CBSE Class 11 English A Photograph Worksheet Set 02

Extract-based Questions

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.

The cardboard shows me how it was
When the two girl cousins went paddling.
Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,
And she the big girl — some twelve years or so.

 

Question. What does the word ‘cardboard’ refer to in the stanza?
Answer: The word ‘cardboard’ refers to the very old photograph of the poet’s mother and her cousins, which was pasted on a thick paper or cardboard frame.

 

Question. How old was the poet’s mother when this photograph was taken?
(a) Ten years
(b) Twelve years
(c) Fourteen years
(d) Sixteen years
Answer: (b) Twelve years

 

Question. What is the rhyme scheme of the stanza?
Answer: The stanza is written in free verse and does not follow a specific rhyme scheme.

 

All three stood still to smile through their hair
At the uncle with the camera. A sweet face,
My mother’s, that was before I was born.
And the sea, which appears to have changed less,
Washed their terribly transient feet.

 

Question. What are the three of them doing in the photograph?
(a) Playing
(b) Standing beside their house
(c) Holding hands
(d) Holding hands and paddling
Answer: (d) Holding hands and paddling

 

Question. How does the poet feel about her mother’s sweet face?
Answer: The poet feels a sense of nostalgic loss and sadness while looking at her mother’s sweet face in the photograph, noting that it was a time before the poet was even born.

 

Question. What does the use of the word ‘transient’ suggest?
Answer: The word ‘transient’ suggests the temporary and short-lived nature of human life and physical existence, which changes with time and eventually ends, in contrast to the relatively eternal and unchanging nature of the sea.

 

Some twenty — thirty — years later
She’d laugh at the snapshot. “See Betty
And Dolly,” she’d say, “and look how they
Dressed us for the beach.” The sea holiday
Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry
With the laboured ease of loss.

 

Question. What happened twenty-thirty years earlier?
(a) A photograph of a beach side was taken.
(b) A photograph of the poet’s mother was destroyed.
(c) A photograph of the poet’s mother was taken.
(d) A photograph of the poet’s mother and cousin was taken.
Answer: (d) A photograph of the poet’s mother and cousin was taken.

 

Question. Who is being told to see in the given stanza?
Answer: The poet is being told by her mother to look at the old snapshot and notice her cousins, Betty and Dolly.

 

Question. Which poetic device has been used in the last line of the stanza?
Answer: The poetic device used in the phrase ‘laboured ease’ is an oxymoron, as it combines two contradictory words to describe the painful process of coming to terms with loss.

Short Answer Questions

 

Question. Why are the feet said to be transient?
Answer: The feet are described as 'terribly transient' because they represent human life, which is mortal and temporary. Unlike the sea, which remains virtually unchanged over decades, human beings age and eventually die. The term highlights the contrast between the permanence of nature and the transience of human existence.

 

Question. What is the role that the cousins played in the mother’s life?
Answer: The cousins, Betty and Dolly, were companions to the mother during her childhood. They accompanied her on the sea holiday, sharing in her joy and innocence. In the poem, they represent a happy, carefree past that the mother later looks back on with nostalgia.

 

Question. What had the camera captured in the poem ‘A Photograph’?
Answer: The camera captured a fleeting, happy moment of a beach holiday involving the poet's mother (then twelve) and her two cousins. It froze a moment of their youth where they stood smiling into the wind, capturing their innocence before the inevitable changes of time and life occurred.

 

Question. A philosopher once said, “Nothing is permanent except change”. Express your views in reference to the poem ‘A Photograph’. 
Answer: The poem perfectly illustrates this philosophy. The photograph captures a moment that no longer exists; the mother has grown up, aged, and passed away. While the sea remains the same, the people in the picture have changed or gone. This highlights that change is the only constant in the journey of life.

 

Question. Does the poet’s mother come across as an emotional wreck? 
Answer: No, she does not. She is portrayed as someone who looks back at her past with a 'wry' smile. This indicates a mature acceptance of the passing of time. While there is a sense of loss for her youth, she is able to laugh at the memory, showing resilience rather than being an emotional wreck.

Long Answer Questions 

 

Question. Compare and contrast the relationship that existed between the mother and daughter in ‘A Photograph’, with the author and his grandmother in ‘The Portrait of a Lady.’  
Answer: In both 'A Photograph' and 'The Portrait of a Lady,' there is a deep emotional bond between the generations, marked by shared memories and eventual loss. In 'A Photograph,' the relationship is centered on the poet’s nostalgic remembrance of her mother’s laughter and her childhood. The bond is silent but profound, felt through the void left by the mother's death. In contrast, 'The Portrait of a Lady' depicts a long, evolving relationship between the author and his grandmother, starting with physical companionship in the village and moving to emotional distance in the city. While the mother in the poem is remembered through a static image, the grandmother is a living presence whose daily rituals define the author's world. Both works ultimately deal with the finality of death and the quiet, 'laboured ease' with which the survivors must carry on with their memories.

 

Question. Have you ever experienced loss in your life? How did you handle it?
Answer: Loss is an inevitable part of the human experience, much like the 'silence' that 'silences' the poet at the end of the poem. Personally, experiencing the loss of a close family member was a transformative experience. Like the poet, I initially felt a profound sense of emptiness and a 'laboured ease' in trying to accept the reality. I handled it by cherishing the happy memories, much like the mother laughed at the snapshot. Time is the greatest healer, and over time, the sharp pain of loss transitions into a quiet, reflective appreciation for the time spent together. Engaging in creative outlets and speaking about the loved one helped in processing the grief, eventually leading to a state where the memory brings a wry smile rather than just tears.

 

 

A PHOTOGRAPH

Nostalgically recollecting fond memories, the poet looks at a very old photograph of her mother who is no more. The poet is consumed with grief but is left with no words to express the loss.

The poem begins with the poet looking at a very old photograph of her mother at twelve years of age. The photograph, on a cardboard frame, shows the poet’s mother, with her two girl cousins each holding one of her hand. She was the eldest of the three and had a ‘sweet face’. In the snapshot, all the three girls stand still, smiling with their hair falling on their faces, to get clicked by the camera of their uncle, on an occasion when they went paddling. The sea, which has apparently undergone no change, washed their ‘transient’ feet. This image of transience provides a sharp contrast to the eternal sea.

Some twenty or thirty years later, the poet’s mother laughed at the picture pointing how she, Betty and Dolly (the two cousins) were made to dress for the beach holiday. That sea holiday was a thing of past for her mother at that time, while her mother’s laughter is the poet’s past now. Both signify their respective losses and the pain involved in recollecting the past.

For the present ‘circumstance’ the poet has nothing left to say. She is absorbed in the memories of her dead mother. The painful ‘silence’ of the situation leaves the poet silent, with no words to express her grief. Thus, the ‘silence silences’ her.

Title :

The poem, ‘A Photograph’ is composed in blank verse. A blank verse is a poem with no rhyme, most frequently used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse. The title of the poem is very 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.

 

→ Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:

a) ...A sweet face,

     My mother’s, that was before I was born

     And the sea, which appears to have changed less

     Washed their terribly transient feet.

i) Whose face is talked of here?

ii) What has stood the onslaught of time and what has not?

iii) Explain: ‘Washed their terribly transient feet’.

b) The sea holiday

     Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry

     With the labored ease of loss.

i) What are the two things that are a matter of past?

ii) How did the mother remember her past?

iii) Who had gone for a sea holiday?

c) And of this circumstance

    There is nothing to say at all

    Its silence silences.

i) Which circumstance is referred to here?

ii) What is the mood of the poet here?

iii) Identify the poetic device in the last line.

 

→ Answer the following questions in 30-40 words.

1) What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?

2) What does the poet reminisce?

3) What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?

4) The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?

5) What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”.

6) What are the poet's feelings on looking at the photograph?

7) Explain the line, ‘Its silence silences’.

8) The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?

9) What does 'this circumstance' refer to?

10) Comment on the tone of the poem.

 

Please click on below link to download CBSE Class 11 English English A Photograph Worksheet Set B