The Living Photograph

Exercise 1

Complete the poem. Try not to refer to the text.

The Living Photograph

My small grandmother is tall there,

straight-back, white broderie anglaise (1)___________________,

pleated (2)____________, flat shoes, grey bun,

a kind, old (3)_________ round her eyes.

Her big hand (4)____________mine,

white hand in black hand.

Her sharp blue eyes look her own (5) ______________ in the eye.

It was (6) __________ after all; that look.

My tall grandmother became small.

Her back round and (7) _____________.

Her (8) _____________ forgot to boil.

She went to the (9) ____________ place grandmothers go.

Somewhere unknown, (10) ___________.

But there she is still,

in the photo with me at (11)____________,

the crinkled smile is still (12) _____________ , breathing.

Exercise 2

Complete the bridge map with the antonyms to the words given.

1. Word: true Antonym: ______________

2. Word: sharp Antonym: ______________
3. Word: forgot Antonym: ______________
4. Word: awful Antonym: ______________
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

Answer the following questions based on your understanding of the poem.

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

Answer all the questions.

1. List down 3 themes of the poem?

__________________________________________________________________________
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2. Give 4 moral values that are found in the poem.

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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3. How do you think of the persona feels towards her grandmother? Support your answer with
evidence from the poem.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4. “A picture speaks a thousand words” is a common proverb. How would you relate this to the
poem “The Living Photograph”?
 __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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Exercise 6

Read the questions carefully and answer all the questions.

1. Sometimes an elderly member of the family is sent to a nursing home. Do you agree with this
practice? Provide your reason.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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2. If you were to take care of your grandmother for a day, what would you do to make her
experience an unforgettable one?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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1. List two items ‘grandmother’ wears in the photo.

a) _____________________________________________________________
b) _____________________________________________________________

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.
 __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

9. Explain the meaning of the word ‘crinkled’.

__________________________________________________________________________

10. How do these lines make you feel about photographs of people you love?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Answers

Exercise 1

1. Shirt 3. Smile
2. Skirt 4. Holds
5. Death 9. Awful
6. True 10. Unthinkable
7. Hunched 11. Three
8. Soup 12. Living
13. Exercise 2

1. false
2. dull
3. remembered
4. Beautiful

14. Exercise 3

1. True
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. False
6. True

15. Exercise 4

1. She was three years old

2. The line, “her soup forgot to boil”
3. The word “unthinkable”
4. In the first stanza, the grandmother is strong and healthy in the photograph while in the
second stanza the grandmother is older and ill.
5. The poem is about how a photograph immortalises a person. This is illustrated in the poem
where in real life, the grandmother is dead but with the photograph, she will always be
remembered by the persona.
6. The poem teaches us that we must spend time with our loved ones because when they pass
away, all that will be left are the memories of the time spent together.

16. Exercise 5 & 6

17. -Accept all correct and acceptable answers-

18.

19. Answers

1. a) pleated skirt
20. b) flat shoes/white broderie anglaise shirt

21. 2. The writer is referring to death.

22. 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.

23. 4. It refers to the photograph.

24. 5. ‘white hand in black hand’

25. 6. She was three years old.

26. 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.
 27. 8. The persona says that the photograph was taken when he/she was three
years old.

28. 9. Wrinkled

29. 10. (accept all logical answers)

30.