Class 11 English Hornbill A Photograph (Shirley Toulson)

 

NCERT Solutions For Class 11 English

Hornbill

A Photograph (Shirley Toulson)

 

CONTENTS

Ø Theme

Ø Summary

Ø Poetic Device

Ø Stanza based Q-Ans

Ø Question Answers

Ø Word Meaning

 

Theme

 

The poem commences with the depiction of a photograph featuring the poet's mother and her two cousins during a seaside vacation. This particular holiday held a special place in her mother's heart as a cherished memory. While the photograph encapsulates a singular moment in her mother's life, the inexorable march of time inevitably brings change. Over the years, the visage of her mother underwent transformations, yet the unchanging sea persistently lapped at their feet. This serves as a poignant illustration of the alterations time imposes upon human existence. Although her mother has departed, frozen in eternal youth and beauty, she endures within the confines of the photograph. The poet experiences joy at glimpsing her mother's smile through the image, but the painful reality of her absence remains irreplaceable.

Summary

 

The poem serves as a homage to the poet's mother. The poet gazes at an antiquated photograph of her mother encased in a cardboard frame. The image features three girls, with the central figure being the eldest and tallest, portraying the poet's mother at around twelve years old. Flanking her on both sides are her younger cousins, Betty and Dolly, captured during a beach holiday where they engaged in paddling. The photograph, taken by her uncle, reveals her mother's sweet countenance, and the transient touch of the sea on her feet symbolizes the passage of time, highlighting her evolving nature against the backdrop of an unchanging sea.

In the subsequent decades, the poet's mother would fondly reflect on the photograph, sharing memories of how their parents attired them for those beach vacations. The beach holiday became a cherished recollection for her mother, and the poet holds dear the memory of her mother's laughter. Both mother and poet experienced loss, unable to reclaim those cherished moments.

 

These once-sweet moments have now transformed into memories. Presently, the poet's mother has been deceased for a dozen years, equivalent to her age in the photograph. The poet grapples with an indescribable grief over her mother's absence, unable to articulate the profound loss that has marked the passing of twelve years since her mother's demise

Poetic Device

1) Alliteration involves the recurrence of a consonant sound at the start of successive words. Notable instances in the poem include:

 

Stood still

Through their

My mother’s

Terribly transient

Silence silences

 

2) An epithet is a descriptive phrase that captures a particular quality of a person or object.

 

Terribly transient

3) An oxymoron is a figure of speech where contradictory terms are combined.

 

Laboured ease

Stanza based Q-Ans

Stanza 1

 

 “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”

 

Read the given stanza and answer the following questions

 

What is the meaning of cardboard in this context?

A. A thick paper on which the poet’s photograph was pasted

B. A thick envelope

C. A thick piece of paper with a photo of the poet’s mother attached

D. A paper boat

Ans: C. A thick piece of paper with a photo of the poet’s mother attached

 

What does the cardboard depict?

A. A scenery

B. The picture of a house

C. The picture of a school

D. The picture of three girls

Ans: D. The picture of three girls

 

Who is the big girl mentioned here?

A. The poet herself

B. The poet’s mother

C. The poet’s relative

D. The poet’s friend

Ans: B. The poet’s mother

 

In the picture, what are the three of them doing?

A. playing in the sand

B. standing beside the house

C. holding hands

D. holding hands and paddling

Ans: C. holding hands

 

Stanza 2

 

 “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.

 

Read the given stanza and answer the following questions

 

What does the phrase “smiling through their hair” signify in the poem?

A. The girls who were photographed had their hair decorated

B. The photographed girls were wearing a mask

C. When the girls were smiling for the camera, their hair was covering their faces.

D. The hair of the girls in the picture was smiling as well

Ans: C. When the girls were smiling for the camera, their hair was covering their faces.

 

What has remained constant over time?

A. The photo

B. The cardboard

C. The girls

D. The sea

Ans: D. The sea

 

Identify a term in the extract that describes something as “lasting only briefly”?

A. Still

B. Transient

C. Changed

D. Less

Ans: B. Transient

 

What poetic device involving epithets was used in the poem?

A. Terribly transient

B. Through their

C. Both wry

D. Laboured ease

Ans: A. Terribly transient

 

 

Stanza 3

 

 “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.”

 

Read the given stanza and answer the following questions

 

Why did she laugh?

A. Seeing the absurd dresses they were sporting while on holiday by the sea

B. One of them cracked a joke

C. Seeing the weird dresses they were wearing at the party

D. Because they saw a funny man at the sea holiday

Ans: A. Seeing the absurd dresses they were sporting while on holiday by the sea

 

Who are Betty and Dolly?

A. They are poet’s cousins

B. They are poet’s friends

C. They are poet’s mother’s friends

D. They are poet’s mother’s cousins

Ans: D. They are poet’s mother’s cousins

 

The word ___________ in the extract is the synonym of photograph.

A. Snapshot

B. Picture

C. Mine

D. Laboured

Ans: A. Snapshot

 

What do you mean by the word ‘wry’?

A. Ironic

B. Cry

C. Sad

D. None of the above

Ans: A. Ironic

 

Stanza 4

 

 “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”

 

Read the given stanza and answer the following questions

 

Who does she refer to?

A. The poet’s dead aunt

B. The poet’s dead mother

C. The poet’s dead cousin

D. The poet’s sister

Ans: B. The poet’s dead mother

 

Why is there nothing to be said regarding the poet’s mother’s passing?

A. The poet is perplexed

B. When her mother passed away, the poet was not in her senses

C. The death of the poet’s mother has left a deep void in the poet’s heart

D. The poet and her mother did not get along well

Ans: C. The death of the poet’s mother has left a deep void in the poet’s heart

 

The phrase “events that change your life, over which you have no control” is synonymous with which word in the extract?

A. Silences

B. Circumstances

C. Situation

D. Circumstance

Ans: D. Circumstance

 

What does the author feel in the last phase?

A. Pain and grief

B. Happy and nostalgic

C. Sad and nostalgic

D. Pain and nostalgic

Ans: A. Pain and grief

 

Question Answers

 

Question 1 What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?

 

Answer: The term ‘cardboard’ signifies that the photograph is a quick snapshot with a cardboard backing. This word has been employed to indicate the early stages of photography.

 

Question 2 What has the camera captured?

 

Answer: The camera has captured three individuals—two girls and the poet's mother—enjoying a holiday by the 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. This suggests a stark contrast with the rapid changes that human beings undergo.

 

Question 4 The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?

 

Answer: The poet's mother laughed upon seeing the photograph because, though she was young and charming at the time, the attire she wore in the funny mode of the sea holiday appeared amusing.

 

Question 5 What is the meaning of the line ‘Both wry with the laboured ease of loss’?

 

Answer: The line suggests that both, the poet and her mother, are ironically experiencing the sorrowful and burdensome ease that comes with loss. The laughter and moments captured in the photograph are now tinged with the weight of grief.

 

Question 6 What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to?

 

Answer: 'This circumstance' refers to the period since the poet's mother's passing. It denotes the dull span of time with no memorable experiences, leaving the poet with little to say about it.

 

Question 7 The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?

 

Answer: The three stanzas depict distinct phases: the first portrays the mother's youthful days captured in the photograph; the second reflects the poet's childhood memories associated with her mother's laughter at the snapshot; and the third describes the extended period following the mother's death, marked by a lack of noteworthy events.

 

Question 8 The face of the poet’s mother was sweet and glowing. Why?

 

Answer: The mother's face appeared sweet and glowing because, during the period captured in the photograph, she was young and still childless.

 

Question 9 What does the poet mean by ‘terribly transient feet’?

 

Answer: The phrase 'terribly transient feet' refers to the impermanence and transience of the human body. The sea waves washing the feet in the photograph symbolize the changes that occur with the passage of time.

 

Question 10 Its silence silences. Elaborate.

 

Answer: The phrase "its silence silences" conveys that the prolonged period after the mother's death has been so uneventful and devoid of excitement that the silence of time itself has silenced the poet. There is nothing noteworthy or remarkable to express during this time.

 

Question 11 Sum up the main features of the poem ‘A Photograph’ in about 80 words.

 

Answer: "A Photograph" portrays the poet's melancholic reflection on a photograph of her late mother. The poem unfolds in three phases—youthful memories captured in the photograph, recollections of the mother laughing at it during the poet's childhood, and the extended period after the mother's death. The sea remains unchanged, symbolizing the constancy against human transience. The poet grapples with grief, emphasizing the silence and emptiness of the time that followed her mother's demise.

 

Question 12. The three stanzas delineate distinct phases. What are they?

Answer: The initial stanza unfolds her mother's early years, around the age of twelve, captured in a photograph during a beach holiday with her cousins. The second stanza delves into the poet's childhood, reflecting on her mother's interactions with the photograph and reminiscing about the events mentioned earlier. In the final stanza, the poet discloses her mother's demise, which occurred twelve years ago, corresponding to the age captured in the photograph. The poet grapples with pain, recalling her mother's bygone memories while viewing the photograph, unable to articulate her sorrow.

Word Meanings

1.         Paddling – walking

2.         Silences – a complete absence of sound

3.         Snapshot – photograph

4.         Transient – short-term; temporary

5.         Wry – ironic; mocking