NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter-1 Poem

The Theme of the Poem- A Photograph

Shirley Toulson’s ‘A Photograph’ explores many important themes. The most prominent ones among them are loss, nostalgia, mourning, and the transience of life and memories. The speaker of the poem recalls the memories of her deceased mother. ‘A Photograph’ revolves around the speaker’s reminiscence from her own life and that of her mother’s memories. 

The poet experiences the emotions of both sorrow and joy when she recollects her mother’s words when the two looked at the photograph together. It has been pretty long since the image was captured and framed, and her mother and she looked at it. However, it is evident from the poem that the memories of such moments are strongly engraved in the poet’s heart.

Every individual on this planet has experienced a loss of some kind. Shirley Toulson in the poem taps into that feeling of loss and emptiness through the lines of the poem when one reads it and looks back at it years later. Through Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter-1 Poem - The Photograph, the poet remembers the past in the present. The poem is universally applicable to all its readers. Toulson not only pays a tribute to her mother but also to all those who have lost a dear one, through this beautiful poem.

Question and Answers

1. Infer the meaning of the following words from the context:

• Padding 

• Transient

Now look up the dictionary to see if your inference is right.

Ans: Paddling refers to the act of moving in shallow water with bare feet. For example: Jane went with her friends to the sea and enjoyed paddling in the water, when the waves washed over the beach.

Transient means something that is short term or temporary. For example: Sad days are a transient period of life. Good days do follow by.

2. What does the word “cardboard” denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?

Ans: ‘Cardboard’ in the poem refers to the small photograph that the poet comes across. It held the memory of her mother and her cousins' beach holiday when they were kids.

This word has been used because with time material things lose their significance. The photograph was one very fond memory of the poet’s mother who is now dead. For the mother, the photograph was a memory but for the poet it is her mother's laughter when she recollected her memories of the day. It emphasises the transient nature of humans and how gradually with time everything is left behind and their actual significance almost lost. 

3. What has the camera captured?

Ans: The camera captured a very fond memory. The photograph was taken on a beach holiday where the author's mother and her cousins Betty and Dolly had fun and they were dressed up weirdly for it. The poet’s mother was the big girl, twelve years or so in the picture and had a sweet smile through her hair, smiling at their uncle, who held the camera. She stood in the middle holding the arms of the cousins, paddling in the seawater. 

The photograph brought an instant smile on the mother's face, when she was alive,  as she reminisced of those days.

4.  What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?

Ans: The photograph was taken around twenty-thirty years ago when the author came across it. Even after so many years, the sea remained the same. It is still visited by many mortals everyday whose terribly transient feet are washed away by the waves, signifying the power nature and time holds. It shows us how helpless we are in front of time and nature, which is eternal. Even the once fond memories remain a mere piece of cardboard after a few years.

5. The poet's mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?

Ans: After coming across the photograph, the author went to her mother to ask further about it. The mere piece of cardboard brought a wide smile across the mother’s face as she reminisced about the fond beach holiday she had with her cousins, Betty, and Dolly when she was a mere twelve-year-old child. The nostalgic memory made her laugh as she commented on the way they dressed back in those days.

6. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”?

Ans: Both the author and her mother had fond memories which brought pain with them. The mother laughed when she looked at the photograph of the beach holiday with her cousins but felt a pang of pain remembering that her childhood was gone, and those days could not come back again. 

For the author, the memory of her mother’s laughter when she was presented with the photograph came back again around twelve years after her mother died. She nursed the pain that the loss brought with it but was happy to remember the day she laughed so fondly.

7. What does “this circumstance” refer to?

Ans: ‘This circumstance’ refers to the helpless state that the author is presently in. She lost her mother twelve years ago and coming across the photograph again, her mother once showed her, bringing back fond memories along with pang of pain. She could not meet her again. Only the memory of her laughter remained in her heart. She was trying to nurse the pain away from the loss and the void that could not be filled. It also shows how helpless we, as mortals, are in front of time and nature, and we can do nothing other than submitting to its power.

8. The three stanzas depict three different phrases? What are they?

Ans: The first stanza of the poem talks about the childhood of the poet' mother when she went on a beach holiday with her cousins. It was a happy memory which the mother held close to her heart.

The second stanza talks about the mother being old and gradually entering old age. The poet is now a young girl and was narrated this happy memory by her mother on being presented with the photograph.

In the third stanza, the poet has progressed deeper into life and aged. Her mother is now dead and she fondly remembers her smile and memory when she once again comes across the picture.

Hornbill Class 11 Chapter 1 Photograph – Intext Questions

What is the Central Idea of  Poem 1 Class 11 English?

The Class 11 English Poem A Photograph is written by Shirley Toulson as a tribute to her beloved mother. The poem delineates three distinct stages in the transit of life. In the first stage, a photograph depicts the poet’s 12-year old mother, enjoying the beach with her two cousins. The second stage signifies the memory of twenty or thirty years later, where her mother is laughing at how the poet and her cousins used to doll up for the beach holiday. In the third stage, the poet recollects the memories of her dear departed mother with a heavy heart. The photograph inoculates a nostalgic emotion in the poet.

The NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 A Photograph on Vedantu will guide you to write precise and proper answers for all types of questions from this poem in the exam.

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What is the Summary of Class 11 English Poem a Photograph?

The summary of Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 A Photograph is given below.

This poem is written in remembrance of the poet’s mother. She is looking at an old cardboard photo frame of her mother. That has a picture of three girls in which the tallest girl, standing in the middle, is her mother, when she was twelve years old along with her cousins Betty and Dolly beside her. She is holding the hands of her younger cousins. Her uncle took her photograph when they went paddling on a beach holiday.

The poet does not forget to notice the sweet face of her mother. The sea touching her transient feet depicts that the sea is still the same, whereas she aged in the following years. Her mother, after twenty-three years, used to show this picture to the poet and laugh about how their parents used to doll them up for the beach holiday. The beach holiday was one of the favourite memories of her mother, whereas the laugh of her mother was the favourite memory of the poet. 

They both lost something close to them, which they will never be able to re-live. Those moments have turned into memory now. It has been twelve years since the demise of her beloved mother, and she misses her mother more when she sees the photograph where her mother is just a twelve-year-old girl having fun with her cousins. She cannot express the anguish that she feels for her mother’s absence.

The NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 A Photograph are available for free download on Vedantu. You can access these NCERT Solutions online as well as offline.

Chapter-wise NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill

• Chapter 1 - The Portrait of a Lady

• Chapter 2 - We're Not Afraid to Die... if We Can All Be Together

• Chapter 3 - Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues

• Chapter 4 - Landscape of the Soul

• Chapter 5 - The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement's Role

• Chapter 6 - The Browning Version

• Chapter 7 - The Adventure

• Chapter 8 - Silk Road

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem

• Chapter 1 Poem - A Photograph

• Chapter 3 Poem - The Laburnum Top

• Chapter 4 Poem - The Voice of the Rain

• Chapter 6 Poem - Childhood

• Chapter 8 Poem - Father to Son

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Solved Example

What does cardboard signify in the poem?

1. A piece of paper.

2. That life is transient.

3. A-frame of wooden.

4. A photo holder.

Ans- 2) That life is transient. 

Fun Fact:

James Maxwell took the first-ever colour photo in 1861.