Class XI English - A Photograph Poem - PDF

CLASS XI ENGLISH A PHOTOGRAPH A poem by SHIRLEY TOULSON MODULE 1/1 Prepared by SELSON SAMUEL AECS #3 TARAPUR Shirley Toulson: Poet, journalist, and travel-writer was a highly regarded poet and an innovative writer  Shirley Toulson’s ‘A Photograph...

CLASS XI ENGLISH A PHOTOGRAPH A poem by SHIRLEY TOULSON MODULE 1/1 Prepared by SELSON SAMUEL AECS #3 TARAPUR Shirley Toulson: Poet, journalist, and travel-writer was a highly regarded poet and an innovative writer  Shirley Toulson’s ‘A Photograph’ is a tribute written in memory of her dead mother.  Card board is a hard paper on which the photograph is usually mounted or pasted Here Card board stands for photograph itself  Theme/ Central Idea Shirley Toulson deals with the transience and futility of human life  The title A Photograph per se suggests that the cardboard stands for lack of durability A Photograph by Shirley Toulson is 1.a dysphoric poem 2.In three different stanzas 3. It captures the three different moods of the poet.  Poem is all about the memories associated with two women- the poet and her mother which they missed and wanted to revisit.  A Photograph 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.  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 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. BY SHIRLEY TOULSON  Stage I 1.The Poet Shirley Toulson, looks intently at a photograph, 2.Her mother was enjoying her beach holiday 3.Along with her, her two girl cousins, Betty and Dolly were there  1.She was around 12 years old at that time. 2.They were paddling on the sea shore 3. The Poet’s mother was the eldest among the three 4. She held the hands of both her cousins fondly and securely 1.They happily stood and faced the camera for a still picture. 2.Their uncle, their escort, clicked the snapshot 3.The strong sea breeze made their hair caressing their faces  1.All the three kids had special dress for the beach 2. Laughed because they looked strange, quaint and funny in the beach dress. 3. May be their dresses of the yesteryears looked weird, outdated and obsolete 4.The photograph thus kindled sweet old memories and revived a nostalgic feeling.  Stage II 1.Twenty or thirty years later, The Poet’s Mother, looked at the beach holiday photograph. 2. Remembered the event with fondness and laughter 3. Nostalgically recollected the past with Betty and Dolly. 1 Their parents had dressed and spruced them all 2.Poet’s mother told Shirley to note Betty, Dolly and her own dress , too 3 In fact, they were in the appropriate attire and apparel for the beach  1.The beach holiday had happened way before the poet was born. 2. The poet Mother’s sweet face was tender and mild, with full of smiles. 3.Now Mother’s face has changed considerably but the sea in the background of the photograph had not changed much  Stage III 1.This takes place about 12 years after her mother’s demise. 2.The Poet’s mother who laughed at the photograph is no more. 3. The poet looks at the same photograph and remembers her mother’s laughter which has now become a thing of the past 1.The Poet’s Mother is no more she is dead and gone or passed away some 12 years, ago. 2.The Poet with much difficulty could overcome the loss 3. Her mother’s silence has completely moved her to silence. 1.Poet’s mother lost, her innocent laughter at the sea beach 2. Poet lost, her mother’s laughter. 3.It was disappointment for both of them. 4. The present circumstances have made the poet speechless  Poetic Devices Allusion Alliteration Transferred Epithet Synecdoche Personification THANK YOU