Class XI English (Hornbill Book) Poem 1 – A Photograph By Shirley Toulson
Class 11 English (Hornbill Book) Poem 1 – A Photograph
By Shirley Toulson
A Photograph Introduction of the lesson
The poem ‘A Photograph’ is written by Shirley Toulson. In this poem, she recalls her mother and her memories while looking at a childhood photograph when her mother was twelve years old or so. She has been deceased twelve years ago and she cannot explain her grief on her mother’s loss.
✍️ About the Poet – Shirley Toulson
• Full Name: Shirley Toulson
• Born: 20 May 1924, England
• Died: 15 May 2018
Shirley Toulson was a British poet, journalist, and writer. Her poetry often focused on themes of personal loss, nostalgia, nature, and memory. She had a unique ability to express deep emotions in simple, relatable language.
📖 About Her Writing Style:
• Toulson’s poetry is known for being emotionally evocative, especially about family and the passage of time.
• She often drew inspiration from everyday experiences and gave them philosophical depth.
📘 About the Poem “A Photograph”:
• The poem is a touching reflection on loss and remembrance.
• It describes a photograph of the poet’s mother as a young girl, then reflects on her mother’s death.
• Through this, Toulson explores how memories endure even after people are gone.
Summary
The poem is a tribute to the poet’s mother. She is looking at an old photograph of her mother which has a frame of cardboard. The picture has three girls in which the middle one is the oldest and tallest.
It is her mother when she was twelve years old or so. Beside her, on both sides are her two cousins, Betty and Dolly, who are holding her hands and are younger than her. They went for paddling on a beach holiday. Her uncle took the photograph then. The poet could not help but notice her mother’s sweet face. The sea touched her terribly transient feet which depicted that she changed over the years and the sea remained the same.
After twenty-thirty years, her mother would laugh at the photograph. She would make the poet look at the photograph and tell her how their parents would dress them up for the beach holiday. The beach holiday was her mother’s favourite past memories while her laugh was the poet's favourite memory. Both of them lost something which they cherished a lot and yet cannot live that moment again.
Those sweet moments were memories now.
Now, the poet’s mother had been dead for the past twelve years, which is the same number as of her age when the photograph was taken back then. She cannot express the grief that she has from her mother’s absence.
Explanation & Word meaning
Stanza -1 (Line 1 – 9):
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
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
Paddling – walking
Transient – short-term; temporary
Exp. - In these lines, the poet is looking at an old photo album which is made up of cardboard. In the picture, there are three girls who are walking on the beach holding each other’s hands. The girl in the middle is the tallest and oldest, the other two girls on each side are younger than her. The girl in the middle is the poet’s mother. She is around twelve years old when the picture was taken.
In the above lines, the poet describes how the photograph was taken. Her mother’s uncle took the photograph and told them to stop and pose. All three of them left their wet hair open and smiled at the camera. The poet’s attention is drawn towards his mother’s face which is described as a ‘sweet face’. The photograph was taken long before the poet was born. The poet calls their feet ‘terrible transient’ as they were so young by then and now they had grown older. On the other hand, the sea which touched their feet has changed less.
Stanza -1 (Line 10 – 19)::
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.
Now she’s been dead nearly as many years
As that girl lived. And of this circumstance
There is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences.
Wry – ironic; mocking
Snapshot – photograph
Silences – a complete absence of sound
Exp. -After twenty-thirty years later, she would laugh at the photograph. She would tell me to look at her cousins, Betty and Dolly and how their parents would dress all three of them up for the beach. They would have planned to take a photograph beforehand.
The poet recalls the sea holiday was her mother’s favourite moment from the past. While the poet’s favouritemoment from the past was her mother’s laughter. Both the women would think about those past memories which they cannot live again. They tried their best to adjust to what they lost.
In the above lines, the poet says that her mother died twelve years ago, the same age her mother was in the photograph. Whenever the poet thinks of her mother’s death, she cannot explain what effect she has of her mother’s death. Death has silenced her mother which has also left her speechless.
Literary Devices used in the poem
1. Imagery
🔹 Definition: Use of descriptive language to create a mental image.
🔹 Example:
“The cardboard shows me how it was / When the two girl cousins went paddling”
🔹 Explanation: The reader can visualize the photograph of the mother and her cousins standing on the beach.
2. Alliteration
🔹 Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
🔹 Examples:
• “Stood still to smile” — repetition of ‘s’ sound.
• “Terribly transient” — repetition of ‘t’ sound.
🔹 Explanation: Alliteration adds rhythm and musical quality to the lines.
3. Oxymoron
🔹 Definition: Two opposite ideas placed together.
🔹 Example:
“Laboured ease of loss”
🔹 Explanation: The phrase combines ‘laboured’ (difficult) and ‘ease’ (comfort) — showing that even after years, the pain of loss remains, though slightly softened.
4. Transferred Epithet
🔹 Definition: An adjective used with a noun to describe something else indirectly.
🔹 Example:
“Its silence silences”
🔹 Explanation: Here, “its silence” is not of the photograph but of death or memory, which makes even the poet silent with grief.
5. Metaphor
🔹 Definition: A comparison made without using “like” or “as”.
🔹 Example:
“The cardboard shows me…”
🔹 Explanation: “Cardboard” metaphorically stands for the photograph. It represents memory and time.
6. Personification
🔹 Definition: Giving human qualities to non-living things.
🔹 Example:
“Its silence silences me”
🔹 Explanation: The photograph’s silence is personified as it actively causes the poet to fall silent — expressing the depth of her emotion.
7. Enjambment
🔹 Definition: Continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line to the next without a pause.
🔹 Example:
“She went paddling,
Each one holding one of my mother’s hands”
🔹 Explanation: The sentence flows into the next line without a full stop, creating a natural rhythm.
FLOW CHART FOR THE POEM -
🖼️ A PHOTOGRAPH IS SEEN
↓
📸 Description of the Photograph:
- Shows the poet’s mother at age 12
- She is with her two cousins (Betty & Dolly)
- All three are paddling in the sea, smiling
- Photo taken by uncle → preserved on cardboard
↓
🌊 Poet Reflects on the Past:
- Describes how the sea has not changed
- But the girls (especially her mother) have changed over time
- "Terribly transient feet" → symbolizes how human life is short-lived
↓
👩👧 Poet Recalls Her Mother:
- Mother used to look at the photo and laugh
- She would recall her own childhood memories at the sea
- The mother is now dead → memory remains
↓
🕯️ Poet Expresses Her Grief:
- Poet now remembers her mother who has died many years ago
- Expresses silent pain and deep loss
- “It’s silence silences me” → the photograph triggers emotions, but words fail her
↓
🧘♀️ Acceptance of Death & Time:
- The poet feels a “laboured ease of loss” — sorrow has settled into quiet acceptance
- She concludes with silence, which symbolizes the *eternal absence* of her mother and the power of *memories*
Question and Answers
Think it out
1. What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
Ans: In the poem, the word ‘cardboard’ means a frame which supports the photograph. This word had been used in the poem because the picture is very old when the cardboard was used as a photo frame.
2. What has the camera captured?
Ans: The camera has captured the poet’s mother and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly, on the beach. They went for paddling where her mother’s uncle captured the photo in between the moment. Her mother was around twelve years old and was in the middle. She was holding the hands of her cousins who were on the side of her. It was her mother’s favourite past memories.
3. What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Ans: The lines ‘And the sea, which appears to have changed less’ depicts that the sea which touched her mother’s feet is the one which has not changed over the years. Whereas, her mother and her cousins grew older. The sea symbolises eternity and immortality. Human being has a life span and has to die one day. Life is not permanent. The poet is sad about her mother’s demise twelve years ago and her laugh is her favourite past memory.
4. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans: The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot recalling her favourite past memories. She looked back at the photograph and remembered how their parents would dress them up for the beach holiday. Her laugh indicated her remembering the innocent days and the nostalgia feeling. Behind the laugh is also a feeling of pain that those days won’t be back.
5. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss.”
Ans: the above lines means that the poet’s mother felt pain whenever she saw the old photograph because the innocent childhood days would never be back. Those are just the memories. While the poet has lost his mother twelve years ago and she misses her a lot and recalls her laughing and pointing out the outfits they used to wear at the beach holidays. Both of them lost something.
6. What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Ans: The words ‘this circumstance’ refers to the present situation of the poet which is the painful memories of her mother who have been deceased twelve years ago. While looking at the old photograph of her mother’s childhood makes her miss her more. She remembers her laughing and how the photograph was her favourite past memory.
7. The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Ans: the first stanza depicts her mother’s childhood days when she was twelve years old or so. It talks about a photograph of her with her two cousins on a beach holiday. Her uncle took the photograph. Her mother changed over the years as she grew older. While the sea which touched their feet in that beach holiday hadn’t changed over the years.
In the second stanza, the poet talks about her childhood days when her mother used to look at the photograph and recalls everything mentioned in the first stanza.
In the last stanza, the poet shares that her mother is dead as many years ago as was her age in the photograph. She died twelve years ago. The poet is recalling her mother’s old memories while looking at the photograph. She is in pain and misses her deceased mother. She has no words to describe her grief.
EXTRA QUESTIONS-
📘 A. Questions Based on the Title
1. Q: Justify the title “A Photograph”.
Answer Hint:
• The poem revolves around a photograph of the poet’s mother.
• It freezes a moment in time and evokes deep memories.
• Symbolizes permanence of memory vs. impermanence of life.
💡 B. Theme-Based Questions
2. Q: What is the central theme of the poem “A Photograph”?
Answer Hint:
• Passage of time, transience of human life.
• Emotional impact of loss and how memories live on.
• Nature vs. human mortality.
C. Value-Based / Teaching-Based Questions
3. Q: What values or emotions does the poem reflect about human relationships?
Answer Hint:
• Love between mother and daughter.
• Respect for memories, emotional bonding, and silent grief.
• Teaches acceptance of loss and power of remembrance.
4. Q: What lesson does the poem teach about coping with loss?
Answer Hint:
• Grief never fully fades but becomes quiet over time.
• Memories help us connect with lost loved ones.
• Acceptance and silence are part of healing.
🧠 D. Competency-Based Questions
5. Q: Why does the poet say, “Its silence silences me”?
Answer Hint:
• The photo brings back powerful memories of her mother.
• Emotions are so strong that they leave her speechless.
• Shows depth of grief and emotional stillness.
6. Q: How does the photograph contrast the past and the present?
Answer Hint:
• Past: Young, smiling mother full of life.
• Present: Mother is dead, poet is grieving.
• Photograph stays unchanged while life moves on.
🔍 E. Situation-Based Questions
7. Q: Imagine you found an old photograph of a lost loved one. What emotions would it evoke?
Answer Hint:
• Nostalgia, sadness, warmth, longing.
• A sense of connection with the past.
• Mixed feelings — joy of memory, pain of absence.
8. Q: If you were the poet looking at the photograph today, what would you say to your mother?
Answer Hint:
• “I miss you, your memories stay with me.”
• Express love, gratitude, and the silence that follows her absence.
• Maybe even smile at the old memory — like the mother once did.
📝 Bonus: Short Answer Practice
9. Q: What does the phrase “Terribly transient feet” suggest?
Answer Hint:
• Human life is short-lived and always changing.
• Childhood, youth, life — all are temporary.
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