A Photograph
TEXTBOOK EXERCISES
THINK IT OUT
1. What does the word “cardboard” denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
Ans: The word “cardboard” refers to a very stiff and thick paper. In the poem, it forms a part of the photo frame that protects and preserves the photograph. Its use is ironical because the cardboard remains strong and lasting, while the twelve-year-old girl in the photograph was “terribly transient.” Although the frame keeps her image safe, the girl herself had died many years ago, highlighting the contrast between the permanence of objects and the shortness of human life.
2. What has the camera captured?
Ans: The camera has captured all three girls alive in the photograph. It shows the pretty face of the poet’s mother when she was twelve years old. It also captures the smiling faces of her two cousins, Betty and Dolly. They are seen holding the hands of the poet’s mother, preserving a happy moment from the past.
3. What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Ans: The sea has remained unchanged over the years. This highlights the transient nature of human beings when compared to nature and its objects. Time spares no one. The pretty faces and the feet of the three girls are described as “terribly transient” because they are mortal, whereas the sea appears ageless and unchangeable, emphasizing the contrast between human life and nature’s permanence.
4. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans: The poet’s mother laughed while looking at the snapshot taken many years ago. In the photograph, she and her two girl cousins are standing at the beach. She laughed at the way they were dressed for the beach, as they might have looked funny. She even pointed this out to her cousins, Dolly and Betty. Her laughter reflects her youthful and lively spirit.
5. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of Loss”?
Ans: Both the poet’s mother and the poet experience a sense of loss. The mother has lost the childlike innocence and joyful spirit that the photograph had captured years ago. For the poet, his mother’s smile now belongs to the past. Ironically, despite this loss, both of them try to cope with it gracefully.
6. What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Ans: “This circumstance” refers to the death of the poet’s mother. The photograph of his mother, who has passed away, brings back sad and nostalgic memories for the poet. Yet, he remains silent about it, and this silence intensifies the somber and still atmosphere, emphasizing the depth of loss.
7. The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Ans: The three stanzas depict three different phases of the poet’s mother and her life. In the first stanza, she is shown as a twelve-year-old girl with a pretty, laughing face, paddling at the beach with her two girl cousins—this is before the poet’s birth. The second stanza shows the middle-aged mother laughing at her old snapshot, recalling her youthful days. The third stanza captures the silence and sorrow left in the poet’s life after his mother’s death, reflecting the sense of loss.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. What does the cardboard show?
Ans: The cardboard shows an old photograph. It shows the poet’s mother standing with two girl cousins-Dolly and Betty. All of them were standing at the beach. They stood smiling at the uncle who was standing at a distance with a camera.
2. What was the occasion? Why did they go there?
Ans: The poet’s mother and the two girl-cousins, Dolly and Betty had gone there for paddling. Actually, they were enjoying a sea holiday. All the three waded through shallow sea water. They were happy and having a good fun. The uncle stood there with a camera and they were smiling at him.
3. Describe the three girls standing at the beach?
Ans: The poet’s mother and her two girl cousins had gone paddling. The big girl, the poet’s mother, was about twelve years or so. That was even before the poet was born. All the three stood still. The sea-water was washing their mortal feet. They were smiling ‘through their hair’ at the uncle. He stood there with a camera.
4. “The sea, which appears to have changed less, washed their terribly transient feet.” How does the poet contrast the girls’ terribly transient feet’ with the sea?
Ans: All the girls standing at the beach have ‘terribly transient’ existence. They are mortal and suffer physical changes with the passage of time. The mother’s sweet face and her smile has disappeared after twenty or thirty years. But the vast sea remains unchanged or seems ‘to have changed less’ in their comparison.
5. Why did poet’s mother laugh at the snapshot?
Ans: Time flies on wings. In the photograph, the poet’s mother stood with her two girl cousins at the beach. Of the three, she was the big girl about twelve or so. All the three were dressed up for the beach. Perhaps they looked quite funny in those clothes. She couldn’t help laughing the moment she looked at the snapshot. She reminded her cousins Betty and Dolly how funny they looked in those clothes.
6. Explain ‘The sea holiday was her past, mine is her laughter’.
Ans: Time spares none. Gone are the childhood days of the poet’s mother. “The sea holiday’ became ‘her past’. The photograph flashes back to the scene that was captured about thirty years ago. Gone is the carefree laughter of the sweet girl who was just twelve or so at that time. For the poet the laughter of the mother has also become a thing of the past.
7. ‘Both wry with the laboured ease of loss’ What is the loss? Describe the ironical situation?
Ans: Actually both of them suffer a sense of loss. The mother loses her carefree childhood. She can’t have those moments of enjoyment again that she once experienced at the beach. She can’t be a sweet smiling girl of twelve again. This is also the poet’s loss. Perhaps she will never see that smiling face and experience her laughter again in life. The irony of the situation is that both of them struggle to bear the loss with tolerable ease.
8. How did the poet’s mother die? What has he to say about this circumstance?
Ans: The poet’s mother has been dead years ago. She has been dead nearly as many years as she lived. The poet has nothing to say about this incident. He maintains silence. And silence leads to a deeper pall of silence and mystery.