JAWAHAR NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA
KRISHNAPURAM, NELLORE Dist., A.P.
Hornbill
Textbook in English for Class XI
A PHOTOGRAPH
-Shirley Toulson
PPT Prepared by
S.S.L. Usha Prabha
P.G.T. of English
About the poet
Shirley Toulson was born on 20th May 1924. She was a poet, teacher, educational journalist, editor and author of many books. She was an innovative writer. She had a huge passion for writing and opted writing as career.
She also served as the editor for many magazines. Her works” Celtic Alternative” and “Celtic Year” in 1993 made her more famous. She is a highly acclaimed poet about British Walks, ancient tracks and traditions. She died on 23rd September, 2018 at 96.
Introduction:
The poem 'A Photograph” is written by Shirley Toulson. In this poem she describes the photograph of her mother’s childhood. In the three stanzas she describes three different moods and situations. She felt that human life is ever changing but nature remains rather constant.
Stanza -1
The cardboard shows me how it was
When the two girl cousins went paddling,
Each one holding my mother's hands,
And she the big girl - some twelve years or so.
- a cardboard photo frame
Paddling = [verb] to move the hands or feet
about in shallow water or paddle a boat
��� �Paddle is an implement often with a
short handle and a broad flat
blade that is used for paddling
Paddle
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.
VOCABULARY
Still - motionless
We stand or sit still to pose for a
Photograph
Transient-(adjective) inconsistent/passing quickly out of existence
Explanation:
In the first stanza, the poet looks at a cardboard frame which shows the photograph of three girls when they went out for a sea holiday. They were dressed in their swimming costumes and were smiling broadly at the uncle who took their photograph. The poet describes her mother as the tallest of the three.
She looked around twelve years old and her cousins were obviously younger. She marks that her mother looked really sweet as a young girl, (of course she turned tough after the poet was born, like every mother does as a result of handling responsibilities and bearing the brunt of life). Their feet were terribly transient in the waves (so is life, which took her mother away from her). The sea has not changed over the years but how life has changed................
Stanza : 2
Some twenty or 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.
VOCABULARY
Snapshot- (noun): A moment captured in camera (within the snap of a finger)
Wry – Twisted/forced/sardonic
Explanation
After 20 or 30 years mother would look at that photograph and laugh. She would comment on her cousins Betty and Dolly and how they had been dressed for the sea holiday (Purposely avoiding to speak about herself. Did her lips twitch on thinking how she wouldn’t get those moments back?). The sea holiday was her mother’s past and her laughter is a thing of the past for her – both are wry, mother’s laughter and the poet’s mind, for an irreparable loss.
Stanza : 3
Now she’s been dead nearly as many years
As that girls lived. And of this circumstance
There is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences.
Explanation
In the last stanza she says that it is the age of the girl in the photgraph since the death of her (Is she reluctant to mention the number? Is it that she has not yet been able to recover from the shock?). After her death life is absolutely dull and there is nothing to say at all. Mother’s sea holiday and her laughter are now the memories of the past for the poetess. Death has silenced her mother’s voice which has also made her bear the grief in silence. And silence is sometimes a thousand times more articulate than words.
Poetic devices used
Definition: A combination of contradictory or incongruous words
Eg: Laboured ease
2. Epithet
Definition: A characterizing word or phrase accompanying or
occuring in place of the name of a person or thing.
Eg: Terribly transient
2. Alliteration
Definition: The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in
two or more neighbouring words or syllables.
Evaluation
What has not changed over the years? Does this suggests something to you?
Answer: The sea has not changed over the years. It brings out the transient nature of man when compared to nature at its elements. Time spares none. The children in the photograph have grown older but the sea remained unchangeable.
Suggested Reading
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