A Photograph Summary Class 11th

English

By Shirley Toulson
 A Photograph

A Photograph :

The cardboard shows me how it was

When the two girl cousins went paddling

Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,

And she the big girl - some twelve years or so.

All three stood still to smile through their hair

At the uncle with the camera, A sweet face

My mother’s, that was before I was born

And the sea, which appears to have changed less

Washed their terribly transient feet.

Some twenty- thirty- years later

She’d laugh at the snapshot. “See Betty

And Dolly," she’d say, “and look how they

Dressed us for the beach." The sea holiday

was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry

With the laboured ease of loss

Now she’s has been dead nearly as many years

As that girl lived. And of this circumstance

There is nothing to say at all,

Its silence silences.

BY SHIRLEY TOULSON

The poem, ‘A photograph’, contrasts the eternal state of nature and the transitory state of human beings. The

poet describes a photograph that captures interesting moments of her mother’s childhood when she went for a

sea holiday with her two girl cousins. The poet draws a contrast between nature, changing at a snail’s pace and

the fast-changing human life.

The poet recollects how her mother laughed at the photograph and felt disappointed at the loss of her childhood

joys. The sea holiday was her mother’s past at that time, while her mother’s laughter is the poet’s past now.

With great difficulty and at different periods of time, both reconcile with their respective losses and the pain
 involved in recollecting the past. For the poet, the death of her mother brings great sadness and an acute sense

of loss. The painful ‘silence’ of the situation leaves her with no words to express her grief. Thus, the ‘silence

silences’ her.

ABOUT THE POET

 Shirley Toulson
 Born – May 20, 1924 England
 She is an editor of Child Education and teacher of creative
writing for adults.
 Notable works. –
1) Shadows in an orchard – 1960
2) For a Double Time – 1970
3) The Dovers – 1980

A photograph –
“An embodiment of time and timelessness”
Shirley Toulson’s ‘A Photograph` unfolds the very tenet of
“Time – and Timelessness”. The poem strongly hints at the eternal
state of the natural being and fleeting state of the humans. Here
we are acquainted with a picture of three girls that includes the
poet’s mother. Sea has not changed but the mother of the poet has
died leaving the poet to deal with the pain and sense of loss.

A Photograph –
‘A melancholic poem`
A photograph is melancholic. We are acquainted here with
loss, pain and separation. The smiling photograph creates a pang
in the heart of the poet as she remembers and misses her mother.
The absence of her mother in her life has made her life a gloomy
one.

‘A Photograph`
‘A Nostalgic poem`
If nostalgia describes sentimentality for the past, typically for
a period or place with happy personal associations, then ‘A
Photograph` is a nostalgic poem. We find the poet talking about
happy moments related to her mother’s childhood and happy days.

LINE BY LINE – EXPLANATION

“The cardboard shows me how it was

When the two girl cousins went paddling”

The first stanza stands for the first phase of the poem that
talks about the poet’s mother’s childhood holiday. Here the word
the cardboard presents an irony that it lasted longer than the
happiness and the lives of the people in the photograph. The
cardboard with the photograph shows the transient state of the
humans. The poet tells us about the photograph in which, her
mother and her two cousins are in a beach, where they had gone
paddling.
“Each one holding one of my mother’s hands

And she the big girl - some twelve years or so. “

In the picture, mother is in the middle of other two cousins.

Each of them is holding the hands of the poet’s mother. They are
 joyous and in a holiday mood. Of the three, poet’s mother is the
elder one aged twelve years or so.
“All three stood still to smile through their hair
At the uncle with the camera.”
All the three girls are seen posing for the camera, smiling,
with the beach wind whipping at their hair. An uncle of theirs is
with the camera taking the snapshot.
Poetic device in use –
1) Stood still – Alliteration
2) Through their – Alliteration

, ………………………., A sweet face

My mother’s, that was before I was born.”

The poet speaks about the face of her mother, which was sweet,
but is quick to reiterate that it was the case before she (the
poet) was born.
Poetic Device in use –
1) My mother’s – Alliteration.

“And the sea, which appears to have changed less

Washed their terribly transient feet.”

The poet comments about the unchanging sea which reflects the
eternal state of the natural elements and at the same time hints
at the transient (short-lived) state of the humans. One never
changes and one changes all the time and has a short-lived
nature. The poet brings out the contrast here. The poet says
 ‘terribly transient feet’ meaning the temporary state of the
humans.
Poetic Devices in use –
1) Terribly transient – Alliteration
2) Terribly transient – Transferred Epithet.
“Some twenty- thirty- years later
She’d laugh at the snapshot. “See Betty
And Dolly,” she’d say, “and look how they
Dressed us for the beach.”
This second stanza is the second phase where mother reminisces
about the beach holiday, seeing the photograph. As she sees the
photograph there is a nostalgic smile on her face which the poet
observes, because the poet hasn’t seen her smile. Twenty- thirty
years after the picture was clicked , Mother laughs at the
picture and refers to Betty and Dolly, about their awkward
dressing for the beach.

........................................the sea holiday

Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry
with the laboured ease of loss.”
A feeling of pain is presented here. The poet states that for the
mother the happy sea holidays were her past and for the poet her
mother’s laughter is past for the poet has not seen her mother
laugh like that. Ironically both labour to bear their loss with
ease.
Poetic Device in use-
1) Laboured ease – Oxymoron.
“Now she’s has been dead nearly as many years

As that girl lived. And of this circumstance

There is nothing to say at all,”

The poet here says that that girl i.e. her mother has been dead
as many years as that girl in the photo lived, that is 12 years.
And the poet has nothing to say of this circumstance (the
circumstance being her mother’s death. Her pain kept her silent.
“Its silence silences”.
The silence that is created because of the death of her
mother made her completely silent leaving her in utter pain. The
ultimate Silence of death and the sense of loss of her mother
leave the poet wordless and silent
Poetic Device in use-
Alliteration- Silence silences
Personification – Silence silences