1. What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
2. What has the camera captured?
3. What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
4. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Answers
Ans 1: 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.
Ans 2: 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.
Ans 3: 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.
Ans 4: 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.
Answer:
the poem tells us about the old memories of narrator's mother.