Question

EXPLAIN THESE LINES.
FROM "THE PHOTOGRAPH"
class 11th hornbill


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
​

Answer 1

Answer:

The poem is a tribute to the poet’s mother. She is looking at an old photograph of her mother which has a frame of cardboard. The picture has three girls in which the middle one is the oldest and tallest.

It is her mother when she was twelve years old or so. Beside her, on both sides are her two cousins, Betty and Dolly, who are holding her hands and are younger than her. They went for paddling on a beach holiday. Her uncle took the photograph then. The poet could not help but notice her mother’s sweet face. The sea touched her terribly transient feet which depicted that she changed over the years and the sea remained the same.

After twenty-thirty years, her mother would laugh at the photograph. She would make the poet look at the photograph and tell her how their parents would dress them up for the beach holiday. The beach holiday was her mother’s favourite past memories while her laugh was the poet's favourite memory. Both of them lost something which they cherished a lot and yet cannot live that moment again.

Those sweet moments were memories now.

Now, the poet’s mother had been dead for the past twelve years, which is the same number as of her age when the photograph was taken back then. She cannot express the grief that she has from her mother’s absence.

HOPE THIS HELPS YOU!!!

Answer 2

Explanation:

In the above mentioned lines the poet is saying that her mother has been dead for nearly twelve years, which is also the age of the girl in the photograph. Her loss is so severe that she has nothing to say at all about her mother's demise. She cannot hear her mother anymore, she can only remember her laughter. The poet is speechless. The photograph reflects a dear, old memory of the poet's mother. While her mother was alive, she would look at the photograph and reminiscence about the day spent at the sea. However, after the mother's death, the photograph elicits no words from the poet. It is a reminder of her mother's death. This harsh realization of loss silences her.