NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 1 – A Photograph
A Photograph Think it out
Question 1.
What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
Answer:
The word ‘cardboard’ denotes that it is an instant snapshot that has a cardboard base. This word has been used to refer to the times when photography was in its early stages.
Question 2.
What has the camera captured?
Answer:
The camera has captured three persons-two girls and the poet’s mother. They here enjoying a holiday on seaside.
Question 3.
What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Answer:
The sea hasn’t changed over the years. The sea waves keep rolling to the coast and then back. This suggests by contrast that human beings change rapidly.
Question 4.
The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Answer:
The poet’s mother laughed to see her photograph. She was then young and charming. But she was wearing a funny mod dress, suitable for a sea holiday.
Question 5.
What is the meaning of the line ‘Both why with the laboured ease of loss’?
Answer:
Mother’s photograph belonged to twenty-thirty years past. She was then young and sweet. But now she bore the marks of advancing age. She was out of shape. Now the mother herself is dead and gone. Her laughter is a thing of past. It does not have a musical ring.
Question 6.
What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to?
Answer:
‘This circumstance’ refers to the time since his mother expired. This has been a dull period with no memorable experiences. So the poet has nothing to say about it.
Question 7.
The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?
Answer:
The three stanzas of the poem depict three stages. In first stage mother was young and sweet. The second stanza refers to a period, twenty to thirty years later when she was middle aged. The third stanza refers to the long gap of time after the mother’s death. This has been adevoid of any exiciting event.
A Photograph Extra Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Who have been captured by the camera on the cardboard photograph?
Answer:
The cardboard photograph shows three figures—two cousins and the poet’s mother.
Question 2.
Where were the three photographed? By whom?
Answer:
The photograph was taken when the three had gone with the poet’s uncle to a beach. It was their sea holiday, and the camera was clicked by the uncle.
Question 3.
The face of the poet’s mother was sweet and glowing. Why?
Answer:
The mother looked sweet or charming for two reasons. She was young and still issueless.
Question 4.
What does the poet mean by ‘terribly transient feet?
Answer:
The human body is perishable and fast-changing. The sea waves washed the feet of the three women which lost their smoothness and glow with the passage of time.
Question 5.
Explain: “The sea holiday was her past, mine is her laughter.”
Answer:
The mother was amused to see her photograph after a gap of thirty years. Her pleasure trip had become a thing of the past. For the poet, her laughter became history after her death.
Question 6.
Its silence silences. Elaborate.
Answer:
The period of several years after mother’s death proved so colourless and smooth that the poet bps nothing to say about it. The silence of time silenced the poet also.
Question 7.
Sum up the main features of the poem ‘A Photograph’ in about 80 words.
Answer:
A Photograph speaks about the melancholy mood of the poet. A photograph of his late mother recreates the image of her mother from the past. It shows her mother when she was young, sweet and lively. Some two decades later the mother sees that photograph and laughs aloud. Time passed. In the third phase, the mother too is dead and gone. The poet is left with her memory which also is fading.
