Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Living Photograph
The Living Photograph
Her sharp blue eyes look her own (5) ______________ in the eye.
Exercise 2
Complete the bridge map with the antonyms to the words given.
Exercise 3
Read the following statements and state whether they are “True” or “False”.
1. The persona recollects the memories of her grandmother as she looks at
the photograph.
(___________)
2. The persona’s grandmother is still living with her.
(___________)
3. The grandmother seems to be a friendly and kind woman.
(___________)
4. The persona is three years old when her grandmother dies.
(___________)
5. The grandmother remains strong and healthy until her death.
(___________)
6. In the photograph, the grandmother will always be alive.
(___________)
Exercise 4
1. How old was the persona when the photograph was taken?
__________________________________________________________________________
2. Which line in the poem tells us the grandmother has become forgetful?
__________________________________________________________________________
3. The grandmother seems to be a friendly and kind woman.
__________________________________________________________________________
4. The persona is three years old when her grandmother dies.
__________________________________________________________________________
5. The grandmother remains strong and healthy until her death.
__________________________________________________________________________
6. Give one moral value one can learn from the poem.
__________________________________________________________________________
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Answers
Exercise 1
1. Shirt 7. Hunched
2. Skirt 8. Soup
3. Smile 9. Awful
4. Holds 10.Unthinkable
5. Death 11.Three
6. True 12.Living
Exercise 2
1. false
2. dull
3. remembered
4. Beautiful
Exercise 3
1. True
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. False
6. True
Exercise 4
Exercise 5 & 6
2. What do you think the writer is referring to in the phrase ‘the awful place
grandmothers go?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think the writer’s ‘small grandmother’ is ‘tall’ in the photo?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. In the first stanza, what does the word there refer to?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Which line tells you that the writer and her grandmother come from
different ethnic background?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. How old was the writer when the photo was taken?
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Why do you think the writer says that her grandmother is tall in the photo
but later became ‘small’?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8. Quote evidence from line 14 to line 16 that the photograph was taken a
long time ago.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Answers
1. a) pleated skirt
b) flat shoes/white broderie anglaise shirt
3. I think it is probably because the photo was taken when the writer’s
grandmother was younger. Her back was not rounded and hunched
then, so she looked tall.
7. I think she says that because at the time the photo was taken her
grandmother was younger. Her back was straight therefore she
seemed taller. It could also be because the writer was very young at
the time (only 3 years old). As her grandmother grew older, her
back became ‘round and hunched’. So she appeared ‘small’. The
writer would also have grown bigger and taller too, therefore her
grandmother no longer appears tall to her.
8. The persona says that the photograph was taken when he/she was
three years old.
9. Wrinkled