A Photograph- Shirley Toulson

 A Photograph- Shirley Toulson

We can capture the glimpses of our past through photographs. Often when at later stage we look at such collection, we feel nostalgic about those days, we long for those days. Photographs become stark reality of our lives when we feel too much obsessed with them. We go through a lot of pain to overcome such memories. The theme of the poem is to show transient nature of human lives. Mutability is another theme of the poem. Sea is static whereas the human lives are liable to be changed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

                                                     

Stanza 1:- 

Cardboard- a stiff surface on which a photograph is pasted

Paddling- walking in shallow water bare footed

Big girl- eldest girl among the three

Transient- short-lived, temporary

Summary:- The speaker is looking at the photograph which describes her mother who is wading through water along with two cousins. Each cousin is holding either hand of the mother. She looks about twelve years old in the photograph. They are posing for the photograph and looking at the uncle with the camera. The mother has a sweet face. The photograph was taken when the speaking was yet to born. The sea water seems to wash their feet.

"Smile through their hair" - while they were getting ready with smiley faces for the photo, it was because of the breeze blowing that their hair were coming onto their faces.

And the sea, which appears to have changed less,

Washed their terribly transient feet.

The sea which symbolizes eternity is seen in contrast to the transient nature of human life. There is Contrast used in these lines. On the one hand we have eternal life of the sea as compared to the temporariness of the human life.

Stanza 2:-

wry- distorted 

Summary:- After some twenty-thirty years later, the mother would look at the photograph and laugh at the way the two cousins would get her ready for the sea holiday. Both have suffered a sense of loss and both the mother and the speaker cannot enjoy their pastime. 

Sea holiday was her past, mine is her laughter- the mother would enjoy her sea holiday which she couldn't enjoy perhaps after her marriage whereas the speaker used to enjoy her mother's laughter which she misses now as the mother is no more.

Both wry with the laboured ease of loss- 'Both' is referred to the mother's sea holiday and speaker's memory of mother's laughter. Both have suffered a loss hence its 'wry'. Perhaps the mother could not enjoy her sea holiday afterwards because of the constraints of married life. Perhaps the responsibility to look after the kids had fallen on her in absence of her husband and hence she was bereft of all the pleasure from her life. As the mother was striving hard to make both ends meet she could not laugh and so the speaker misses her mother's laughter.

Laboured ease of loss:- There is labour in the loss as it is really difficult for anybody to forget the sweet memories of the past and go on. There is ease in the loss as time acts as a healer. However the great pain may be, the intensity of the pain decreases with the time.

Stanza 3:-

Summary:- Now the mother has died as many years ago as that girl looked in the photograph. The death of the mother has left the speaker with no words. It's the silence that surrounds her.

this circumstance:- refers to the death of the mother

Its silence silences:-  The first 'silence' is referred to the death metaphorically. Wherever death prevails, there remains silence. It is the death (silence) of the mother that leaves the speaker without words (silences).

Critical Appreciation:-

The poem is divided in three stages:- 1. Mother's days of enjoyment when she was not married

2.Married life of the mother

3. Death of the mother

Poetic devices:

1. Contrast:- When the opposite ideas are brought together.

"And the sea which appears to have changed less,

Washedt theirterribly transient feet."

2. Transferred Epithet:- Epithet means word'

'terriblytransient feet' actual meaning is the feet which are terribly transient.

3. Alliteration:-  When the consonant sounds are repeated in a line. 

'stood still to smile' 'terribly transient' & 'Its silence silences'

4.Oxymoron:- a combination of contradictory words

                'laboured ease'

Why is the word Cardboard used in stead of 'photo frame'?

Cardboard denotes the withering away. The photo is not intact with a frame or glass. As the human life goes on withering in the same way the photograph which is pasted on a cardboard is withering away. It's change which is one of the themes of the poem hence the word cardboard is used.  

She the big girl:- see the irony that though in the photo she is the big girl and they are dominant in the photo, they couldn't sustain much. Sea is still there but not the mother.

The Portrait of a Lady - Khushwant Singh

Introduction:- 

We often share a strong bond of love and affection with our grandparents. They often turn out to be our best friends. But the urbanization saw rise of nuclear families and with that are perishing our strong bonds with our grandparents.

The author in the chapter "The Portrait of a Lady" depicts his strong bond as a child with his grandmother. The description is commonplace filled with livelihood and humour. The author touches upon the sentimental bond he shares with his grandmother and ends the chapter glumly but by leaving a strong effect on the mind's of the readers.

The author also describes the stark contrast we feel in the life in village as compared to the life in city, how city life, urbanization, modernization can leave the strong emotional bonds shaken.

'Portrait' generally means a painting or a photograph but here it implies the representation and impression of the grandmother.

Gist of the lesson:-

The author thinks that his grandmother was always old and wrinkled so does the grandfather in the portrait. His grandmother was always helpful, kind and compassionate not only to humans but to animals too. She would take care of the author in absence of his parents. Their relationship saw an upturn when they are shifted to the city where the author started to go to an English school. The grandmother did not revolt whereas she accepted the situation and took to feed to sparrows. She did not even show emotions when the author was going abroad. Even after the author's return after five years, he found the grandmother same old and wrinkled. It was in the exalted moment of home-coming of her grandchild that she exerted herself too much by singing and thumping a drum. The exertion took a toll on her as she was taken ill and did not recover. Her last breathe was in the chanting of the name of the almighty. After grandmother's death, when the family went out to arrange for the funeral, thousands of sparrows gathered around the corpse and paid their tribute to the grandmother.

Comprehension of the text:-

Grandfather's portrait:-

    - hung above the mantelpiece (place above the fireplace)

    - he wore big turban and loose-fitting clothes

    - his long, white beard covered his chest

    - he looked at least a hundred years old

    - looked a sort of person who could only have lots and lots of grandchildren.

Grandmother:-

    - had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years that the author had seen her.

    - children treated the stories of the games that grandmother played as a child as fables of the                      Prophets.

    - she was short, fat and slightly bent.

    - her face was full of wrinkles.

    - used to hobble about the house in spotless white  with one hand resting on her waist to balance her        stoop.

    - other hand would be busy counting the beads of a rosary.

    - while author would take his lessons, she would sit inside the temple reading scriptures.

Author and grandmother's relation in village:-

    - good friends

    - would get author up early in the morning and get him ready for school

    - while bathing him, she would say morning prayer in the hope that the author would learn it

    - would get his school bag ready

    - after breakfast of thick stale chapattis, they would start for the school

    - she would carry stale chapattis for the village dogs.

The village school:-

    - attached to the temple

    - village priest would teach them alphabets and morning prayer.

On the way back to home:-

    - village dogs would follow them

    - they would growl and fight for the chapattis

Turning point in the relationship of the author and the grandmother:-

    - shifted to city when author's parents comfortably settled there

    - author started going to English school in a motor bus

    - grandmother took to feed sparrows

    - grandmother felt helpless in aiding in author's study of English words, western science and learning

    - she thought there should be study of God

    - she disapproved of music lessons being taught to them.

    - when author was given a separate room, the common link of friendship was snapped.

Happiest moment of the day for grandmother:-

    - she would spend hours on spinning-wheel reciting prayers

    - in afternoon- would feed sparrows- hundreds of sparrows would come sit on her head, shoulder and       legs. she never shooed them away.

Author's departure for higher studies:-

    - author thought grandmother would be upset because he would be out for five years

    - he wasn't hoping to see her alive after his return

    - she did not show any emotion. her lips moved in prayer and mind lost in prayer

    - while bidding farewell, she kissed his forehead

    - author cherished the imprint as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between them.

Author's arrival after five years and grandmother's celebration:-

    - she looked the same

    - even had no time for words as she was busy in her prayers

    - she enjoyed feeding sparrows a little longer

    - change came over her in the evening

    - she gathered neighbouring women and started thumping an old drum and singing songs of home-          coming of warriors

    -exerted herself too much that family had to stop her.

Grandmother's end

    - next day, she was taken ill

    - just a mild fever, but she thought differently

    - she thought she had committed a sin by omitting to pray at the close of life

    - she did not speak to anybody but got busy in praying and counting the beads of rosary.

    - before anybody could suspect, a peaceful pallor spread over her face, she was dead.

Sparrows' last tribute to the grandmother:-

    - after mourning, the family went out to make arrangements for funeral

    - when they came back, they saw thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor without making             any noise

    -Author's mother brought bread and threw the bread crumbs to the sparrows but they took no notice          of the crumbs

    - they silently flew away when the corpse was carried away for cremation.

Additional Notes:-

Critical Appreciation:-

Children’s fancy about the people whom they have always found the same

    -Grandfather did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children. He looked as if he could only have lots and lots of grandchildren.

-The thought that grandmother was once young and pretty was almost revolting

    -She often told us of the games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd and undignified on her part and we treated it like the fables of the Prophets she used to tell us.

Was grandmother different or just another stereotype person?

    -We may assume that she was just a kind of other old people. She is highly religious, devoted, caring for her grandchild. She has distaste for the things taught at English school. She hated the music lessons being given to the students. Yes, she was indeed stereotype person who would keep stern stand against anything that was considered lewd at that time. We find old people to be adamant up to some extent. Grandmother seems adamant when she refused to believe that she would recover from her mild fever. She behaved just the way old people would behave when are ignored. She accepted her seclusion with resignation.

    -But yes, she was different in some aspects. She had love for animals, birds. She would carry a bundle of stale chapattis for the village dogs. In city, when she would feed sparrows, hundreds of sparrows would gather around her creating a veritable bedlam (real madhouse) of chirrupings. That used to be the happiest half-hour of the day for her. The sparrows mourned the death of the grandmother by assembling in thousands without making a noise (contrary to human beings who can’t suppress their talk in such situations also), they ignored the bread crumbs thrown at them and flew quietly  when grandmother’s corpse was carried off for cremation.

- She herself was not formally educated but was serious about her grandson's education. At village she would wake him up and get ready for school and even accompany him to school. In city, she felt helpless to aid him in his studies.

-She celebrated the home-coming of her grandson by beating sagging skins of the dilapidated drum and singing of the home-coming of the warriors. We may say that it was out of her sheer love for her grandson.

    -She could never have been pretty but she was always beautiful. Here the author talks about her inner beauty. Her physical appearance is compared to the winter landscape in the mountains as she would wear spotless white (as the widows would wear). Adding to that, she had silver locks.

    -But the author carries the notion so far to compare her inner beauty to “an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment”. She was, at least for the author, an object of reverence and adoration.

Symbolism:-

    The line "The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a golden blaze" shown that the grandmother has been given a place in the heaven. Golden colour which shows inner wisdom has a reverence in Sikhism as regards to Golden Temple. Blazing of room with golden light represents Almighty's grace being showered upon her.