A Photograph
Chapter: 9
CONTEXT VOCABULARY
1. Infer the meanings of the following words from the context.
(a) Paddling
Answer: Walking or playing in shallow water.
(b) Transient
Answer: Temporary or short-lived; lasting only for a limited period of time.
THINK IT OUT
1. What does the word “cardboard” denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
Answer: The word “cardboard” refers to the stiff material on which the old photograph is mounted.
It has been used to present the photograph as a physical object that has survived for many years. The photograph preserves a moment from the poet’s mother’s childhood, even though the people shown in it have changed with time.
Thus, the cardboard photograph becomes a reminder of memory, the passage of time and the transient nature of human life.
2. What has the camera captured?
Answer: The camera has captured a happy moment from the poet’s mother’s childhood.
The photograph shows the poet’s mother, who was about twelve years old, standing on the beach with her two cousins, Betty and Dolly.
The three girls were paddling in the sea, holding hands and smiling through their hair at the uncle who was taking the photograph.
3. What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Answer: The sea appears to have changed very little over the years.
This creates a contrast between the relative permanence of nature and the temporary nature of human life.
The three girls in the photograph grew older, and the poet’s mother eventually died, while the sea seems to remain almost unchanged.
Thus, the image highlights the transience of human life in comparison with the continuity of nature.
4. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Answer: The poet’s mother laughed at the photograph because it reminded her of her childhood beach holiday with Betty and Dolly.
She was amused by the way the three girls had been dressed for the beach and remembered those carefree days with affection.
Her laughter expresses both happiness and nostalgia, because the pleasant childhood experience had already become a part of the past.
5. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”?
Answer: The line refers to two different experiences of loss.
For the poet’s mother, the childhood beach holiday had become a memory because those carefree days were gone.
For the poet, her mother’s laughter had also become a memory after her mother’s death.
The phrase “laboured ease” suggests that both try to accept their loss calmly, but such acceptance requires emotional effort.
6. What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Answer: “This circumstance” refers to the death of the poet’s mother and the poet’s present life without her.
The mother has been dead for many years, and the poet feels such a deep sense of loss that words become inadequate.
This is why the poem ends in silence.
7. The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Answer: The three stanzas present three different phases of time.
First Phase
The poet’s mother is a girl of about twelve, enjoying a beach holiday with her cousins Betty and Dolly.
Second Phase
Many years later, the mother looks at the photograph and laughs nostalgically at the memory of her childhood.
Third Phase
The mother is no longer alive, and the poet looks back at her memory with grief and silence.
Thus, the poem moves from childhood, to memory, to loss.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. What does the cardboard show?
Answer: The cardboard shows an old photograph of the poet’s mother standing on a beach with her two cousins, Betty and Dolly.
The three girls are holding hands and smiling at the uncle who is taking their photograph.
2. What was the occasion? Why did they go there?
Answer: The three girls had gone to the seaside for a holiday.
They were enjoying themselves by paddling in the shallow sea water when their uncle took the photograph.
3. Describe the three girls standing at the beach.
Answer: The three girls were the poet’s mother and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly.
The poet’s mother was the eldest and was about twelve years old.
They stood together in the shallow sea water, holding hands and smiling through their hair at the uncle who was taking their photograph.
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?
Answer: The poet contrasts human mortality with the apparent permanence of nature.
The girls’ feet are called “terribly transient” because human life is temporary and constantly changing.
The girls grew older and the poet’s mother eventually died, while the sea seems to have remained almost unchanged.
This contrast emphasises how short human life is compared with nature.
5. Why did the poet’s mother laugh at the snapshot?
Answer: The poet’s mother laughed because the photograph reminded her of the happy beach holiday she had enjoyed with Betty and Dolly.
She was particularly amused by the clothes they had worn for the beach.
Her laughter also reflects affectionate nostalgia for her lost childhood.
6. Explain: “The sea holiday was her past, mine is her laughter.”
Answer: The sea holiday belonged to the poet’s mother’s childhood and had become part of her past.
Later, after the mother’s death, her laughter while looking at the photograph became part of the poet’s own past.
Thus, each generation looks back upon a different memory with a sense of loss.
7. “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss.” What is the loss? Explain the situation.
Answer: Both the mother and the poet experience loss, but in different ways.
The mother has lost her childhood and the happy days represented by the sea holiday.
The poet has lost her mother and can now remember only her laughter and presence.
Both try to accept these losses quietly, but the phrase “laboured ease” shows that such acceptance is difficult and painful.
8. How did the poet’s mother die? What does the poet say about this circumstance?
Answer: The poem does not tell us how the poet’s mother died.
It only tells us that she has been dead for many years.
The poet feels that there is nothing more she can say about this loss. Her grief is so deep that silence becomes the only possible response.
IMPORTANT QUESTION AND ANSWER
1. What role does the photograph play in the poem?
Answer: The photograph acts as a link between the past and the present.
It preserves a happy moment from the poet’s mother’s childhood and later reminds the mother of her lost youth.
After the mother’s death, the same photograph becomes a source of memory and grief for the poet.
Thus, the photograph symbolises memory, time and loss.
2. How does the poet feel about the passing of time?
Answer: The poet views the passing of time with sadness and acceptance.
Time changes human beings, turns happy moments into memories and eventually separates people through death.
The poem therefore presents time as an unavoidable force that makes human life temporary.
3. What does the sea represent in the poem?
Answer: The sea represents the continuity and relative permanence of nature.
While human beings grow old and die, the sea appears to remain largely unchanged.
Its presence strengthens the contrast between lasting nature and transient human life.
4. What emotion is conveyed through the poet’s mother’s laughter at the snapshot?
Answer: The mother’s laughter conveys affectionate nostalgia.
She remembers the happy beach holiday of her childhood and is amused by the clothes she and her cousins had worn.
However, the laughter also carries a quiet awareness that those childhood days are gone forever.
5. What does the phrase “laboured ease of loss” mean?
Answer: The phrase means an outwardly calm acceptance of loss that is actually difficult to achieve.
Both the mother and the poet try to accept what time has taken away, but their calmness is mixed with pain.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
1. The photograph shows the poet’s mother as a __________-year-old girl.
Answer: twelve
2. The sea appears to have __________ less over the years.
Answer: changed
3. The poet’s mother laughed at the way Betty, Dolly and she were __________ for the beach.
Answer: dressed
4. The sea holiday was the mother’s __________.
Answer: past
5. The silence after the mother’s death __________ the poet.
Answer: silences
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. What does the word “paddling” refer to in the poem?
(a) Swimming in deep water
(b) Walking in shallow water
(c) Running on the beach
(d) Sitting near the sea
Answer: (b) Walking in shallow water
2. What does “transient” mean?
(a) Permanent
(b) Temporary
(c) Unchanging
(d) Endless
Answer: (b) Temporary
3. What does “The sea holiday was her past, mine is her laughter” mean?
(a) The mother remembered her childhood holiday, while the poet remembers her mother’s laughter.
(b) The poet has forgotten her mother.
(c) The mother disliked the holiday.
(d) The poet remembers only the sea.
Answer: (a) The mother remembered her childhood holiday, while the poet remembers her mother’s laughter.
4. What does the photograph mainly represent in the poem?
(a) A school event
(b) The passage of time and memory
(c) A family argument
(d) A journey abroad
Answer: (b) The passage of time and memory
5. What does the “silence” at the end of the poem suggest?
(a) Complete happiness
(b) The depth of the poet’s loss
(c) Anger against the mother
(d) Excitement about the future
Answer: (b) The depth of the poet’s loss
6. What theme is strongly reflected through the passage of time in the poem?
(a) Human life is permanent.
(b) Human life is transient.
(c) Nature changes faster than people.
(d) Childhood never ends.
Answer: (b) Human life is transient.
7. How old was the poet’s mother when the photograph was taken?
(a) About twelve years old
(b) About twenty years old
(c) About five years old
(d) About thirty years old
Answer: (a) About twelve years old
8. Why did the poet’s mother laugh at the photograph?
(a) She disliked Betty and Dolly.
(b) She found their beach clothes amusing.
(c) She wanted to destroy the photograph.
(d) She had forgotten the holiday.
Answer: (b) She found their beach clothes amusing.
9. How does the poet remember her mother after her death?
(a) With anger
(b) With sorrow and affection
(c) With indifference
(d) With fear
Answer: (b) With sorrow and affection
10. What does “the sea washed their terribly transient feet” emphasise?
(a) The danger of the sea
(b) The temporary nature of human life
(c) The beauty of swimming
(d) The strength of the girls
Answer: (b) The temporary nature of human life
11. What does “snapshot” mean?
(a) A short video
(b) A photograph
(c) A painting
(d) A written memory
Answer: (b) A photograph
12. What does “circumstance” refer to in the final stanza?
(a) The beach holiday
(b) The mother’s death and the poet’s loss
(c) The uncle taking the photograph
(d) The changing sea
Answer: (b) The mother’s death and the poet’s loss
13. What does “laboured” mean in the phrase “laboured ease”?
(a) Effortless
(b) Requiring effort
(c) Joyful
(d) Careless
Answer: (b) Requiring effort
14. Who were Betty and Dolly?
(a) The poet’s sisters
(b) The poet’s mother’s cousins
(c) The poet’s friends
(d) The poet’s daughters
Answer: (b) The poet’s mother’s cousins
15. Who took the photograph of the three girls?
(a) The poet
(b) Their uncle
(c) Their father
(d) A photographer
Answer: (b) Their uncle
Teacher Generate Question Answer
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.
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