A Photograph

Learning objectives: Understand, appreciate the central idea of the poem

Infer, analyze and evaluate the poem
About the poem
‘A Photograph’ is a powerful poem about loss, memory, and time. Despite the fact that it
focuses on one speaker’s mother and a very specific photograph, it is incredibly moving and
relatable. Everyone has experienced loss of some kind and in the lines of this poem, Toulson taps
into what that loss feels like when one looks back on it years later. The poem reflects the passage
of time and its three stages. In the first stage, the photograph shows his mother enjoying a
holiday on a beach along with her two girl cousins. She was 12 at the time. The second stage
transports us to twenty or thirty years later. This stage shows the mother laughing at her picture
and the way she and her cousins were dressed in the picture at a beach. In the third stage, the
poet sadly remembers the dead mother with his broken heart. The photograph revives nostalgic
waves in the poet. 
Themes

The most prominent are loss/mourning and memories. The entire poem is centered around the
speaker’s recollections from her own life and her recollections of her mother’s memories. She
feels both sorrow and joy as she recalls her mother’s words when the two looked at the
photograph together.

I. Write a brief note about the poet:

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 II. GROUP WORK- SMILE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

ASSESSMENT (1X10=10)
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS BY CHOOSING THE CORRECT OPTION

1. The poem ‘A Photograph’ is ............

a. About the poet’s photograph
b. About the poet’s uncle
c. About the poet’s mother’s girlhood
d. A tribute to the poet’s mother

2. Which one of the following statements is true?

a. The photograph was taken when the poet was a child.
b. The photograph was taken when the poet was not even born.
c. The photograph was taken when the poet was twelve years old.
d. The photograph was taken twelve years ago.

3. The word ‘Transient’ in the first stanza means?

a. Unchanging nature of the sea.
b. Changing life of man.
c. Permanent feature of the humans.
d. Impermanent and short lived.

4. What does ‘her past’ refer to?

a. Her childhood.
b. Her uncle
c. The beach holiday that she enjoyed with her friends.
d. Her photograph.

5. What is the poetic device used in the line,

“washed their terribly transient feet”?
a. Alliteration
b. Oxymoron
c. Simile
d. Metaphor

6. What does ‘this circumstance’ means in the third stanza?

a. The way the photograph was taken
b. The way the poet’s mother died
c. The way the three girls were dressed for the beach
d. The

III. Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions that
follow.
“Now she’s been dead nearly as many years As that girl lived. And of this
circumstance There
is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences.”

1. Who does ‘she’ refer to?

(a) The poet’s dead aunt
(b) The poet’s dead mother
(c) The poet’s dead cousin
(d) The poet’s sister

2.Why is there nothing to say about the death of the poet’s mother?
(a) Because the poet is confused
(b) Because the poet was not in her senses when her mother expired
(c) Because the death of the poet’s mother has left a deep void in the poet’s heart
(d) Because the poet did not have a good relationship with her mother

3. Which word in the extract means the same as “events that change your life, over
which you have no control”?
(a) Silences
(b) Circumstances
(c) Situation
(d) Circumstance
IV. Answer the following in 40-50 words
1. The poetess’ mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
2. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”?
3. Happy moments are short-lived but provide a lifetime memory. They provide a
cushion to bear the difficulties which the future has in store for you. Comment in
the light of the poem ‘A Photograph’ by Shirley Toulson.

MIP: Arabic word for photograph, Memory and loss

MEP: Character and morality
Learning triangle