summary of the poem (a photograph)

R u kidding me ye half hai?...nah i think ye pura likha hai tune n sahi hai

sorry mai half hi likh payi

Central Idea of A Photograph The poet begins this poem by describing a photograph of her mother in her childhood. The photograph was taken when the poet’s mother was twelve years old, and on a day when she had gone to the beach with her cousins. It was a favourite photograph of her mother’s, and her mother often used to reminisce about the day when it was taken. It has been twelve years since the poet’s mother died, and since the poet cannot talk about her death, she chooses instead to celebrate her mother’s life by looking at an old photograph of her glory days. Themes of A Photograph Contrast between planned past and unknown future: In this poem, the photograph represents a planned past. The way in which the children were dressed up to go to the beach was planned by their parents. Their arrangement within the photograph itself with the tallest and oldest girl in the middle and the two shorter and younger ones at the side was also meticulously planned. The way their smiles were captured by the uncle was also planned. As opposed to this, the family had no control over the children’s future. As we read through the poem, we realize that the poet’s mother must have been between the ages of 60 and 70 when she died. Considering the average life cycle of man, this is quite a young age at which to die. There was nothing the family could do to stop this death. Perhaps the poet’s mother had been struck by some fatal disease, or perhaps she had died in an accident. In any case, there was no way that this grim future could have been predicted. The contrast between the joyful past and the scary future is therefore a wide one, and provides for much of the sadness that the poet exudes towards the end of this poem. Death leaves you speechless: The poet has been helpless to stop her mother’s death. She has simply had to accept it. She misses the sound of her mother’s voice, and her loving words as well. This silence that the death has caused in her mother is also echoed in the poet herself. She cannot talk about how her mother’s death has affected her. The silence that death brings in your loved ones also leaves you silent. Brevity of life: The poet’s mother had been twelve years old when the picture was taken. She used to talk about that picture twenty or thirty years later. That is, she used to look back to her childhood at the age of thirty-two or forty-two. Perhaps she was going through a midlife crisis. In any case, she had begun to realize that she had started aging and that sooner or later she would have to die and leave the earth behind. She had realized that life is very short, and that she should enjoy every moment as much as she had enjoyed such visits to the beach when she was a little girl. This is a realization that the poet also has. There is no way of knowing when your loved ones may suddenly leave your side. Hence, it is important to cherish every moment you have with them. This thought may also have been accompanied by the thought of her own death. The poet would also have to die one day, since no man is immortal. Before she died, she must live her life to the fullest and never let sorrow conquer her.