11th Eng Poem-1 A PHOTOGRAPH ( HORNBILL) Introduction, Summary, Message, Theme

1 A PHOTOGRAPH

Shirley Toulson

ABOUT THE POEM

SUMMARY

'A Photograph is the theme of temporary life.Decay and death are the integral part of human

life.With passage of time,a man loses his beauty and youth.Because changing is the rule of

nature.A man can not live for a long time? only sweet and sour memories left behind.

The poet looks at the photograph of her mother and her two cousins, Dolly and Betty. The

photograph was clicked by the uncle when she was not even born.

Integral -अभिन्न

Decay -बिनाश

Temporary-अस्थाई

Question 1:

What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?

Answer:

In the poem, the word ‘cardboard’ stands for the frame that supports and holds the photograph.The photograph shows the poet’s mother as a twelve year old girl with two of her cousins, Betty and Dolly.The word ‘cardboard’ has been used to depict that the photograph is many years old.It shows that life is Transient.

Cardboard-wooden frame/photograph फोटोग्राफ

Denote-संकेत

Preverve- सुरक्षित 

Question 2:

What has the camera captured?

Answer:

The camera has captured the three little girls .One of them is the poetess' mother and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly, Each of them is holding one hand of the mother. The mother was then

just a girl of twelve. All the three girls are smiling through their flying hair.They were there in their

swimming dresses.They are standing in shallow water.The Photograph shows innocent smiling

faces of three girls.

Shallow- छिछला

Question 3:

What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?

Answer:

The sea has not changed over the years. It is still the same.Its waves are as fresh, shining and tireless as they were years ago. But there is a great change in those who once paddled in it's beach.The changelessness of sea reminds us of the changes in human face with advancing age.The pretty faces and the feet of the three girls are mortal.

still - अब भी

tireless-निरंतर

Question 4:

The poetess’s mother laughed at the snapshot? What did this laugh indicate?

Answer:

This laugh indicated that the poet's mother enjoyed remembering her childhood days. when she

was quite young and free from the tensions and worries of life.The mother was then just a girl of

twelve.She laughed at the way they were dressed up for the beach holiday.The pain is that the lovely days of her childhood will never come back to her.

Question 5:

What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”.

Answer:

The poetess here brings out a similarity between the face of her mother and her own. Both the

faces had turned wry due to the intense feeling of their great loss. The mother had lost the joys of her childhood; The poetess had lost the laughter of her mother who was now dead. The poet is remembering the laughing face of her mother.

Both now belong to the past. This sense of loss is quite painful to bear the intense

Intense -deep गहरा

Wry- disappointed दुखी

Question 6:

What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to?

Answer:

This circumstance refers to the death of the poet’s mother.This sad death has left a deep void in

the poetess' life. Whenever she saw the photograph of her mother, she become sad as the photograph brings sad nostalgic feelings. She gets lost in the old sweet memories of the past.She finds no one to share her pain and agony with.

Circumstance-परिस्थितियां

Agony-पीडा

Void - व्यर्थ/र्थखालीपन

nostalgic-उदासीन

Question 7:

The three stanzas depict three different phases. Name them.

Answer:

The first phase refers to the time when the poet's mother was just a twelve years, before poet's birth.The second phase refers to the middle age. Where she is laughing at her own snapshot. When

the poetess lived with her mother.The mother was then in her thirties or forties.The third phase shows how sad and lonely the poetess feels without her mother. The Mother has been dead for more than twelve years.

Question 8:

How did the three girls face the camera?

Answer:

They removed hair from their faces and stood smiling in the shallow water near the beach. Betty

and Dolly stood on either side of the poetess’s mother, holding one of her hands.

Question 9:

What do you think, made the poetess’s mother laugh?

Answer:

The dress and behaviour of her cousins Betty and Dolly made the poetess’s mother laugh. It is

evident that they had put on some quaint dress, which amused her.

quaint- अजीब सा

Q10. How can you say that the photograph was taken on a windy day?

Ans. In the photograph the girls are seen smiling through their hair, the wind had made their hair

fly over their faces. This shows that the photograph was taken on a windy day.

Q11. Explain "The sea holiday was her past,mine is her laughter"

Ans. The mother often remembered the joy of her sea holiday.But it was for her a thing of the past,And for the poetess the laughter of her mother was a thing of the past.

Q12. Explain 'Its silence silences'

Ans. The poetess feels the loss of her mother very intensely. Life has no charm left for her.It is

like an empty space where there is nothing but silence.

Question 13:

What do you learn about the poetess’s mother from the photograph?

Answer:

The poetess’s mother was a big girl even at the age of twelve. She had a sweet face and enjoyed swimming as well as wading in sea-water with her cousins. Years later she laughed at the clothes they had put on for the sea holiday.

Q1. When did her mother die ?

Ans.twelve years ago

Q2.How many people were in the photograph?

Ans.three girls

Q3.Who are on both sides of her mother?

Ans. Cousins, Betty and Dolly

Q4.What are the three of them doing in the photograph?

Ans.holding hands and went for paddling

Q5.Who took the photograph of her mother with her cousin?

Ans.Her uncle

Q6.What does 'Terribly Transient Feet' mean in the poem?

Ans.her feet represent the mother, who changed with time while the sea remained the same

Q7.After how many years did her mother laugh on seeing the photograph?

Ans.twenty-three

Q8What is the meaning of the word 'wry'?

Ans. ironic

Q9.How many phases were depicted in the poem by the poet?

Ans. Three

Q10.What Epithet literary device was used in the poem?

Ans.Terribly transient

Q11.Explain"Watched their terribly transient feet-

Ans.Human life is transient in nature. At the time of the sea holiday of the poetess mother she was quite young and beautiful but she is no more today only her memories remain.

Annotations

1-Cardboard- thick paperboard - गत्ता

2-Paddling-walking with bare feet in shallow water- कम पानी मेंचलना

-Still- motionless -स्थाई

5-Transient feet- momentary- क्षणिक

6-Snapshot- photograph- फोटोग्राफ

7-Wry - disappointment expression- नि राश

8- Of this circumstances - the present situation of poetess without her mother 

9-Its Silence silences - the intensity of the loss has left the poetess speechless 

10- There is nothing to say at all - The loss is too big to say anything 

Poetic devices / Figure Of speech 

1-Rhyming Scheme - Free Verse, Blank verse 

2-Alliteration-Stood still, Through their,My mother,Terribly Transient, Silence silences

3- Transferred Epithet -  Expressing the quality of human beings - Terribly Transient feet, Oxymoron- laboured ease

5-Tone- Sadness, disappointed 

6.Theme - Loss, memory and the transient of life 

7-Irony-Ironically mother is no more to see her happy and at the same time the poet does not have her mother to make the poet herself happy.

8. Mood of Poem- Dysphoric poem-very unhappy, uneasy, or dissatisfied

5-- Personification-The cardboard shows me

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