1.A Photograph

A photograph

by Shirely Toulsan

The poem deals with the shortness of human life pitched against the permanence of Nature. The speaker sees the photograph of her mother at a seaside holiday with her Two cousins. The mother is only twelve years old at the time and now she has been dead for twelve years. The finality of death makes the feeling of loss acute and there is a terrible silence, which speaks for itself.

A Photograph Poem Explanation

Line 1 – 4:

The cardboard shows me how it was

When the two girl cousins went paddling,

Each one holding one of my mother’s hand

And she the big girl — some twelve years or so

Paddling – walking

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.

Line 5 – 9:

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

Transient – short-term; temporary

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.

Line 10 – 13:

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

Snapshot – photograph

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.

Line 14 – 15:

Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry

With the laboured ease of loss.

Wry – ironic; mocking

The poet recalls the sea holiday was her mother’s favourite moment from the past. While the poet’s favourite moment 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.

Line 16 – 19:

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.

Silences – a complete absence of sound

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.

A Photograph Literary Devices

Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of two or more consecutive words. The instances of alliteration in the poem are as follows-

Stood still

Through their

My mother’s

Terribly transient

Silence silences

Oxymoron – a term which contradicts itself

Laboured ease

Epithet – a phrase expressing a quality of a person or something

Terribly transient