What are the two past times that are talked about in the poem?
Answers
Answer:
Shirley Toulson’s poem “The Photograph” is a tribute to her mother. The poet is looking at an old photograph of her mother when her mother was a little girl. Photographs capture a moment in a time and also the emotions felt when the photograph was taken. The photograph shows her mother playing on a beach accompanied with her two cousins. Her mother is the elder one among the two and she is holding the hands of her other cousins. The weather was windy at that time and their hair was flying on their faces when the uncle took the photograph. All the three children had a happy and smiling expression on their face.
The poet expresses the view that her mother had a sweet face when the poet was not even born. The sea washes away the transient feet of the children. ‘Transient feet’ refers to the changeable nature of human beings i.e. ‘feet’ too will change with time. The sea is unchangeable and it has washed away the footprints on the sand. Similarly, the photograph and the memories have not changed while the time has changed and so has the poet’s mother who is no more.
The poet recalls that when her mother used to take a look at the photograph after thirty-forty years, she would laugh hard. By that time, her mother was married and she had a daughter of her own. The poet’s mother would laugh and say how her cousins Betty and Dolly were dressed up for the beach.
The sea holiday was the mother’s past and her laughter was the poet’s. There had been huge changes in the lives of the mother and the daughter. Both the mother and the daughter had learned to accept the losses their fate has imbibed them with.
The poet’s mother is no more and the silence of the little girl in the photograph has silenced the poet. She is left without words. The photograph reminds her of her mother. Shirley Toulson feels sad seeing the photograph of her dead mother while her mother had derived a sense of happiness and laughter when she used to see it. This feeling of loss has silenced the poet.
Title:
The poem, “A Photograph” is composed in blank verse. Its title is very much appropriate as it reminds the poet of his mother. A photograph is something that captures a certain moment of someone’s life. The person might change in course of time but the memories attached with the photograph are eternal. In this poem, the poet’s mother is no more but the photograph makes her memories come alive. The mother’s sweet face or her cousins heavily dressed up for the beach have all changed with time but the moment captured in the photograph still gives happiness to the poet’s mother when she views it thirty to forty years later.
Allusion:
An Allusion is a reference or an incidental mention of something; either directly or by implication.
Example of an allusion from “A Photograph” is the cardboard (photograph) itself. The durability of the cardboard shows the lack of permanence of human life.
Alliteration:
Alliteration is the repetition of the initial letter (generally a consonant) of several words marking the stressed syllables in a line of a poetry.
“stood still to smile” is an example of alliteration from the poem.
Transferred Epithet:
A transferred epithet is a description which refers to a character or event but is used to describe a different situation or character. “Transient feet” is a transferred epithet in the poem, “A Photograph.” It refers to the human feet but it is used to describe the lack of permanence of human life. The sea is constant and eternal while the human feet which are being washed away by the sea are transient.