what is the main idea of the poem 'a photograph' by shirley toulson?

Question

main idea of the poem
line wise explanation
summary

Answer 1

oh.. now that is just one of the chapters i hate in my this year's ( 11th) english text-book...

anyways....
~*~ that poem basically talks about how "death can silence you and leave you speechless"
....... " it's silence silences".......

~*~ It talks about how the mother missed her past, and found it amusing , and how the daughter missed her past with her mother(i.e the time she spent with her mother when she was alive).

~*~ In the introductory lines, if you notice, she goes on to describe what the photograph actually is of, her mom and her cousions,

~*~ The poet, since she never actually saw this kind of cheerful, gay, happy face of her mother when she was alive, so she finds the photograph amusing.
~*~ The words "transient feet" has a special significane--- they show how transient, temporary human life is as compared to nature.... transience, in a way, indiactes death as well.

~*~ But then ,she realises that she has lost her mother, and so that "laboured ease of loss" sets in.

*laboured ease of loss" because :
--- it is difficult for her to forget her mother and put behind her past and move on.
--- it is easy ( has ease) because the pain of the loss is reduced with time. TIME acts as a healer and the dauthger moves on.
So, even though she hasn't really forgotten her mother, but then she is not even in as great a pain now ( 12 years after her mom's death( not sure about figures)) as she was when her mom died.

~*~ And then in the end the poet talks about, how the suddeness of death can numbify you and leave you at a loss of words.... Death in itself is so silent that you cannot express about it in words...

well... hope this helps you....
and dont forget the "points"...

Answer 2

Poem Photograph

Answer 3

We can also say from this poem that time and tide waits for none.Once the events are gone they only remain a thing of past and you either get pleasure or sadness after reviving them .They just remain as a faint picture in our mind.As we saw in the poem Photograph ,the poet remembers her old happy days with her mother after seeing the photograph.For her her mothers s laughter has become a thing of past.
The poem also reflects nature s eternity as compared to mortal life of humans.

Answer 4

extraordinarily short - alteration Laboured ease - oxymoron / paradox extraordinarily short ft - synecdoche Silence silences - polyploton i'm hoping this solutions the question!!! :)