A Photograph by Shirley Toulson
Summary of "A Photograph" (Class 11)
"A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson is a poignant poem reflecting on loss, memory, and the
passage of time. The poet looks at a childhood photograph of her mother, taken when she was
about twelve, standing with her cousins on a beach. The photograph evokes memories of her
mother's innocence and the happy moments of the past. Over the years, the mother would
laugh at the photograph, reminiscing about her own childhood. Now, after her mother's death,
the poet feels a deep, inexpressible grief. The poem contrasts the permanence of nature (the
sea) with the fleeting nature of human life, highlighting how photographs can immortalize
moments but cannot stop the inevitable changes brought by time.
Poetic Devices in "A Photograph"
• Imagery: Vivid descriptions like "the sea, which appears to have changed less" and "her
sweet face" create mental pictures.
• Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds, e.g., "stood still to smile," "terribly
transient feet".
• Transferred Epithet:
Applying an adjective to a noun that it doesn’t logically modify, such as “terribly transient
feet”. The feet aren’t transient; the human life is.
• Oxymoron:
Combining contradictory terms, like “labored ease” to express the complex emotions of
loss.
• Symbolism: The photograph symbolizes memories and the passage of time.
• Irony: The mother laughed at her own childhood photo, but now the poet mourns her
loss.
• Contrast: Between the unchanging sea and the transient human life.
• Metaphor: "Cardboard" for the photograph, "transient feet" for the fleeting nature of
life.
• Personification: The sea is described as if it can touch feet.
8 Short Answer Questions
1. What does the photograph show?
2. Who are the people in the photograph?
3. How old was the poet’s mother when the picture was taken?
4. What does the poet mean by "terribly transient feet"?
5. How did the poet’s mother react to the photograph years later?
6. How long has the poet’s mother been dead?
7. What does the sea represent in the poem?
8. How does the poet express her feelings about her mother’s death?
2 Long Answer Questions
1. Discuss how Shirley Toulson uses the photograph to explore the themes of memory and
loss in the poem.
2. Explain the significance of the contrast between the permanence of nature and the
transience of human life as depicted in the poem.
2 Extract-Based Questions
Extract 1
"The cardboard shows me how it was / When the two girl cousins went paddling / Each one
holding one of my mother’s hands..."
• Who are the ‘two girl cousins’ mentioned here?
• What does the ‘cardboard’ refer to in this extract?
Extract 2
"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."
• What does the poet mean by "its silence silences"?
• How does the poet convey her feelings about her mother's absence in these lines?
