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A Photograph- Nb Work

The poem 'A Photograph' by Shirley Toulson explores themes of loss, nostalgia, and the passage of time through the speaker's reminiscence of her mother captured in a photograph. It emphasizes the emotional weight of memories and the impermanence of life, using literary devices such as allusion, transferred epithet, and oxymoron to enhance its sorrowful tone. The lesson objectives include analyzing these themes and expressing insights creatively through discussions and art integration.

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4 views2 pages

A Photograph- Nb Work

The poem 'A Photograph' by Shirley Toulson explores themes of loss, nostalgia, and the passage of time through the speaker's reminiscence of her mother captured in a photograph. It emphasizes the emotional weight of memories and the impermanence of life, using literary devices such as allusion, transferred epithet, and oxymoron to enhance its sorrowful tone. The lesson objectives include analyzing these themes and expressing insights creatively through discussions and art integration.

Uploaded by

stefanfernandes649
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A PHOTOGRAPH

- SHIRLEY TOULSON

Lesson Objectives: To analyze the themes of loss, nostalgia, and the passage of time, while
exploring the use of imagery, contrast, and emotional connection in the poem, and expressing
insights through discussions, interpretation, and creativity.

Analysis of the poem – SOAPSTL

Speaker: Shirley Toulson was an English writer, poet, journalist, and local politician.

Occasion: In the poem, the poet sees a photograph of her mother and goes into reminiscence.

About: A Photograph is a powerful poem about loss, memory and time. Despite the fact that it
focuses on one speaker’s mother and a very specific photograph, it is incredibly moving and
relatable. Everyone has experienced loss of some kind and in the lines of this poem, Toulson taps
into what that loss feels like when one looks back on it years later.

Purpose: Through the poem, we realize the essential worth of a picture, and how memories of
the past prove a fuel for future life.

Structure: Nineteen-line poem that is contained within three stanzas of text. The lines are
written in free verse.

Theme: Toulson explores several important themes in ‘A Photograph’. The most prominent are
loss/mourning and memories. The entire poem is centered around the speaker’s recollections
from her own life and her recollections of her mother’s memories.

Tone: The tone of the poem is that of sorrow. The whole poem passes through the lament of
the loss of someone close and dear. A shift of tone is evident, from happiness to sadness.

Literary Devices:

1.Allusion: An allusion is a reference or an incidental mention of something, either directly or by


implication. An example of allusion in this poem is ‘cardboard’ which actually refers to the
photograph. The cardboard’s lack of durability hints at the lack of permanence of human life.

2.Transferred Epithet: ‘Terribly transient feet’. Human life itself is temporary, not the feet. A
transferred epithet is a figure of speech in which an adjective or descriptive phrase is transferred
from the noun it logically describes to another noun in the sentence. This shift creates a poetic
or emotional effect.

Eg: a sleepless night (where it's not the night that is sleepless, but the person experiencing it),
memorable day etc
3.Alliteration: ‘terribly transient feet’.

4.Oxymoron: Laboured ease of loss.

In this literary device, there are two opposite ideas that are joined to create an effect. ‘Laboured
ease’ in the poem is an example of an oxymoron. Laboured meaning with ‘great difficulty’ and
ease means ‘comfortably’. Both words have opposite meanings but here they are clubbed
together.

5.Personification: The example is ‘Its silence silences.’ The situation has been given the human
quality of silence.

Extended Task- Art Integration

Design a photo collage with images that represent different stages of life (childhood, youth, old
age). Annotate it with lines from the poem or your own reflections on time and memory.

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