A photograph

NCERT Solutions for 11th Class  Science English poem A Photograph are provided here with simple step-by-step explanations. These solutions for A Photograph are extremely popular among 11th Class Science candidates for English A Photograph Solutions come handy for quickly completing your homework and preparing for tests. All questions and answers from the NCERT Book of 11th Class  Science English poem are provided here for you for free. 

Questions And Answers

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

Padding transient

Now In Uk up the dictionary to see if your inference is right.
Ans. Padding- The act of dabbling in the water. To move a boat by of paddles. Transient Transitory. Something that stays at a place for a short time- period.

Q.2 What does the word ‘cardboard ‘ denote in the poem? What has this word been used?
Ans. ‘Cardboard’ the poem refers to the photograph. This word has been used because the photograph is now just a piece of paper with the memory as the poet’s mother is dead now. It shows that human life is transitory and the cardboard which remains a memorable piece of paper.

Q.3 What has the camera captured?
Ans.  The camera captured some moments from the childhood of the poet’s mother. It was a scene taken from a beach where she had gone with her two cousins, Betty and Dolly, and her uncle for a sea holiday. The girls were padding in the water and holding the hand of the poet’s mother when the uncle he clicked the photograph.

Q.4 What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Ans. The sea has not changed over the years. it is still the same. The sea symbolizes eternity. On the contrary human life is transitory and this transience is compared to nature which is permanent and eternal.

Q.5 The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?
Ans. The poet’s mother laughed at the happy memories of the moments that have passed long back. She looked back to her childhood with nostalgia and remembered the innocent joys of her childhood days.

Q.6 What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the labored ease of loss.”
Ans. The line refers to the sea holiday as remembered by her mother and the poet remembering her mother’s laughing face. Both these now belong to the past. Her mother is no more now. The memories in both cases were beautiful yet painful to recall as time has paced away fast.

Q.6 What does “this circumstance “refer to ?
Ans. ‘This circumstances ‘ refer to the present situation of the poet is absorbed in the painful memory of her dead mother. Looking at the photograph and thinking of her mother’s laughter, the poet also realizes that it has been the same number of years since her mother died as her mother’s age in the photograph i.e. twelve years.