Class XI- ENGLISH

Hornbill
Chapter-2 ( A Photograph)
Recap
Stanza 1
The poet observes a photograph framed in a cardboard frame. This photograph is
from the day when the poet’s mother and her two cousins (sisters) went on a holiday
to visit and play on the seaside (beach). Two girls held the two hands of the poet’s
mother who was the eldest (and perhaps the tallest) among the three. The poet also
tries to guess the age of her mother and supposes it to be about twelve. At the time of
the photography by some person holding the camera, three girls stood still and smiled.
The wild blew their hair and it may have covered the faces of the three girls as the
photo got clicked. The poet admires the looks of her mother and recollects how
beautiful she looked before the birth of the poet. And now, things have changed a lot.
The poet’s mother has died. The poet herself has aged well. But the sea, the poet
suggests, has changed very little or not at all. And the photo also shows the ocean
water washing the feet of the three girls as they stood on the beach.
Stanza 2
The poet recalls how her mother, after two-three decades from the day the
photograph was taken, laughed at the photo and told the poet about her aunts Betty
and Dolly (the poet’s mother’s cousins) and the way they dressed for the occasion –
the sea holiday. The holiday at the beach was the past of the poet’s mother and the
way she laughed remembering the day was the past of the poet. The phrase laboured
ease of loss suggests the suffering and pain of losing someone you love. The memories
of the past that used to please may change in pain with time.
Stanza 3
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.

circumstance- situation
Literary devices
1. Alliteration - The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of
words.

Example- stood still

through their
my mother’s
terribly transient
silence silences
Literary devices

2. Oxymoron - In this literary device, there are two opposite ideas that are joined
to create an effect.

Example- laboured ease

Literary devices
3. Transferred Epithet - Epithet means adding some qualities to someone i.e.,
adjective.
Transferred epithet is a literary device in which an adjective is attached to a noun
but it shifts to describe a different noun in the sentence.

Example- washed their terribly transient feet

Literary devices
4. Synecdoche - In this poetic device, part stands for the whole.

Example- feet
Important questions
1. What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word
been used?
Ans- The word cardboard denotes a snapshot or a photograph in the poem .
This word has been used to portray the photograph of two girls and a smiling
mother having a beautiful face like a natural scenery.
2. What has the camera captured?
Ans- The camera has captured the smiling faces of both the girls along with
poet’s mother. The camera also captured a sea holiday scene washing away
of her mother’s transient feet.
Important questions
3. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans- The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot recalling her favourite past
memories. She looked back at the photograph and remembered how their
parents would dress up for the beach holiday. Her laugh indicated her
remembering the innocent days and the nostalgic feelings. Behind the laugh is
also a feeling of pain that those days won’t be back.
4. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of
loss.”
Ans- The poet and the mother are unhappy at a loss they have troubled. Now
mother misses sea holidays . The poet’s past is her mother’s laughter. She
has dressed herself nicely near the coast of sea. Now, she can no longer
witness the laughter that she notices in the snapshot.
Important questions
5. What does “this circumstance” refer to?
Ans- It refers to the present situation of the poet which is the painful memories
of her mother who has been deceased twelve years ago. She remembers her
laughter and how the photograph was her favourite past memory.