Summary of the chapter photograph

The poet describes a photograph that captures interesting moments of her mother’s childhood when she went for a sea holiday with her two cousins. Poet draws a contrast between the sea in which the girls are standing and their transient feet to suggest shortness of human life and slow changing sea Poet also recollects how her mother would have laughed at the photograph and felt disappointed at the loss of her childhood joys. Poet’s mother has been dead for twelve years. In this situation she feels very sad and lonely. This loss has left her speechless. But she has learned to reconcile with this loss with great difficulty. It throws light on the childhood of the poet's mother. She led a very beautiful and adventurous childhood. At the age of twelve she used to pass her sea holiday with her girl's cousins walking in shallow water at the beach. She wore very attractive and colourful dresses befitting the place and occasion. The poem ends with a fact that everything changes with time. Some changes are taken as loss and make us unhappy. Photographs reflect the changes. Happiness and beauty are lost with the passage of time. They make the people sad and distorted. Change is the law of nature. Everything changes with time like physical beauty of a human being but natural beauty like beauty of a sea or mountains remains forever.

Poem ' A Photograph ' by Shirley Toulson describes about a lady who is poet's mother. Photograph incidates about the past and old memories. Similarly, she (poet's mother) laughed on the photograph which was at the beach when she enjoyed her holiday with her sisters Betty and Dolly and this photograph was taken by her uncle. Poet says that she remembered her mother's laughter. Now, she is dead.