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The dynamic between a long poem and a photograph is very different from that between a short poem and a photograph; the latter pairing works best in exhibitions. People always want to know where a photograph was taken, but in photo-poetry a level of imaginative engagement is lost as soon as they find out.
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Aug 10, 2010 · Long poems look at the "big picture," develop ideas and are "about" something; long poems are about nothing but themselves. D. A. Powell: long poems make "a much bolder claim on the temporal field of poetry, sacrificing individual moments for the sake of broader ideas." There is an inevitable "storyness," an "aboutness" in long poems.
A Photograph is a poem by British poet Shirley Toulson. Prescribed in classes 11 & 12 (India), the poem has become popular because students have to study it. The poem essentially is about the inevitable passage of time and the course of nature that does not change ever.
Quick answer: "A Photograph" contrasts nature's eternity with human transience by highlighting the enduring nature of the sea compared to the fleeting lives of...
- Summary Ofa Photograph
- Themes in A Photograph
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Analysis of A Photograph
- Similar Poetry
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. Somethings, like the sea, stay the same while her mother did not. The second part of the poem takes the scene into the speaker’s own life when she was ...
Toulson explores several important themes in ‘A Photograph’. The most prominent are loss/mourning and memories. The entire poem is centered around the speaker’s recollections from her own life and her recollections of her mother’s memories. She feels both sorrow and joy as she recalls her mother’s words when the two looked at the photograph togethe...
‘A Photograph’ by Shirley Toulson is a nineteen line poem that is contained within one stanza of text. The lines are written in free verse, meaning that they do not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. But, that being said, it does not mean that the poem is entirely without rhyme or meter. There are several examples of half-rhymescat...
Toulson makes use of several literary devices in ‘A Photograph’. These include but are not limited to caesura, alliteration, and imagery. The first of these can be seen several times in the text when the poet breaks lines with punctuation. For example, line four reads: “And she the big girl – some twelve years or so” or line ten: “She’d laugh at th...
Lines 1-9
In the first lines of ‘A Photograph,’ the speaker begins by using the word “cardboard” to refer to a photograph. Unlike the photographs of today, in the pre-digital era, photos were printed on thick photo paper similar to cardboard. This photograph reminds her of a time when “two girl cousins went paddling”. In the photo, she sees them hoping hands with her mother who at that time was only twelve years old. This photograph was taken long before the speaker was born but it is still capable of...
Lines 10-19
In the next lines of ‘A Photograph,’ the speaker takes the reader into her lifetime when “twenty-thirty-years later” (suggesting that she doesn’t quite know how long ago it was) her mother laughed with her at the photograph. She speaks about the “girl cousins,” “Betty” and “Dolly”. This was a tender memory in her mother’s past and the speaker compares it to an important one of her own—her mother’s laugh. This is the first concrete evidence that the reader has that the mother has passed away....
Readers who enjoyed ‘A Photograph’ should also consider digging deeper into poetry that focuses on themes of loss and memory. One of the best poems about loss is ‘When Great Trees Fall’ by Maya Angelou. In this piece, Angelou depicts loss as an inevitable part of the human experience and is able to identify with all those who have felt loss at some...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
A Photograph by Shirley Toulson is a poignant reflection on the fleeting nature of life and the showcasing power of memories. Through the simple yet profound depiction of an old photograph, the poem captures the essence of nostalgia and loss.
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What is the message of the poem ‘A Photograph’? The poem stresses the fact that life is ever-changing and no person or thing stays with us forever, no matter how close we are. The photograph is like a memory that captures the good moments of life.
