Anthony D's English Journal

question: compare how two of the poems we have studied are related to the theme of power?

In the poems ‘remains’ and ‘war photographer’ there are different powers shown, but as well as there are different there are also similar. In the poem ‘remains’ there are there is power of memory and guilt from when he killed the man. In ‘war photographer’  there are power of fear and memory from when he is looking at the photos of war. In this essay I will talk about the types powers that the protagonist show.

In ‘remains’ there are different powers shown through out the essay one of them is shown through this quote: “he is here in  my head when I close my eyes” in this quote the power of memory is shown because each time he closes his eyes he relives the moment from when he shot the man reminding him of what he’s done. The meaning of “when I close my eyes” is also he has to keep his eyes open as much as possible so he may not be able to sleep during the night which could affect his job. Another quote to show this is: “I walk right over it week after week” this signifies that he is constantly reminded because each time he passes the silhouette of the crime scene he is given a flash back over it which makes it torment him and he has to without him making a choice. In the quote the parts saying “week after week” is the technique of repetition this is to show that the memory of killing the man is always being played in his mind.

For where “remains” the power of memory is shown in memory of killing a man and walking over where he died every week “war photographer” shows memory in the pictures of which he had taken during the war and has to always look at them while he has to go through the process of making them. The quote: “he remembers the cries of this mans wife” shows where he is reminded from the picture what was happening for that small moment where he hears the mans wife was screaming while he was taking the picture of the man being shot. An extension before the quote it says “A strangers features faintly start to twist before his eyes a half-formed ghost” This has two meanings because one meaning is when he is removing the indicator from the picture and another meaning is that looking at the picture and the ghost of the man in re picture is coming back to haunt him. Another point where the poem shows power of memory is when he says: “a hundred agonies in black and white” this shows he is constantly reminded because he has to look at the picture of people suffering knowing that it’s wrong and remember the way they looked at him but isn’t a choice because he needs the pictures to be prepared.

in “remains” there is also a power of authority because in it it mentions the quote “so all three of us open fir three of a kind all letting fly” this shows they have the authority to carry weapons and are able to shoot and for them its OK that they do it but then he is realising that he shouldn’t have the power because it giving him the remembrance of him killing the man just by looking at the gun.

In war photographer it has many different powers but it doesn’t have the power of authority as it does in “remains” but it does have a power of fear from the quote: “solutions slops in trays beneath his hands which did not tremble though now seem to now” this show that he is afraid of the pictures because the pictures might come out and bring him into the picture to make him feel how they felt when he was taking the picture of the moment so then he is starting to shake.

Both poems have their own definitions of power but they both have a few ideas that have the same meaning. For example it has same amount meaning of power because they both have a power of memory but they have different powers like in “remains” there is power of authority and in war photographer there is power of fear. But in my opinion the poem which was more effective was “war photographer” because it has more meaning and it gives a better clue of power and it gives more different powers than in “remains”