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The poet’s mother lived that day of the photograph and then she continued to remember those memories. For the poet herself, her mother remembering those memories becomes a memory and she feels the pain as those memories are rekindled as she looks at the photo frame. Suffering and loss as inevitable laws of nature are presented in the lines above.
- Summary of A Photograph
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The poem, “A Photograph” is written in free verse by Shirley Toulson. Nostalgically recollecting fond memories, the poet looks at a very old snapshot of her mother, who is no more. The poet is consumed with sorrow, but there are no words left to express the loss. The poet starts the poem by looking at an old photograph of her mother when she was tw...
The title photograph is very much appropriate as it reminds the poet of her mother. A photograph is something that captures a certain snapshot of someone’s life. The person may change in course of time however the recollections connected with the photograph are endless. In this poem, the poet’s mother is no more but the photograph brings back her m...
Allusion An Allusionis a reference or an incidental mention of something; either directly or by implication. An example of an allusionfrom ‘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 con...
Lines 1 – 4: The poet describes looking through a photo album in these lines, the pages of which appear to be made of cardboard. She looks at a specific photo. It is a picture of three girls the tallest and oldest one in the middle and two younger and shorter ones at each side of her. The girl in the middle is the mother of the poet, and the poet s...
Summary of A Photograph. ‘A Photograph’ by Shirley Toulson is a beautiful poem in which a speaker recalls memories of her deceased mother. In the first part of ‘A Photograph,’ the speaker describes looking at a photograph of her mother as a child. Through this, she is able to get across her feelings about time and how quickly it moves.
- Female
- October 9, 1995
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Apr 29, 2016 · Both the mother and the poet suffered a great sense of loss. The mother lost her childhood innocence and youthful spirit that the photograph had captured some years ago. On the other hand, the poet has lost her mother’s smile, which has become a thing of the past. Later, she loses her mother too. 11. What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Jun 18, 2018 · 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 the course of time, but the memories attached to the photograph are eternal.
Answer: Shirley Toulson’s ‘A Photograph’ describes three phases in time. In the first phase, the poet’s mother is described as a twelve-year-old girl with a sweet and innocent smile. She is standing on the beach enjoying a holiday with her two cousins — Dolly and Betty. This was the phase before the poet’s birth.
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Poetic Devices. Following poetic devices have been used in the poem My Mother at Sixty-Six. 1. Simile: it is the comparison of two things by using as or like. e.g. “her face ashen like. that of a corpse”, “as a late winter’s moon”. 2. Metaphor: it is the direct comparison of two things without the use of as or like.
