A Photograph Poem - 1 English Book Hornbill class 11 Summary Explain

 "A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson is a   poem that reflects on the themes of loss, memory, and the passage of time.

(1)

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.

Explanation 

• In the first stanza, the poet describes an old photo of her mother when she was about twelve years old.

• In the photo, the mother is at the beach with her two cousins, Betty and Dolly.

• They are holding hands and smiling while an uncle takes their picture.

• The sea is in the background and seems unchanged, unlike the people who grow and change over time. 

• The poet reflects on how life is short and always changing, while nature, like the sea, remains constant.

(2)

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. 

Explanation 

• This stanza reflects a time when the poet's mother had grown older and would look back at the photograph with nostalgia.

• She would laugh and point out how they were dressed for the beach 

• The poet notes that her mother's laughter is now a memory for her, showing how both have experienced a sense of loss.

(3)

Now she’s been dead nearly as many years
As that girl lived. And of this circumstance
There is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences

Explanation

• The final stanza brings us to the present, where the poet reflects on her mother's death. 

• It has been nearly as many years since her mother died as the age she was in the photograph.

• The poet feels deep sadness and emptiness. There are no words to express the pain of this loss, and the silence is overwhelming. 

• The photograph serves as a quiet reminder of her mother's life and death.

👉The poem "A Photograph" talks about the poet looking at an old photograph of her mother as a young girl. 

👉The photo brings back memories of happy times at the beach, but it also makes the poet think about how much time has passed and how things have changed.