ANALYSIS OF THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH BY JACKIE KAY

Death is one of those sensitive subjects that no one likes to talk about. We might be ready and
accepting the idea of our own mortality however we will not always be ready to brace for its
impact the moment death knocks on our door. This poem mostly evokes a sense of nostalgia
and also somehow in a way a reflection of the poet’s feelings towards her grandmother.

Before analyzing this poem, it is important to understand the background of the poet as it
helps with the familiarity of the nature and theme involved in the poem. Jackie Kay was born
biracial to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father. Her parents gave her up for adoption and
she was later adopted by a loving white couple who showered her with plenty of love as if
Jackie were their own flesh and blood. This poem mainly reflects on her happy memories
with her adoptive white grandmother while also dealing with her interracial identity.

In the first stanza, she was looking back at her grandmother’s photograph while she was still
youthful. She noticed that her grandma looks “tall” and seems to come from a well-off family
as indicated by her outfits “white broderie anglaise shirt”, “pleated skirt” and “flat shoes”.
She also remembered fondly the kindness of her grandmother as shown in the line “her big
hand holds mine” and here it’s interesting to note that she used present tense as it indicates
that she never forgets about her grandmother in her daily remembrance. The line “..white
hand in black hand” and “her sharp blue eyes…” reflects the difference in their ethnicity
background which only add more layer of impact on her passing since it indicates that despite
not being blood-related, her grandmother loves her very much and her passing was a great
loss for her. Besides that, she also remembered how brave her grandmother was facing death
as shown by the line “…blue eyes look her own death in the eye”.

In the second stanza, she was recalling the last moment of her grandmother as she used past
tense to describe her actual state. Her grandmother becomes frailer and develops hunchback
as shown by line “…became small” and “her back round and hunched”. To add more to her
complications, her grandmother also started to develop dementia as mentioned in the line
“her soup forgot to boil”. The grandmother then passed away and went to a place
unimaginable to her imagination as a young child.
In the last stanza, it is interesting to note that she switched back to the present tense as it
indicates her feeling in the present moment. She still feels the presence of her grandmother
and wants to remember her as the person she was in the photo while holding the hand of her
younger self. Overall, the poem is about keeping the memory of loved ones alive through
photos and despite them being gone forever, they will always be immortalized in that
photograph as indicated by the title of the poem.

There are many literary devices employed in this poem, one of the strongest literary devices
involved is the use of imagery. In stanza one, the poet was describing the clothes her
grandmother was wearing in her old photo as shown by the line “straight back, white,
broderie anglaise shirt, pleated skirt, flat shoes, gray bun. The poet also highlights the
difference in their hand size and skin colour as shown by the line “her big hands hold mine,
white hand in the black hand”. Besides that, the poet also employs contrast as shown in
stanza one where she describes her grandmother as healthy and strong but in the second
stanza it shows her getting weaker and frail. The use of personification can be seen in the line
“her soup forgot to boil” and “the crinkled smile is still living, breathing” which implies the
grandmother has become forgetful while the latter highlights the vibrant smile of the
grandmother even in a photo. Furthermore, the element of irony can be seen in the title of the
poem itself “The Living Photograph” which seems to imply that the grandmother is still alive
but in reality she has already passed away. The object mentioned in the poem, the
photograph, indicates the use of symbolism which is to commemorate the memories of her
late grandmother.