GSEB Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 1 A Photograph Solutions

GSEB Solutions

A Photograph Class 11 Questions and Answers GSEB

Think It Out

Question 1. What does the word 'cardboard' denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?
Answer: The term 'cardboard' means the picture glued onto a thick, stiff paper. This term was used to describe an old custom where photos were stuck on cardboard and put into frames with a glass cover to keep them safe.
In simple words: The word 'cardboard' refers to an old photo that was stuck on a thick piece of paper to keep it protected.

Exam Tip: When asked to explain a specific word or phrase, clearly state its meaning in context and then explain the historical or literary reason for its usage.

Question 2. What has the camera captured?
Answer: The camera snapped a picture of the three girls: the poet's mom and her two cousins, Betty and Dolly. They were wearing their swimsuits, with the mother in the center, and her cousins holding her hands while stepping through the shallow ocean water.
In simple words: The camera caught a photo of three girls – the poet's mother and her two cousins – standing in the sea in their swimsuits.

Exam Tip: For descriptive questions, include all key details from the poem, such as the number of people, their relation, their activity, and their location.

Question 3. What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?
Answer: The ocean has stayed the same through the years. Its waves are just as clean, bright, and active as they were in earlier times. This unchanging nature of the sea makes us think about how people's faces alter as they grow older.
In simple words: The sea has not changed over time. Its waves are still fresh and lively, which makes us think about how human faces change as we age.

Exam Tip: When discussing symbolism, link the unchanging element (sea) to the changing element (human life) and explain the poet's implicit message.

Question 4. The poetess's mother laughed at the snapshot? What did this laugh indicate?
Answer: This laughter showed her happiness from recalling a moment from her earlier life when she was young and had no stress or problems.
In simple words: Her laugh meant she was happy remembering a past event when she was young and carefree.

Exam Tip: Focus on the emotion expressed by the character and connect it to their past experiences or state of mind.

Question 5. What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss"?
Answer: The beach trip and the poet's mother's laugh are events that bring a feeling of sadness and absence. Both are funny but also disheartening, as the feeling of being calm or easy seems strange or made-up. This feeling of loss is very hard to deal with.
In simple words: This line means that both the happy memories of the sea holiday and her mother's laugh now carry a sad, difficult feeling of loss.

Exam Tip: When interpreting a phrase, break it down and explain how it conveys contrasting emotions like amusement and disappointment, connecting it to the theme of loss.

Question 6. What does 'this circumstance' refer to?
Answer: This situation points to the passing away of the poet's mother.
In simple words: This 'circumstance' means the death of the poet's mother.

Exam Tip: Always clarify specific references in the poem by linking them directly to the main events or themes.

Question 7. The three stanzas depict three different phases. Name them.
Answer:
1. The poet's mother's younger days – the time before the poet was born.
2. Her adult years – the period when the poet was a child.
3. The time following the poet's mother's passing.
In simple words: The poem shows three parts: her mother's childhood, her mother's middle age (when the poet was a child), and the time after her mother died.

Exam Tip: When asked to name phases or stages, present them clearly as a numbered list, providing a brief description for each to ensure full understanding.

GSEB Class 11 English A Photograph Additional Important Questions and Answers

Answer the following questions in three to Jour sentences each:

Question 1. Which incident has been captured in the snapshot?
Answer: The event shows three young girls who had visited the ocean for a swim and were standing still, grinning briefly at the camera. This group picture shows their happiness, lively energy, and the liberty of youth.
In simple words: The snapshot shows three girls, including the poet's mother, enjoying a swim at the sea, capturing their joy and freedom.

Exam Tip: Describe the scene vividly, including the characters' actions, emotions, and the overall atmosphere conveyed by the snapshot.

Question 2. What do you learn about the poetess's mother from the photograph?
Answer: The poet's mom was a grown girl, even at just twelve years old. She possessed a kind face and loved swimming and playing in the ocean with her cousins. Many years after, she would chuckle at the attire they wore for their beach vacation.
In simple words: We learn that the poet's mother was a joyful twelve-year-old who loved swimming and later found humor in her old beach clothes.

Exam Tip: Summarize the key characteristics and memories associated with the poet's mother from the photograph, focusing on her youth and sense of fun.

Question 3. How did the three girls face the camera?
Answer: They moved the hair away from their faces and stood grinning in the shallow part of the water close to the shore. Betty and Dolly were positioned on each side of the poet's mother, gripping one of her hands.
In simple words: The three girls pushed their hair back and smiled at the camera in the shallow sea, with Betty and Dolly holding the poet's mother's hands.

Exam Tip: Pay attention to small details of the pose and setting, as they often reveal aspects of character or the mood of the moment.

Question 4. What do you think, made the poetess's mother laugh?
Answer: The clothing and actions of her cousins, Betty and Dolly, caused the poet's mother to laugh. It is clear they had worn unusual outfits, which she found funny.
In simple words: The poet's mother laughed because of the strange dresses and amusing behavior of her cousins, Betty and Dolly.

Exam Tip: Connect the mother's laughter to the specific details mentioned in the poem, such as the cousins' attire or behavior.

Question 5. The poetess's mother laughs at her past. How does the poet react to her past?
Answer: The beach vacation was a memory for the poet's mom. Seeing the picture might have brought back feelings of shared happiness, so she laughed. For the poet, her mom's laughter is also a past event. It's funny in a strange way, but the sadness of loss is greater than the enjoyment.
In simple words: The mother laughs fondly at her past beach holiday. The poet, however, feels a sad irony, as her mother's laughter is also now a memory, overshadowed by loss.

Exam Tip: Compare and contrast the reactions of the mother and the poet to the past, highlighting the irony and the prevailing theme of loss.

Question 6. Why, do you think, does the poetess say nothing about her mother's death?
Answer: The poet finds no words to show her feelings about this serious and sad event. Death makes everyone silent. The deep stillness and widespread sadness make her speechless.
In simple words: The poet remains silent about her mother's death because it's a profound, painful event that leaves everyone speechless, surrounded by quiet grief.

Exam Tip: Explain how silence functions as a powerful literary device, emphasizing the depth of grief and the inability to articulate profound loss.

Question 7. What impression do you form of the poetess and the poetess's mother after reading the poem 'A Photograph'?
Answer: The poem shows the poet as a feeling person who cares deeply for her mother and is very close to her. She loves her mom's 'sweet face' and notices how it changes as she gets older. She recalls all the moments linked to her mother's life, even her laughter when looking at the picture. She finds it tough to accept her mom's death. The pain of being apart makes her speechless. Her mother also had a kind and sociable personality. She loved her two girl cousins and enjoyed beach trips with them, wearing unusual clothes. Her laughter at seeing those old clothes in the picture reveals her pleasant nature and good humor.
In simple words: The poet is deeply loving and sensitive, struggling with her mother's death. Her mother is depicted as a joyful, affectionate, and good-humored person who cherished family and holidays.

Exam Tip: When asked to form an impression, combine observations about the characters' personalities, relationships, and reactions to events described in the poem.

Figures of Speech

Select the correct figures of speech from the options given below:

Question 1. 'The cardboard shows me how it was'
(a) Personification
(b) Metaphor
(c) Oxymoron
(d) Alliteration
Answer: (b) Metaphor
In simple words: The cardboard is compared to a window into the past, without using 'like' or 'as'.

Exam Tip: Identify metaphors by looking for comparisons where one thing is said to *be* another, without using "like" or "as."

Question 2. 'All three stood still to smile through their hair'
(a) Repetition
(b) Metaphor
(c) Alliteration
(d) Antithesis
Answer: (c) Alliteration
In simple words: The repeating 's' sound in 'stood still to smile' is an example of alliteration.

Exam Tip: Alliteration involves the repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that are close together.

Question 3. 'And the sea, which appears to have changed less'
(a) Personification
(b) Repetition
(c) internal Rhyme
(d) Simile
Answer: (a) Personification
In simple words: The sea is given the human ability to 'appear to change less'.

Exam Tip: Look for personification when human qualities or actions are given to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

Question 4. 'Washed their terribly transient feet'
(a) Metaphor
(b) Alliteration
(c) Synecdoche
(d) Metonymy
Answer: (b) Alliteration
In simple words: The repeating 't' sound in 'terribly transient feet' is an example of alliteration.

Exam Tip: Remember that alliteration focuses on the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Question 5. 'With the laboured ease of loss'
(a) Metaphor
(b) Personification
(c) Metonymy
(d) Oxymoron
Answer: (d) Oxymoron
In simple words: 'Laboured ease' combines two opposite ideas to create a new meaning.

Exam Tip: An oxymoron combines two words with contradictory meanings to create a new, often thought-provoking, expression.

Question 6. 'There is nothing to say at all'
(a) Alliteration
(b) Antithesis
(c) Litotes
(d) Repetition
Answer: (c) Litotes
In simple words: This phrase uses an understatement ('nothing to say') to emphasize the profound silence and sadness.

Exam Tip: Litotes is a figure of speech that uses a double negative or an understatement for emphasis.

Reading Comprehension (Textual)

Read the following verse (stanzas) and answer the questions given below them:

Question 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.
(1) What does the cardboard refer to?
(2) Who was the big girl and how old was she?
Answer:
(1) The 'cardboard' points to the old picture of her mom from when she was a child.
(2) The main girl in the picture was the poet's mother. At that time, she was twelve years old.
In simple words: The cardboard is the childhood photograph. The big girl is the poet's mother, who was about twelve years old.

Exam Tip: For comprehension questions, extract specific details directly from the provided lines of the poem.

Question 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.
(1) Who does 'all three' refer to here?
(2) Why did they smile through their hair?
Answer:
(1) In this part, 'all three' means the poet's mother and her two relatives.
(2) They grinned with their hair falling because they were getting ready for a picture.
In simple words: 'All three' refers to the poet's mother and her two cousins. They smiled through their hair because they were posing for the camera.

Exam Tip: When asked about pronouns or specific actions, always identify the subjects and their motivations as revealed in the text.

Question 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.”
(1) Who would laugh at the snapshot twenty-thirty years later?
(2) How did mother remember her past?
Answer:
(1) The poet's mother would chuckle at the old photo about twenty or thirty years later.
(2) The mother thought about her past and felt a sweet longing for it.
In simple words: The poet's mother would laugh at the snapshot years later, remembering her past with a sense of nostalgia.

Exam Tip: Directly state who performed the action as requested by the question, referencing the timeline, and explain the emotional context.

Question 4. The sea holiday Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry With the laboured ease of loss.
(1) Who went for the sea holiday in the past ?
(2) What does 'both' refer to?
Answer:
(1) The poet's mom went on the beach vacation a long time ago when she was a little girl.
(2) Both refers to the memory of the poet's mother recalling her old beach trip, and also the poet's own memory of her mother's laugh.
In simple words: The poet's mother went for the sea holiday when she was young. 'Both' refers to the mother's past beach memory and the poet's memory of her mother's laughter.

Exam Tip: Clearly differentiate between the two perspectives or time periods involved when a question uses words like "both."

Question 5. Now she's has been dead nearly as many years As that girl lived. And of this circumstance There is nothing to say at all, Its silence silences.
(1) When did the poet's mother die?
(2) Explain: 'As the girl lived'.
Answer:
(1) It has been many years since the poet's mother passed away.
(2) The phrase 'As the girl lived' indicates that the poet is fully lost in her memories of her mother.
In simple words: The poet's mother died many years ago, roughly the same amount of time she was alive. 'As the girl lived' means the poet is completely absorbed in her mother's memories.

Exam Tip: For explanatory questions, interpret the meaning of specific lines or phrases and link them to the poem's themes.

A Photograph Summary in English

A Photograph Introduction:

Shirley Toulson was born on 20 May 1924 in Henley-on-Thames, England. She was the daughter of Douglas Horsfall Dixon and Marjorie Brown. She had a great passion for creative writing. She was influenced by her father, who was also a great writer. In 1953, she was conferred BA degree in literature. She was greatly influenced by Celtic Christianity. Her books 'Celtic Alternative' (1987) and 'Celtic year (1993)' made her famous.

In the poem 'A Photograph', she depicts her mother, as a child, with her two cousins standing on a beach with her mother (Poet's grandmother). Her uncle had taken the photograph.

A Photograph Summary:

The poem is divided into three stages. In the first stage the poet's mother is standing at the beach, enjoying her holiday with her two girl cousins. She was twelve years old. In the second stage, about 20-30 years later the poet describes her mother laughing at her two cousins dressed up for the beach holiday. In the third stage the poet remembers her mother with a heavy heart. Here the nostalgic feelings of the poet are revived.

In the first stage the poet is looking at her mother's photograph. The poet and her two girl cousins are seen standing on the beach. The two cousins are holding her hands. At this time the poet is just twelve years old. All the three girls were smiling. Their hair had fallen on their face as the breeze had blown them over. They were smiling at their uncle who was clicking their photo. The sea was washing their transient feet. But now as the poet recalls the past she realizes that the sea has changed a little and those whose feet were being washed have undergone a great change.

In the second stage the poet talks about the present. After twenty or thirty years, when the photograph had been snapped the mother looks at the photograph again only to realize that time has changed everything.

She must be in her thirties or forties, she laughs and points out the dress which the girls were wearing. The manner in which they were dressed for the beach. She now becomes nostalgic. She then consoles herself and feels that this was the thing of the past. The sweet joys of her childhood days are no more. Things have now changed. The poet remembers the laughter of her mother. Her mother is no more. But her laughter lingers on. Though the sea holiday belongs to the past what belongs to her in the present time are the sweet memories In the third stage the poet misses her mother now that she is no more. She is surrounded with nothing but emptiness. The silence of the situation has silenced her.

11th Std English Questions And Answers