reveals the difficulties of such an occupation.

By the end of the poem, it is clear her subject straddles two vastly different worlds yet increasingly feels he belongs to neither.