A Photograph (intro)

-

The title of the poem is much appropriate as it reminds the poet of her mother. A photograph is something that captures a certain moment of someone’s life. The person might change in course of time but the memories attached with the photograph are eternal. In this poem, the poet’s mother is no more but the photograph makes her memories come alive. The mother’s sweet face and her cousins have changed with time but the moment captured in the photograph still gives happiness to the poet’s mother when she views it thirty to forty years later. The poet reminisces that the sea holiday was the past of her mother and for her the laughter of her mother is past now. Both the moments of life have been permanently etched in the poet’s mind with the feeling of eternal loss. Death now has overpowered the innocence of these moments and the pleasure they treasured. The poet concludes the poem on a melancholy note with the comment that there is nothing to say or comment upon this sad event. The silence seems to silence all the other thoughts. 

Four important points to remember:

  1. “An embodiment of time and timelessness” (the eternal state of the natural being and ephemeral state { Transitory /lasting for a very short time}of the humans)
  2. ‘A melancholic poem (Sad)
  3. A Nostalgic poem` (a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past:)
  4. Three different phases of life (Stanza 1: a twelve-year-old girl with a pretty
    smiling face. Stanza 2: have a happy youthful laughter before the poet was born. Stanza 3: the death of poet’s  mother)
SUMMARY: 

  1. The poet looks at the cardboard on which there is a childhood photograph of her mother. 
  2. She had gone for a sea holiday with her two cousins Betty and Dolly. 
  3. While they were paddling, the uncle with the camera took a photograph of them. 
  4. Both the cousins were holding the hands of her mother who was the eldest among the girls. 
  5. This was before the poet was born. 
  6. Time fled by since and all those who are in the photograph underwent changes while the sea remained the same. 
  7. Her mother would look at the photograph after about twenty to thirty years and laugh nostalgically. 
  8. Now for the poet, her mother’s laughter and her sea holiday is a thing of the past.
  9. Her mother died about 12 years ago. 
  10. The silence of her mother’s death silences the poet. 
  11. She experiences great loss.

Popular posts from this blog

A Photograph (Poetic Devices)

-
Image
Allusion: An allusion is a reference or an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication. An example of allusion in this poem is ‘cardboard’ which actually refers to the photograph.  Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sound (generally a consonant) of several words marking the stressed syllable in a line of poem. Examples of alliteration in this poem are ‘stood still to smile’, ‘terribly transient’, ‘Its silence silences’ etc.  Transferred Epithet: An Epithet is an adjective. If it gets transferred from its literal place to a metaphoric place ‘Transient feet’ is an example of the transferred epithet in the poem. It refers to human feet but it is used to describe the lack of permanence of human life.  Oxymoron: In this literary device, there are two opposite ideas that are joined to create an effect. ‘Laboured ease’ in the poem is an example of an oxymoron. Laboured meaning with ‘great difficulty’ and ease means ‘comfortably’. B...
Read more