A photograph

This is a presentation to explain the Poem-A Photograph by Shirley Toulson. It is a part of the curriculum by CBSE for Grade-11. It is from the Hornbill Textbook. The poem talks about the transience of human life and the permanence of nature. It is a trip along the memory lane where the poet reminisces the loss of her mother and is grieving.

1. A Photograph
Poem by Shirley Toulson

2. Presentation by:
Ananya (XI- Vasudha)
Sarthak (XI- Vasudha)
Priyalakshmi (XI- Vasudha)

[From PAREVARTAN SCHOOL]

3. About the Poet:
Shirley Toulson was born on 20th May
1924 in Henley-on-Thames, England.
She was the daughter of Douglas
Horsfall Dixon and Marjorie Brown.
She had a huge passion for writing
and was greatly influenced by her
father who was a writer by profession
too. She secured a B.A in Literature
from Brockenhurst College in London
in the year 1953.

4. Gist:
The poem ‘A Photograph’ is written
by Shirley Toulson. In this poem, she
recalls and remorses her mother and
her memories while looking at a
childhood photograph when her
mother was twelve years old or so.
Her mother had died twelve years
ago and she isn't capable of
explaining her grief over her
mother’s loss.

5. Character Sketch:
●The Mother-She was about twelve years old in the beginning of the poem and had a sweet
face. She was at the beach with her cousins where the uncle took a photograph while the sea
washed their feet.
Then the mother is shown as a forty year old woman who is laughing at the snapshot from
her childhood where her cousins Betty and Dolly are dressed for the beach. She remembers
the sea holiday from her childhood.

●The Daughter-She looked at the photograph from the time when her mother was just a girl.
She reminisces her mother’s laughter who is now long dead. She has nothing to say because
the loss had left her silent.

6. Theme, Central Idea, Message and Poetic Devices:
●Theme-The theme of the poem Photograph is loss, memory and the transience of life. It reflects upon how
people may die but they continue to live on in the form of memories.

●Central Idea-Change or mutability. A photograph records the past and time. Through the photograph, the
poet recalls the time of recent past in present.

●Message-The poem gives the message of impermanence of human life while nature remains permanent.

●Poetic Devices-Alliteration in "stood still to smile", "terribly transient" and "silence silences".Transferred
Epithet in "Washed their terribly transient feet".Oxymoron in "laboured ease".Personification in "Its silence
silences."

7. Summary:
The poet describes a photograph which captures memorable scenes in the childhood
of her mother as she and her two girl cousins went on a sea holiday. The poet
compares between nature and the fast-changing human life, changing at the speed of
a snail.The poet remembers how the photograph made her mother laugh and feel
disappointed at the loss of her childhood joys. The sea vacation was the past of her
mother at that time, while the laughter of her mother is the past of the poet now. Both
interact with their respective losses and the suffering involved in recollecting the
past with considerable difficulty and at various periods of time.For the author, her
mother's death brings deep sorrow and a deep sense of loss. The unbearable 'silence'
of the situation leaves her to express her sorrow with no words. The 'silence silences'
her.

8. Important Questions:
1.How were the three girls facing the camera?
2.How did the mother of the poet look then? What did the sea
look like?
3.Why do you think the poet said nothing about the death of
her mother?

9. Thank you.