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English (Core) · Class 11 Languages

Ch 2A Photograph — Class 11 English (Core), concept-first.

Shirley Toulson (1924-2014) was a British poet and writer, well known for her books on the British countryside, its ancient paths and its heritage. Her poetry often looks quietly at memory, time and the way the past lives on in ordinary objects.

21

Q&A

4

Concepts

31m

Section weightage

Section C · Literature Textbooks (Hornbill & Snapshots) · across all 16 lessons

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Key concepts

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Poem Imagery Analysis

When you read a poem, the words don't just sit on the page — they paint pictures, trigger smells, make you feel textures, and sometimes even create sounds in your head. That's imagery at work.

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Chapter contents

The NCERT structure, section by section. Open a section to see its questions, then read the concept-first solution.

About the Poet and the Poem

Shirley Toulson (1924-2014) was a British poet and writer, well known for her books on the British countryside, its ancient paths and its heritage.

1.1

Central Idea and Summary

The central idea of the poem is the transience of human life set against the near-permanence of nature, and the way memory and grief work across generations.

1.2

Stanza-wise Explanation

The poem moves through three stanzas, each capturing a different phase of time.

1.3

Poetic Devices

Shirley Toulson uses simple but powerful devices to carry the poem's feeling.

1.4

Theme and Message

The transience of human life. The poem's deepest theme is how brief and fragile human life is compared with the enduring natural world.

Summary

- Poet: Shirley Toulson (1924-2014), British poet and writer. - Subject: An old photograph, mounted on cardboard, showing the poet's mother at about twelve, paddling at the sea with two cousins (Betty…

Think it out

+Think it outi7 questions
  1. Q1What does the word 'cardboard' denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?Free
  2. Q2What has the camera captured?Free
  3. Q3What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?Free
  4. Q4The poet's mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?Preview
  5. Q5What is the meaning of the line "Both wry with the laboured ease of loss."Preview
  6. Q6What does "this circumstance" refer to?Preview
  7. Q7The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?Preview

Additional Practice

Extra exam-style practice questions written by us on this lesson — beyond the NCERT textbook's own exercises — for more CBSE board-exam preparation.

+Additional Practicei14 questions
  1. Q1What does the cardboard-framed photograph described at the beginning of the poem show? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
  2. Q2Who were the three girls in the photograph, and who was holding the camera when it was taken? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
  3. Q3What does the poet mean by calling the girls' feet 'terribly transient', and which poetic device is at work in the phrase? (Answer in 30–40…Free
  4. Q4How did the poet's mother react whenever she looked at the beach snapshot some twenty or thirty years later? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  5. Q5In the poem, the sea holiday was the mother's past while her laughter is the poet's past. Explain this parallel. (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  6. Q6For roughly how long has the poet's mother been dead, and how does the poet convey this span of time? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  7. Q7What does the sea symbolise in the poem, and how does it set off the human figures on the beach? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  8. Q8What does the poet suggest through the paradoxical idea of the 'laboured ease' with which both women smile at their losses? (Answer in 30–40…Preview
  9. Q9Why does the poet say there is nothing to say about her mother's death, and what mood does the closing silence create? (Answer in 30–40 word…Preview
  10. Q10Explain the second stanza of 'A Photograph' in detail — the mother's wistful laughter at the snapshot, what the beach holiday meant to her,…Preview
  11. Q11Discuss the chief poetic devices used in 'A Photograph' — transferred epithet, contrast, alliteration and personification — locating each in…Preview
  12. Q12'A Photograph' contrasts the transience of human life with the permanence of nature. Discuss this central theme with reference to the sea, t…Preview
  13. Q13Justify the title 'A Photograph'. How does a single old snapshot become the pivot around which memory, loss and the passage of time revolve…Preview
  14. Q14Write a critical appreciation of 'A Photograph', commenting on its three-stanza structure moving from past to present, its restrained tone,…Preview