A Photograph

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Kathleen Shirley Toulson was an English

writer, poet, journalist and local politician.


Toulson attended Prior's Field School and
worked with the Auxiliary Territorial Service
during World War II. Born: 20 May
1924, Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom
Died: 23 September 2018
Nationality: British
1. What does the word ‘cardboard’
denote in the poem? Why has this word
been used?
Ans: In the poem, the word ‘cardboard’
means a frame which supports the
photograph. This word had been used in
the poem because the picture is very old
when the cardboard was used as a photo
frame.
2. What has the camera captured?
Ans: The camera has captured the poet’s
mother and her two cousins, Betty and
Dolly, on the beach. They went for paddling
where her mother’s uncle captured the
photo in between the moment. Her mother
was around twelve years old and was in the
middle. She was holding the hands of her
cousins who were on the side of her. It was
her mother’s favourite past memories.
3. What has not changed over the years?
Does this suggest something to you?
Ans: The lines ‘And the sea, which appears
to have changed less’ depicts that the sea
which touched her mother’s feet is the one
which has not changed over the years.
Whereas, her mother and her cousins grew
older. The sea symbolises eternity and
immortality. Human being has a life span
and has to die one day. Life is not
permanent. The poet is sad about her
mother’s demise twelve years ago and her
laugh is her favourite past memory.
4. The poet’s mother laughed at the
snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans: The poet’s mother laughed at the
snapshot recalling her favourite past
memories. She looked back at the
photograph and remembered how their
parents would dress them up for the beach
holiday. Her laugh indicated her
remembering the innocent days and the
nostalgia feeling. Behind the laugh is also a
feeling of pain that those days won’t be
back.
5. What is the meaning of the line “Both
wry with the laboured ease of loss.”
Ans: the above lines means that the poet’s
mother felt pain whenever she saw the old
photograph because the innocent
childhood days would never be back. Those
are just the memories. While the poet has
lost his mother twelve years ago and she
misses her a lot and recalls her laughing
and pointing out the outfits they used to
wear at the beach holidays. Both of them
lost something.
6. What does “this circumstance” refer
to?
Ans: The words ‘this circumstance’ refers to
the present situation of the poet which is
the painful memories of her mother who
have been deceased twelve years ago.
While looking at the old photograph of her
mother’s childhood makes her miss her
more. She remembers her laughing and
how the photograph was her favourite past
memory.
7. The three stanzas depict three
different phases. What are they?
Ans: The first stanza depicts her mother’s
childhood days when she was twelve years
old or so. It talks about a photograph of her
with her two cousins on a beach holiday.
Her uncle took the photograph. Her mother
changed over the years as she grew older.
While the sea which touched their feet in
that beach holiday hadn’t changed over the
years.
In the second stanza, the poet talks about
her childhood days when her mother used
to look at the photograph and recalls
everything mentioned in the first stanza.
In the last stanza, the poet shares that her
mother is dead as many years ago as was
her age in the photograph. She died twelve
years ago. The poet is recalling her mother’s
old memories while looking at the
photograph. She is in pain and misses her
deceased mother. She has no words to
describe her grief.
A Photograph Literary Devices
Alliteration – repetition of a consonant
sound at the beginning of two or more
consecutive words. The instances of
alliteration in the poem are as follows-
Stood still
Through their
My mother’s
Terribly transient
Silence silences
Oxymoron – a term which contradicts itself
Laboured ease
Epithet – a phrase expressing a quality of a
person or something
Terribly transient
Personification
Denoting personal attributes to an
inanimate object.
The cardboard shows me how it was
It’s silence silences

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