A Photograph-Shirley-Toulson-Qs-Ans Poem 1 from Hornbill-Class XI English

 

Poem 1: A Photograph by Shirley Toulson

(A)          Short Answer-type Questions (About 30-40 words each)

Q1.Why does the poetess use ‘cardboard’ for the photograph? Whose photograph is being described here? Why is the word ‘cardboard’ used here?

Ans. The poetess uses the ‘cardboard’ for the photograph of her mother. The photographs were pasted on cardboard to provide them with a firm base in the old days. So this word has been used here.

Q2. What has the camera captured?

   Ans. The camera has captured three girls in their teenage standing with their smiling faces in the shallow water of the sea beach. The narrator’s mother stood in the middle, while her cousins stood on both sides of her.

Q3. The poetess’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?

   Ans. It shows that the mother was amused to see her photograph along with her two cousins. She might have thought about how they looked at that small age in their dresses. It is natural to laugh when one watches his or her childhood photograph.

 Q4. How does the poetess describe the photograph? Who were there in it?

Ans. The poet describes three girls in the photograph. The tallest of them was the poet’s mother who was about twelve years old at that time. The girls who stood at her both sides were her cousins and each of them held the mother’s hands. They were out on the beach to enjoy the cool touch of the wet sand.

Q5. What does the phrase “...some twelve years or so” mean?

Ans.The phrase “...some twelve years or so” shows that the poetess was not definite about the exact age of her mother. She might have been approximately twelve years.

Q6. How were the three girls posing for the photograph? Who was the person clicking it?

Ans. All three girls stood motionless smiling through their hair when their uncle was about to click the photograph from his camera. They were holding the hands of the girl who stood in the middle.

Q7. What does the phrase ‘smile through the hair’ mean?

Ans.The words ‘smile through the hair’ show that the wind was moving the hair that was falling on their faces. So the moving hair might have been covering the lips also. That is why the word ‘through’ has been used here.

Q8. What does the poetess say about her mother’s face? What has not changed yet?

Ans. The poetess says that her mother’s face was sweet at the time when she (the poetess) was not born. It went through a change after that with the passage of time. One grows older as time passes. But the sea has undergone fewer changes since that day on which the photograph was clicked.

Q9. What is the symbolic significance of the words ‘transient feet’ and ‘the sea’? What is the role of Time in the physical world?

Ans. Here ‘the sea’ stands for nature that is long-lived. The words ‘transient feet’ stands for human life, that is mortal Time has its ravaging (destroying) effect on mortal (perishable: those are prone to die) things only. There is alliteration in the words: ‘....terribly transient’.

Q10. What might have been the possible age of the mother when the photograph was clicked? What might be the age of the poetess when she picked it up for watching?

Ans. The mother was of twelve years when she stood for the photograph to be clicked by her uncle. If we add twenty or thirty to twelve years, the total becomes thirty-two or forty-two.  It means after thirty-two or forty-two years, the narrator’s mother watched herself with her girl cousins and laughed.

Q11. Explain the phrase ‘laboured ease of loss’ used in the poem.

Ans. The phrase ‘laboured ease of loss’ means that both of them had struggled hard to attain some ease (relaxation) to bear the loss of the ‘past’. For the mother,  the ‘loss’ of the ‘past’ represents the happy moments when she was enjoying the sea holiday along with her two cousins. For the narrator, the ‘loss’ of ‘the past’ was the moment when her mother used to laugh to see herself and her two cousins in the photograph.

Q12. What is the meaning of the line: “Both wry the laboured ease of loss.”?

    Ans. The mother’s face was wry (the sad expression on her face with twisted features) at the loss of her joyful childhood days. The daughter’s (the narrator’s) face was wry due to the loss of her mother’s laughter. She is no more now as she died twelve years ago.

   Q13. What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to?

   Ans. It refers to the situation in which she was living. Her mother died twelve years ago and she was alone to think about those happy moments. She is sad to recall the laughter of her mother.

Q14. The three stanzas depict three different phases. Name them.

   Ans. There are three different phases of life described in the poem. The first phase of life is the time when the poetess’ mother was of twelve years. The second phase of life is when the poetess’ mother was thirty-two or forty-two years. The third phase of life is when the poetess was alone because her mother had died.

Q15. Explain the line ‘‘as many years/ As that girl lived’.

Ans. The expression ‘as many years/ As that girl lived’   means the mother was of twelve years at the time when the photograph was clicked and it has been twelve years since her mother died. The words ‘that girl’ stand for the narrator’s mother who was a girl at that time.

Q16. Explain the line ‘“And of this circumstance/There is nothing to say at all,/ Its silence silences”.

Ans. It means that the narrator could say nothing about the circumstances that changed completely after her mother's death. In such a situation only ‘silence’ prevails all around. The personal loss of the narrator left her in deep shock.  Everything changed for her. There was no laughter in the house, no joy or happiness prevailed there. if anything prevailed there in the house, that was a deep silence. It made the narrator speechless and took away all mirth (fun) and joy from her life.

(B)           Some Important Stanzas for Comprehension

Stanza 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.”

Q1. Name the poem and its poet.

Ans. The poem is ‘A Photograph’ and its poet is Shirley Toulson.

Q2. Who was the big girl?

Ans. She was the poetess’ mother.

Q3. Who were the ‘two girl cousins’ in the photograph?

Ans They were the cousins of the poetess’ mother.

Q4. What were both ‘the cousin girls’ holding?

Ans. Both the cousin girls were holding the poetess’ mother’s hands.

Q5. What does the word ‘paddling’ mean?

Ans. The word ‘paddling’ means to move hands or feet in shallow water.

Stanza 2

“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.”

Q1.  Who was holding the camera?

Ans. The girls’ uncle was holding the camera.

Q2. What is meant by the phrase ‘to smile through their hair’?

Ans. The words ‘smile through the hair’ shows that the wind was moving the hair falling on their faces. So the moving hair might have been covering the lips also. That is why the word ‘through’ has been used here.

Q3. What do the words ‘terribly transient feet’ mean?

Ans. The word ‘terribly’ means extremely and ‘transient’ means short-lived. The word ‘feet’ stands for human life. So ‘terribly transient feet’ means that human life is extremely short-lived. It has very much changed.

Q4. What has changed very little? Why?

Ans. The sea has changed very much. It stands for Nature and that changes very less.

Q5. Which poetic device has been used in ‘terribly transient’?

Ans. Alliteration.

Stanza 3

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.

Q1. Who is ‘she’ in the above stanza?

Ans. The poetess’ mother is ‘she’ in the above stanza.

Q2.  Why did ‘she’ laugh at the snapshot?

Ans. She laughed at the snapshot to show to her daughter (the poetess) as to how their parents dressed them up at that time.
Q3. Explain the line ‘The sea holiday/was her past, mine is her laughter.

Ans.   The sea holiday was the narrator’s mother’s past and ‘the laughter of the mother was the narrator’s past. Both of the incidents belonged to the past that would never come back. Those were the happy moments for the narrator and her mother and could not be lived again.

Q4. Explain ‘laboured ease of loss’.

Ans. Thus the phrase ‘laboured ease of loss’ means that both of them had struggled hard to attain some ease (relaxation) to bear the loss of the ‘past’. For the mother,  the ‘loss’ of the ‘past’ represents the happy moments when she was enjoying the sea holiday along with her two cousins..

Q5. Why has the word ‘wry’ been used here?

Ans. But still, they had experienced some disappointment on their faces in making a compromise at the loss. That is why the word ‘wry’ has been used here. The narrator was grieved at heart to think about that past. Her mother had died and she could only imagine the ‘laughter’ of her mother only.

Stanza 4

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

Q1. Explain ‘as many years/ As that girl lived’. Ans. It means the mother was of twelve years at the time when the photograph was clicked and it has been twelve years since her mother died. The words ‘that girl’ stand for the narrator’s mother who was a girl at that time.

Q2. How have the circumstances changed for the poetess?

Ans. The personal loss of the narrator left her in deep shock.  Everything changed for her. There was no laughter in the house, no joy or happiness prevailed there.

Q3. What does prevail in the poetess’ house now?

Ans. If anything prevailed there in the house, that was a deep silence.

 Q4. What has been the effect on the poetess due to the death of her mother?

Ans. It made the narrator speechless and took away all mirth (fun) and joy from her life. It means the mother was of twelve years when the photograph was clicked and it has been twelve years since her mother died. The words ‘that girl’ stand for the narrator’s mother who was a girl at that time.