Explain meaning of " both wry with the laboured ease of loss
Answers
The poem A Photograph by Shirley Toulson is sad that the laughter that is deeply imprinted on her mother’s face is no longer to be available, as her mother is no more, and she has also grown up.
Her mother also feels the same for her childhood days.
The word wry here implies disappointment and both of them are dejected and disappointed at their past childhood and youth days.
Answer:
Actually both of them suffer a sense of loss. The mother loses her carefree childhood. She can't have those moments of enjoyment again that she once experienced at the beach. She can not be smiling girl of twelve again. This is also poet's loss. Perhaps she will never see that smiling face and experience her laughter again in life. This irony of the situation is that both of them struggle to bear the loss with tolerable.