A Photograph

Chapter 2 – A Photograph
Page No 11:
Question 1:
Infer the meaning of the following words from the context.
Paddling: walking through shallow water with bare feet.
Transient: Something that stays at a place for a short time.

Page No 12:
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 borders
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. The use of cardboard as a photo
frame was common in old times.
Question 2:
What has the camera captured?

Answer:
The camera has captured a happy moment from the childhood days of the poet’s
mother. The photograph was taken when the poet’s mother at the age of twelve or
so went to a beach holiday with two of her cousins, Betty and Dolly. The captured
picture serves as a preserved memory both for the mother as well as the poet.
Question 3:
What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Answer:
The lines, ‘And the sea, which appears to have changed less’ depicts that the sea
has stayed the same over the years. It has not changed at all.
These lines suggest a sharp contrast to the mortal human life. Human life is
transitory and temporary whereas the sea symbolizes permanence, immortality
and eternity. The poet makes use of the phrase ‘terribly transient feet’ to highlight
the ephemeral nature of human life.
Question 4:
The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Answer:
The poet’s mother laughed while recalling a moment of her past captured in the
photograph. She looks back at her childhood days with nostalgia and recollects
her innocent joys. Looking at the picture years later brings in her mind the fond
memories. She laughs at the way they were dressed up for the beach holiday.
But in the midst of these pleasant memories, lies the pain of loss. The pain comes
from the acknowledgement 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 context of the above lines is the mother’s recollection of her childhood days
and the poet’s recollection of her mother’s laughing face.
The mother has fond memories of her past but there is a sense of loss in recalling
those moments as they make her realise that the good old times of her childhood
will never come back. For the poet, the ‘loss’ refers to the loss of her mother. She
has fond memories of her dead mother but she misses her laughter and her
presence that will never return to the poet. Thus, both remember their pasts with a
laugh that conceals sadness as none can re-live those lost moments.
Question 6:
What does “this circumstance” refer to?

Answer:
‘This circumstance’ refers to the present situation of the poet wherein the poet is
absorbed in the painful memory of her dead mother. Looking at the photograph and
thinking of her mother’s laughter, the poet also realises that it has been the same
number of years since her mother died as her mother’s age in the photograph.
Question 7:
The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Answer:
The first stanza refers to the childhood days of the poet’s mother when she was
twelve years old or so. The stanza depicts a photograph of her mother when she
went for a beach holiday with her cousins and uncle.
The second stanza refers to the poet’s childhood days when her mother had
become an adult. It depicts her mother recalling her childhood days while looking
at the old photograph of hers (mentioned in the first stanza).
In the last stanza, the poet’s adult life is described in which her mother is not with
her anymore. She has been dead for almost twelve years. The stanza depicts the
poet’s looking at the same photograph and recollecting her mother’s laughter. The
loss of her mother puts her in utter grief. She has no words to describe the terrible
pain of her mother’s death.
Literary devices-
Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more
consecutive words.
-Terribly transient
-Silence silences
Oxymoron – a phrase that combines two words that seem to be the opposite of each
other or a term which contradicts itself.
-Laboured ease

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Chapter 2 – A Photograph

Infer the meaning of the following words from the context.

Paddling: walking through shallow water with bare feet.

Transient: Something that stays at a place for a short time.

What has the camera captured?

What does “this circumstance” refer to?

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