This presentation is based on the NCERT poem Photograph by Shirley Toulson.

The upcoming segments consist of:-

Shirley Toulson, who lives in Somerset, was drawn into the spell of Celtic Christianity as she worked on her books dealing with the oldest roads and folklore of Britain and Ireland, and found herself following the routes taken on their journeys by the saints of the early church. Among her writings are: THE CELTIC ALTERNATIVE (1987) and THE CELTIC YEAR (1993).

In the poem, Shirley Toulson talks about a particular photograph which in the introductory lines, is described to be of her mom, and her cousins. Looking at the photograph, the poetess is reminded of her mother who had died about twelve years ago. Now she experiences the great sorrow of losing her and is left helpless in front of the tide of time...

The cardboard shows me how it was, When the two girl cousins went paddling.. Each one holding one of my mothers hands, And she the big girl---some twelve years or so. All three stood still to smile through their hair, At the uncle with the camera. A sweet face, My mothers, that was before I was born.. And the sea, which appears to have changed less, Washed their terribly transient feet..

In the above lines, the cardboard depicts the photograph as in olden times pictures were pasted on cardboards instead of photo frames. In the photograph, the two girl cousins have been holding the hands of Toulsons mother on each side; it is of a time before the poetess was born. It portrays the occasion when they went on a sea holiday at a beach. All three are standing and smiling at the uncle with a camera. The poetess notices her mothers sweet face and her feet being washed by the sea. She realizes that the sea has not changed much since the photo was taken. But the feet that it is washing in the photograph are temporary on this earth, i.e., they will not be alive forever.

Some twenty-thirty years later, Shed laugh at the snapshot.See Betty And Dolly, shed 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 After a lapse of time, the mother would laugh at the snapshot. Her laughter is real and pleasant for the poetess, it is a precious memory for her. Her holiday and her laughter are amusing in an ironic way as they suggest the ups and downs of moods that surface the memories of the characters depicted here. The poets mother is no longer there now, but very fondly does the poetess recall all those shared moments with her mother, that were full of laughter and nostalgia. In the above lines, the poetess and the mother, both find it hard to overcome the past memories as their present is hurtful and they cry that they have to work hard to achieve the state of peace.

Now shes been dead nearly as many years, As that girl lived. And of this circumstance, Theres nothing to say at all. Its silence silences.. In the end the poet talks about how the suddenness of death leaves you at a loss of words.... Death in itself is so silent that you cannot express about it in words... a silence that silences everything else..

The whole poem, if studied thoroughly and against the background of nostalgia, symbolized by the photograph, lets on several layers of meaning. In the beginning, the symbolism of cardboard sets forth a chain of most urgent and powerful emotions. What the poetess tells us in the first stanza is a depiction of her memories that lied buried in the deepest recesses of her heart. The mother here on the photograph reminds the poetess of the past of the mother who is no longer alive. Thus, the poetess seems to suggest how the photograph is not just something gone, and no longer alive: for the poetess the photograph is a living entity. The structure of the poem suggests that right from the beginning, it is an extended metaphor. A number of phrases like transient feet, both wry with laboured ease of loss do suggest a philosophical interpretation of life. The impermanence of human life has been contrasted to the permanence of memories and nature, symbolized by the ageless sea .

The poets use of dialogues has given a great expansion to the thought process on one hand, and on the other hand it has added to the effectiveness of the expression. It gives a dramatic quality to the poem and also it has a surprising directness of the speaking voice. Towards the end, the poet has pointed out categorically how emotions are powerful and when they take hold of a person then he/she is unable to put his/her feelings, across to others . The way this has been presented is wonderful, the poetess has used short and abrupt lines which even after not rhyming and sounding somewhat incomplete (Theres nothing to say at all ; Its silence silences) still dont sound weird, and thats the beauty of it.