THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPH OF ME by Margaret Atwood
Summary and Analysis:
"This Is a Photograph of Me," by the Canadian writer Mar- garet Atwood, presents a speaker who begins by promising to show us a photograph of herself. Later, however, we learn that the speaker has died from having drowned in the lake the photo- graph depicts.
The poem begins with a title that is a crucial part of the text. Unlike many poems, where the title has little effect on the work's meaning, here the title is essential to a total understanding of the whole piece. The title, in fact, sets the tone of the poem in nu- merous ways. Like the rest of the poem, the title is apparently simple, clear, and straightforward, both in syntax (that is, sen- tence structure) and in diction (that is, word choice). The simple title implies (falsely, as it turns out) that the poem itself will be simple. Not until much later in this lyric do we discover two of its essential paradoxes: that the speaker who seems so alive is actually dead, and that the clear visual depiction of the speaker, which the title seems to promise, is never actually presented.
The poem is written as if the speaker is directly addressing the reader and is, perhaps, showing either the reader or another person a picture of herself (or himself). The speaker not only shows the photo but explains how it should be viewed and inter- preted. In short, the speaker tells us how to make sense of a photograph we never really see, and she does so as part of a poem that seems to defy rational explanations in various other ways. In both of these senses, then, the poem is additionally para doxical.
Further paradox results from the fact that the speaker de. scribes, with great precision, the details of a photograph we can- not actually view. She shows, then, the power of words to create images in our minds even when no actual images appear before our eyes. She implies and demonstrates the power of poetry to be both precise and suggestive, both accurate and full of myste- rious implications. The poem implies that photographs allow us to see things clearly, and yet her description of the photograph shows the limits of mere photographic realism.
As the speaker describes, detail by detail, the features of the photograph (lines 6-14), she creates a tone of comforting famil- iarity. All of us have seen photos of the sort she makes us imag- ine. Although we have no exact knowledge of the specific place she is describing, we are all familiar with places such as this. In lines 6-14, the speaker lulls us into a sense of complacency. We think we know exactly what she is doing, and we can almost picture ourselves in the place she lovingly describes.
And then we discover, in lines 15-16, that she is dead. All the mysteries implied earlier in the poem (who is this person? to whom is she speaking? why is she telling someone about a pho- tograph? what specific place does the photograph depict?) sud- denly seem unimportant. Now they are replaced by far more trou- bling questions: how can this person be speaking although she is dead? How and why did she drown? Where and to whom is she speaking? Is she addressing another dead person? Abruptly, then, everything we originally thought about the poem falls into insig- nificance.
In the ensuing lines, the speaker tries to describe details that the photo does not show. Finally, the poem ends with yet another paradox:
…...if you look long enough
eventually you will see me.... (24-26)
Of course, we will never "see" the speaker in any conven- tional sense of the term. The poem ends with a superficial sense of certainty and assurance, but by the final line we are more puzzled than ever.
By using a variety of techniques, the poem gains added inter- est. Note, for example, the effective use of brevity in line 3, so that the word "print" in line 4, followed by a colon, receives strong emphasis. Note, too, the balanced adjective-noun phrases in the rest of line 4 ("blurred lines" and "grey flecks"). The di- rect address to the reader (or to some internal observer) that be- gins in line 7 adds to the intimacy and mystery of the work, while the reference in that same line to the "left-hand corner" makes the poem seem paradoxically precise, since, of course, we can literally see nothing the speaker mentions. In lines 8-9 the refer- ences are cleverly both vague and exact, while lines 11-12 are both speculative and precise. Here and throughout the work, the style of the poem is insistently paradoxical.
Lines 13-14 are precise and routine, but they are juxtaposed with lines 15-16, which are shocking and bizarre (how can a dead person be speaking?). And then lines 17-18 shock us even further since they imply not merely that the speaker is dead but that her corpse may actually be visible if we look closely enough. How did this picture (we wonder) come to be taken, and by whom, and under what circumstances? In any case the juxtaposition of the three couplets gives each one of them special emphasis in a poem that lacks any other couplets altogether.
In short, the poem is more skillfully organized that it might at first appear to be. The more closely one looks at it (just as the more closely one looks at a photograph), the more interesting it can seem.
Very Short Type Questions & Answers:
1. "It was taken some time ago." What is the meaning of 'it' in the poem?
Ans: The 'it' in the poem represents a photograph.
2. What does 'it' seem in the beginning?
Ans: It seems to be a stained print on which there are blurred lines and grey plots which merge with the paper.
3. What do you see in the left-hand corner?
Ans: In the left-hand corner there is a branch of tree.
4. What do you find on the right side of the photograph?
Ans: On the right side of the photograph there is a gentle slope and a small frame house.
5. The lake is situated in the background of the
Ans: The lake is situated in the background of the house.
6. When was the photograph taken?
Ans: The photograph was taken a day after the speaker was drowned.
7. Where is the speaker in the lake as he is already drowned?
Ans: The speaker is in the centre of the lake.
8. Can you guess about its size?
Ans: No, it is not possible because of the effect of the water.
9. What is the effect of water on light?
Ans: It causes a distortion.
10. Give the meaning of flecks.
Ans: It means marks.
11. How does the tone of the poem change in the second part of the poem?
Ans: The tone of the poem becomes introspective and somber in the second part of the poem.
Short Type Questions & Answers:
1. Who, in your view, is the narrator in the poem?
Ans: The narrator in the poem is a woman. Through her, the poet tries to give a feministic look of the position of women in a patriarchal society. The poem seems to end on a note of confidence that the reader who has been entrusted with a secret is going to do everything possible to uncover the mystery surrounding the death of this woman.
2. Briefly discuss the character of the speaker of the poem?
Ans: The poetess herself is the speaker of the poem. She is a sentimental and reflective woman. She has a sense of belongingness and connectivity. As she looks at the photograph she is reminded of the house and its reflection in the water. And we find the house and the speaker merging into one identity.
3. Why is the poem divided in two parts? What is the connection between two parts?
Ans: The poem is divided into two parts. The first part reflects the physical aspect while the second part deals with the speculative aspect. The speaker who is not physically visible is the connecting link between the two parts.
4. The title of the poem is 'This is a Photograph of Me', yet the poetess is not to be seen in the photograph, why?
Ans: No doubt, the poetess is not to be seen in the photograph. Yet her imprint is there everywhere. She is related to the house and has a sense of belongingness. The house is being reflected in the lake. The poetess has been drowned in the lake as such she is at a place in the lake where the house is reflected. In this way the poetess is there in the photograph of the house even though she is not physically present.
5. Give a description of the photograph.
Ans: The photograph seems to be an old one. It is a smeared print. The lines are blurred and there are grey spots blending on the picture. On the left side, there is a branch of a tree.
On the right-hand side of the centre, there is a gentle slope and a wooden frame house.
6. How is the speaker in the lake?
Ans: The speaker has been drowned in the lake. The reflection of the house is in the lake and she loved the house.
7. What is the hidden meaning of the poem?
Ans: Margaret Atwood's 'This Is a Photograph of Me' is a feminist poem that uses the extended metaphor of a drowned woman to describe the way that women have historically been overlooked in society.
8. What is the structure of the poem?
Ans: As the poem taps on a tragic incident, it does not have a rhyme scheme or specific sound pattern. It is free verse without any rhyming lines. The use of end-stopped lines makes this piece sound like a blank verse as well.
9. What is the most significant literary device used in the poem?
Ans: The most significant literary device of "This Is a Photograph of Me' is enjambment. It is used to internally connect the lines. Readers can find the use of this device throughout. Apart from that, Atwood uses imagery to detail the photograph and the things present in it. We also see the use of simile in some lines.
10. Do you think that the poem is describing a real situation in the poem?
Ans: It becomes very clear that the poem is metaphorical. The situation is entirely conceived to convey a message, it is not describing a real, physical situation. The photograph is a symbol.
11. What are the symbolic uses of light and water in the poem?
Ans: The woman's identity is uncertain, in place and position. She goes on to state that the effect of water on light is a distortion. Here the light becomes a metaphor for the woman who gives light to others through her service. Water is emblematic of the Patriarchal Society that if it wants can act as a life-giving force.
Long Type Questions & Answers:
1. What is the story the poet is trying to narrate here?
Ans: In the first half of the poem, the poet describes a landscape photograph that has been distorted for some unknown reason. The reader can assume that the photo is black and white and therefore very old, because it is described with "blurred lines and gray flecks". The black and white photograph represents a time in history when prejudice against women was astoundingly prevalent. The second half of the poem is completely enclosed by parentheses. This is the section where she reveals herself as the heart and subject of the photograph. The existence of parentheses often indicates that the contents inside of them are not as important as the regular text. By using parentheses in the description of the woman's spirit, Atwood is demonstrating how women are often viewed as insignificant. The poem is clearly divided into two halves with the description of the landscape in the first half, and the existence of the woman's essence in the second half.
2. Is there a feminist angle to the poem? If so, how would you explain it?
Ans: Margaret Atwood is a well- known feminist author who often writes about the oppression of women in society, in her mysterious poem "This is a Photograph of Me," Atwood utilizes several aspects of nature observed in a photograph to symbolize the dominance of men over women in our oppressive society. She demands society as a whole to see through the stereotypes placed on women and observe the true importance and significance women have in history and our present lives. Atwood employs a great deal of symbolism in her poem to express the theme of female oppression. This symbolism is perceived in the blurriness of the photograph, the tree branch, the slope, the house, the lake, and the reflected light off of the lake. The distortion of the images in the photograph represents the negative labels put on women.
3. Describe the photograph as it was unveiled in the poem.
Ans: Atwood's melancholy poem begins with a woman describing an old blurry photograph of a woodsy landscape with a house, a lake, a tree branch and a small hill. The woman seems as if she is viewing the photo for the first time as she points out the significant aspects of the photograph that have distorted from either over exposure or the sunlight reflecting off the lake. The second half of the poem reveals that the photograph was taken shortly after the woman drowned in the lake. The woman informs the reader that if they look closely they will see her submerged beneath the water. The poem is rich with symbolism in its content and structure.
4. Give a brief description about Margaret Atwood.
Ans: Margaret Atwood (1939-) was born in Ottawa, Canada. She grew up in Ottawa and Toronto, but as a child spent the summers with her family in northern Quebec. She received her B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1961 and her MA from Radcliffe College, Harvard, in 1962. She won the Governor-General's Award for her first book of poetry, The Circle Game (1966), and went on to become one of the finest and most prolific of contemporary writers. To date she has published twelve volumes of poetry, seven novels, three collections of short stories, one critical study of Canadian literature, one volume of collected essays, and has edited other works, including The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse English (1982). Two of her novels, Surfacing (1972) and The Handmaid's Tale (1985), have been made into films. She has been active in such organizations as the Writers' Union of Canada, Amnesty International, and PEN, and has lectured widely around the world. Atwood has won many prizes, including Guggenheim Fellowship and the Molson Prize (both in 1981) and has received several honorary degrees.
Atwood's poetry is characterized by the vivid precision of her language and power of her imagery. In her short laconic lyrics, she provides sharp insights into the consciousness of the speaker, while in her series of connected poems she develops symbolic and visionary explorations of the ironic dualities of existence. Her interest in the politics of human relationships has led her to explore a wide range of subjects, from the conflicting attitudes towards Canada of the pioneer, Susanna Moodie, in The Journals of Susanna Moodie (Toronto, 1970) to the myths and deceptions of romantic love in Power Politics (Toronto, 1973), to the ambiguities of myth in You Are happy (Toronto, 1974) and the horrors of torture and repression in True Stories (Toronto, 1981). Her fiction is equally varied. Surfacing 1972) is a moving narrative of a woman's rediscovery of herself in the wilderness, while Lady Oracle (1976) is a comic satire on the trials of growing up in the 1950s and a parody of romantic fiction. Bodily Harm (1981), in which the Canadian protagonist experiences the terror of the Third World country revolution, is her most explicit treatment of the issues of personal and national responsibility and culpability. In her feminist dystopia, The Handmaid's Tale Atwood portrays present social and political trends in a convincing story of future disaster; while her most recent me rear to nok again and closer to see what he has missed. This poem could be very likely be a feminist view of what happens to women under men, as the poet is known for her feminist views. Taken in an extreme feminist way, the poem suggests that when bound in marriage, a woman loses her identity. The world sees the man and not the woman behind her husband.
The poem has many interpretations. It can be taken to be about how we read and interpret poems. The poem uses metaphorical techniques, to this idea, through both imagery and form of the poem.
5. How does the poem, "This is a Photograph of Me" express the feministic views of Margaret Atwood?
Ans: Margaret Atwood is a poet known for her feminist views, The second part of the poem shows the lake moved from the background of the picture to the centre. This enables the reader to come closer to lake, almost become part of the picture. But the poet asserts that the readers have to look below the surface for her, instead of having a superficial view of things. The poet goes on to say that her identity is uncertain in place and position. However, if the views look intently, he can eventually see the poet. The poem is written just like a conservation. The poem insists on the reader to look again and closer to see what he has missed. This poem could be very likely show what happens to women under men, since Atwood was a feminist. The blurred picture and distorted water and the poet remaining unseen under the surface of the water represent the influence of men. In an extreme feminist way, the poem suggests that a woman loses her identity, when bound in marriage. It is general view that the man is seen by the world, not the woman behind her husband. The poem can be said that it is about woman's identity, in general.
Though Atwood was known for her feminist views, the poem can also be taken to be about her personal identity. A photograph usually captures one's identity, but, in this poem Atwood writes about the loss of her own identity, which is represented by the lake in the poem. She says that she is just below the surface, under the cover of her false identity, making it impossible for her to see the 'real her' in the concluding lines of the poem.
6. Write the Summary of the Poem 'This is a Photograph of Me".
Ans: The poem "This Is a Photograph of Me" is divided into wo parts. The poet gives a vivid description of "a photograph taken some time ago," in the beginning. But as one looks at it closer, the sheer beauty of the captured landscape is realized. A tree can be seen in the foreground. There is a small wooden house half way up a hill. There is a lake in the background and beyond that some low hills.
The second part, begins with a shocking revelation from the poet that the photograph was taken day after she drowned and that she was in the centre of the lake. The reader is brought closer to the lake, almost as if he has fallen into the picture. The poet asserts that people have to look blow the surface for her and further says that it is difficult to locate her, or estimate her size. Her identity is uncertain in place and position because of the distortion of image due to the effect of water on light. However, if the viewer looks intently he can see the poet. The poet uses no verse or rhyme to describe the picture which gives a realistic personal feeling to the poem. The poem exhorts the reader to look again and closer to see what he has missed. This poem could be very likely be a feminist view of what happens to women under men, as the poet is known for her feminist views. Taken in an extreme feminist way. the poem suggests that when bound in marriage, a woman loses her identity. The world sees the man and not the woman behind her husband.
The poem has many interpretations. It can be taken to be about how we read and interpret poems. The poem uses metaphorical techniques, to this idea, through both imagery and form of the poem.
The poem can also be taken to be about Atwood's personal identity. Photograph usually capture one's identity, however, in his poem Atwood writes about the loss of her original identity. Atwood refers to the fact that she is just below the surface, of the facade of her false identity, and concludes the poem write a noting that it is impossible to see her real self while covered with fake identity.
7. Write a note on the theme of the poem, this is a Photograph of Me.
Ans: "This is a Photograph of Me" is a poem by Margaret Atwood, is divided into two parts. The poet gives a vivid description of "a photograph taken some time ago," which is now smeared. But a closer look at the photograph shows the sheer beauty of the captured a landscape. There is a tree in the foreground with a wooden house half way up a hill. There is a lake in the background and beyond that some low hills.
The second part, reveals a shocking fact that the photograph was taken day after the poet drowned and she was in the centre. It seemed that the lake moved up from the background of the picture to the centre, which brings the reader close to the lake, almost as if he has fallen into the picture. The poet goes on to say that it is very difficult to locate her, or estimate her size. The poem is written just like a conversation. It has a realistic personal feeling. It is about anyone or anything that was ever overlooked or forgotten. The reader takes a closer look to see what he has missed. The poet is known for her feminist views and this poem could be very likely be a feminist view of what happens to woman under men. The poem suggests that a woman loses her identity when bound in marriage.
The poem is open to many interpretations. It invites us to look beneath the surface of what is being said in poetry. Just as the speaker is hidden beneath the surface of the lake, the poet is hidden beneath her words.
Atwood writes about the loss of her identity in the poem, though a photograph generally captures a person's identity. The poet refers to the fact that she is just below the surface, under the cover of her false identity which makes it impossible for her, to see her 'real self.’
Very Long Type Question Answer
Q.1.Explain the mystical and ambiguous nature of the poem, This is a Photograph of Me and its purpose.
Ans: Photographs tell us about people, places or events and are usually a fond reminder of something. This poem starts off in a predictable manner and we are drawn into the poem by its natural flow and conversational tone.
We start to relax and look forward to images of an idyllic time spent by the lake. The mystery builds up as we wonder and wait expectantly to see the photograph, hear more about it and envision the event. The precise descriptions that are offered add to the mystery of this poem as we shall never actually "see" this photograph of "her."
We are not prepared for what follows and there is no warn- ing. The conversational tone remains and is almost matter-of- fact. It changes the setting to a morbid, depressing place but one where we are not allowed to linger. Margaret Attwood addresses the drowning as she might any other occurence that day.
Taking the words "I am in the lake, in the center/ of the pic- ture," increases the ambiguity in this poem as we are not sure what we are interpreting: it is supposed to be a picture of a per- son, perhaps in a boat, even waving at the photographer but in- stead is a shocking reference to a tragic event.
The mystery explained, she urges us to "look long enough" which is even more confusing as we will never "see" her. How horrifying to look for a dead body floating in the water "just under the surface." What are we really loking for? What is the deeper meaning? The ambiguity increases (but this is the end and its supposed to be clear by now!) as we wonder what we are supposed to understand from this poem. We do not expect to be confused by a title and a poem that seems so simple, clear, and straightforward.
Such is the paradox. Appearance versus reality are presented so subtely in this poem. The false sense of security we feel is completely shattered by the revelation. Margaret Attwood wants her readers to understand how life goes on. Some people will never see the subject of the photograph floating in the lake so will be unaffected by it. Others, whilst affected by it, will move on with their lives.
'The more things change the more they stay' the same is very relevant to the essence of this poem.
Q.2.Compare Margaret Atwood's "This Is a Photograph of Me" to "Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer." How do these po- ems comment on selfhood and the difficulties involved in estab- lishing an identity?
Ans: Both of these poems reveal that establishing a sense of selhood and identity is something that is very difficult and hard to achieve. In "This is a Photograph of Me," inspite of the easy assurances of the speaker that we will see her picture, it is clear as the poem develops and the speaker reveals her true identity as a dead person that the clarity she seems to promise never emerges. The challenges in establishing a sense of identity are portrayed in the speaker's description of what the viewer will see as they look at the photo to begin with:
At first it seems to be a smeared print:
blurred lines and grey flecks blended with the paper...
Clarity is something that has to be fought for and does not come easily. The difficulties of the reader trying to "see" the speaker are further compounded by the revelation that the speaker is actually dead, and the difficulties of identifying her in the photo are compounded by the "distortion" of the light. However, per- haps there is a vague hope as the poem ends with the promise that if the reader looks "long enough / eventually" they will see the speaker. Identity and selfhood can be established but only as a result of much time and effort.
Very little hope is given to the pioneer in "Porgressive In-sanities of a Pioneer." He seems determined to stamp his iden- tity on the soil where he is based, yet he is repulsed at every turn. For example, his efforts to sow his crops and tame the soil is shown to be futile:
It was like enticing whales with a bent pin.
Note the comparison and how pointless it is to try and fish for whales with nothing more than a "bent / pin" to attract them and catch them. In spite of all of his efforts to tame the soil and enact dominion on this Eden around him (and Atwood makes deliberate allusions to the Biblical story of creation, perhaps to mock the male prototype figure), the pioneer is shown in the last stanza to have failed in his attempt to establish a sense of iden- tity and selfhood, as in the end he "foresaw his disintegration." The final image presents an unsettling vision of the wilderness around him reinvading the space he has tried to clear. Again, selfhood is presented as a struggle and a battle, and in this poem the speaker fails.
Q.3.Does the point of view change in "This Is A Photograph of Me" by Margaret Atwood?
Ans: Margaret Atwood's poem "This is a Photograph of Me" is concerned with appearances versus reality. As the poem progresses, the speaker leads the reader from what first appears as "blurred lines and grey flecks."
then, as you scan
it....
The images are seen by "you" who sees "a thing that is like a branch," which symbolizes the female; then, "you" perceives "a small frame house," symbolic of the male. As Atwood was con- cerned with the female status as a commodity for commercial- ization, the branch often finds itself as part of a frame house in a commercial venture.
In the background there is a lake, and beyond that some low hills.....
I am in the lake in the center
The last line of the poem changes from "you" to "I" who is submerged in the background of the photograph, "taken the day after I drowned." Thus, rather than revealing the speaker, day photograph of the water distorts and obscures the speaker's iden- tity, hiding her. For, it is the unreal self, the appearance of the speaker in her role as female, that has been in reality.
Q.4. In the poem, This is a Photograph of Me, what does the lake signify?
Ans: A seemingly uncomplicated, easy to read poem trans- forms itself unexpectedly into an almost philosophical poem about life or losing life and how it just fits into the whole scheme of things. Nobody stops and considers or "look(s) long enough" and reflects upon the effects of unforeseen and often tragic events.
The lake perhaps signifies all the complexities of life. A se- rene and peaceful place can be altered in an instant into a place of despair - much like the events of someone's life. An apparent average day can change someone's future or rapidly end it!
At first the lake is "in the background" and before the reader has even had a chance to consider this lake with the "low hills" beyond it, we are thrown into turmoil. The lake becomes central to the poem and the place that is responsible for the speaker's death.
The speaker is only now coming to terms with what hap- pened to her "some time ago" and the lake also possibly signi- fies how, for others, life goes on. She is talking about the photo- graph as if she is alive and the sharp contrast "after I drowned" when the reader must deal with her pain is seen in the lake where "the effects of water/ on light" distort the reality. Who would have thought that such a beautiful, serene place could inflict such devastation? The peace has already returned but the reality will always be there "just under the surface."
Q.4. What are the different images that Margaret Atwood uses to describe the photograph in This is a Photograph of Me?
Ans: In this poem all is not what it seems and Margaret Attwood uses everyday images and an uncomplicated style to get her message across.
The supposed photograph which is the subject of this poem never actually materializes. She describes, in language that is straightforward, everything we expect to see which renders her revelation about the drowning all the more shocking.
At first, we have a visual picture of an old photograph, much like one of those "favorites" which we look at from time to time with "blurred lines and gray flecks" and which has become quite worn from having been handled too much.
Margaret Attwood goes to great pains to explain aspects of the picture that are apparently insignificant "part of a tree/ (bal- sam or spruce) emerging..." but which she uses to ensure that the pace of the poem is calm and the reader immersed in the detail. The actual photograph becomes insignificant with graphic de- tails supplied and the reader's own "picture" is created in the mind's eye.
Having continued with minor details and lulled the reader, she veers off the photograph itself momentarily as she explains about the drowning. "I am in the lake" is an image the reader is unable to avoid. The reader is expecting to be able to continue creating his or her own images of the lake but is brought down to earth by this disclosure.
Now that the reader cannot avoid the reality, Margaret Attwood continues to use words to create the image and her po- etry is precise and suggestive, both accurate and full of mysterious implications
The reader is bewildered and shocked when he or she is forced to consider "the effect of water/ on light " as if any of that really matters any more. The poem continues but the reader is contem- plating the event whereas Attwood is still focused on looking for her in the water because "eventually/ you will be able to see me."
Q.5. Examine critically several aspects of nature observed in the photograph to symbolise the patriarchal dominance over fe- male identity in Atwood's "This is a picture of me."
Ans: In this poem, as in others of Margaret Atwood, there is a tension between the apparent serenity of nature and the reality that lies hidden. At first, the speaker describes the inability to distinguish anything in the photograph as it appears to be "a smeared/print: blurred lines and grey flecks" that blend in with the paper on which the poem is written. This photograph lacks definition in the photographic sense of line and shading, while, at the same time, the woman herself lacks a defining place in the photograph amid all the "blurred lines and grey flecks." In fact, she is subsumed in this photograph, a figurative indication that she has been in a repressed position in the "small frame house." Indeed, as the poem progresses, the reader learns that the speaker is "just under the surface," dominated by the scene of the tree and house.
The focus of the central part of the poem is the "thing that is like a branch: part of a tree" and "what ought to be a gentle/ slope, a small frame house." That is, nature (the tree) and man (who built the house) are pieced together in disharmony and she, woman is submerged in the lake, dominated by what is on land.
The paradoxical situation here is that Margaret Atwood pre- sents a scene of the quaint little house followed by a lake and rolling countryside only to remark upon the photograph's inabil- ity to capture reality. Having had no voice in life, she must inter- ject herself in order to be recognized; so, in a parenthetical phrase, she informs the reader,
("The photograph was taken the day after I drowned I am in the lake in the center of the picture, just under the surface.... ...if you look long enough eventually you will see me.)
Thus, all has not been a scene of pastoral bliss; alienated from nature and the home in the "low hills and lake," the speaker is "just under the surface," and enclosed in a parenthetical situa- tion in which she is never fully realized as a woman nor recog- nized as one who has a viable voice.
Q.6. Bring out the theme of the poem. Illustrate your answer with suitable examples from the text.
Ans. This is a poem related to the theme of belonging. The theme becomes important in the modern world where we do not feel connected to anyone or anything. The poetess does it with the help of the photograph of a house. She was much attached to the house. The photograph is old and gray. It presents the reflec- tion of the house in the lake. The heart of the poetess lies in the house and the house is reflected in the lake.
At this point the poetess introduces a shocking statement in the poem she suggests where the photograph of the house was taken after she had drowned in the lake. In this way the house is in the lake in the shape of it's reflection and the poetess is also in the lake after having been drowned. In this way the lake be-comes the connecting way between the house and the poetess.
Though the poetess is not physically present in the photo- graph of the house, she pervades the photograph in a metaphori- cal sense. Thus the poem brings out the theme of the relatedness and belongingness in an effective manner.
Q.7. A Short Analysis of Margaret Atwood's 'This Is a Pho- tograph of Me'.
Ans: The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (born 1939) is best-known as a novelist, as the author of books such as The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake. But she began her career as a poet. "This Is a Photograph of Me', today's poem, is taken from her first collection of poems, The Circle Game, which was published in 1964 when Atwood was only in her mid-twenties.
It is easy enough to summarise 'This Is a Photograph of Me'. The poem is a lyric, spoken by someone who describes, as the title makes clear, a photograph showing them. The photograph, we are told, was 'taken some time ago'.
The speaker describes the contents of the photograph to us, revealing how what first seems to be a smudge in one corner is actually the branch of a tree. There is also a small house in the photograph and, in the background, a lake and some hills.
Then, in a devastating parenthesis which concludes the poem, the speaker reveals that they are dead, and that this photograph was taken the day after they drowned. They are not clearly vis- ible in the picture, but they drowned in that lake which is in the background of the photograph, just beneath the surface. The speaker tells us that if we look hard enough, we should be able to see them beneath the lake's surface.
'This Is a Photograph of Me' is a troubling poem because of the casual way in which the poem turns from a matter-of-fact description into a terrible revelation: the poem is being spoken from beyond the grave. In this way, the poem 'gives a voice to the voiceless', as we often say about works of literature which are narrated or spoken by people who are marginalised from so- ciety.
And the dead are most literally voiceless; the drowned, too, raise troubling questions. Did the dead speaker of Atwood's poem drown by accident or design? And if the latter, then whose de- sign? Was this a suicide, or was it murder? Was the speaker male or female?
Were they a small child? There are several reasons for think- ing so, although Atwood provides only hints.
First, there is the show-and-tell nature of the poem ('This Is a Photograph of Me' is curiously performative, as though the child were standing up in front of the class at school and show- ing the picture, in a version of 'what I did during the school holidays').
Second, there is the straightforward, simple, even naïve man- ner in which the speaker relates the news that they are dead: they bury (or drown) the key revelation beneath a series of minor or even trivial details, only one of which will turn out to be directly relevant (that lake in the background).
The language the speaker uses, too, hints at a younger per- son, albeit one with some education: they know the tree in the photograph is either balsam or spruce, but are unable to tell be- tween them. Even if we decide there is not enough evidence to proclaim that the speaker is a child, there is a certain innocence to their manner of addressing us (and look at the way we are quietly and unassumingly ushered into their confidence through the use of the second-person pronoun, 'you', so we are made complicit in whatever happened to them, as though we are re- sponsible for finding their body).
This is what helps to make Atwood's poem so unnerving and, of course, the syntax (placing the shocking twist in paren- theses as though, like the earlier brackets surrounding the detail about the tree, this later revelation was no more important).
'This Is a Photograph of Me' also raises interesting ques- tions between visual and verbal (or written) representation. The word 'photography' comes from the ancient Greek meaning 'light-writing', because the process of photography uses light to capture and reproduce images (much as photocopying does - so this word also comes from the Greek for 'light', for the same reason). And a number of details in the poem, right from its title onwards, suggest that the photograph described in the poem and the poem itself double up as two kinds of 'text'.
Start with that title, 'This Is a Photograph of Me': this ges- tures towards the (described) photograph, but the deictic 'This' also carries the possibility that this (i.e. the poem the title also describes or denotes) is itself the photograph. The speaker's ref- erences to 'smeared/print' (the print of the page?), 'blurred lines' (lines of verse?), and 'paper' in that first stanza all summon both the poetic text as well as the photographic one.
Similarly, in the following stanza, one might 'scan' a photo- graph for particular details, but one also scans a poem (scansion is the name for analysing a poem's metre).
From the outset, then, we are invited into a troubling rela- tionship with both poem and photograph, both speaker and (sup- posed) subject. The photograph may be the subject of the poem, but the speaker themselves is the subject of the photograph, even if they are displaced, invisible, beneath the surface of that lake.
'This Is a Photograph of Me' contains 26 lines: 14 describe the photograph and then the final 12 (in parentheses) usher us deeper into the speaker's confidence with the first use of the 'I' pronoun. 14 lines, the length of the traditional sonnet, establish a fairly traditional rural scene, a landscape described as in a mil- lion nature poems.
But then this sonnet-length description is overturned by the bracketed aside, which reveals the dark secret lurking beneath the surface of the lake and, by implication, within all such na- ture scenes. In the last analysis, this free-verse poem, like all good-free-verse poems, is not as artless or loose as it first ap- pears to be. Its syntax, punctuation, and length all play their part in creating its sinister and troubling atmosphere.
Q. 8. The significance of title "No Second Troy",
Ans: Introduction
The poem "No Second Troy", published in the collection of "The Green Helmet" and other poems in (1910) volume, is an ambiguous poem by William Butler Yeats in which the celebra- tion of Amazonian female agency and power is qualified by the poet's restriction on the exercise of that power. The subject of the poem is the "unrequited love" of the poet for Maud Gonne, the beautiful and Irish nationalist fire brand, from whom he met in 1989 and instantly fell in love with her.
Though she was Yeats's friend, and collaborated with him as an actor in the Irish plays the writer produced at the Abbey Thas atre, and Yeats would often visit her and show her his poems, she never returned his love. After her husband Major John MacBride's death in the 1916, Easter uprising, Yeats again pro- posed to Goner, hoping that she might accept his love, but she again turned down his proposal. There upon, he proposed to her daughter, but was to be disappointed yet again.
Significance of Title
The title gives unity to the thought of the poem. The poem is comment on the fallen values of the time. Even as Ireland des. perately needs a cultural and political revolution against the co- lonial occupation of Britain, the middle class is too engrossed in its mechanical routine and mercantile ambitions to worry about the country. Comparing Maud Gonne with Helen, Yeats says though she is equally beautifully and noble, Ireland id not the place she deserved, as it would not be truly inspired as Troy was by Helen. There would be "No Second Troy".
Analysis
The poem seems to be divided into two parts; the first part deals more in the empirical realm (from emotional pain to po- litical defiance and outrage), the second part veer off into the ethereal, and apocalyptic, world of ancient Troy and its Helen. The phrase "why should I blame her that she filled my days with misery" describes the pain of Yeats's unrequited love. Also, Yeats exalts his would be love by etherealizing her as above what he condemns in his own time (not natural in such age and being high solitary) and predicates upon her qualities of a goddess (like; peaceful, noble, beauty) even a warrior goddess (like; fire, like a tightened bow, most stern). In the last two lines, containing the third and fourth rhetorical questions, the poet makes explicit her comparison with her with Helen of Troy, but regrets metaphori- cally that Ireland was no Troy to burn for Maud Gonne, as Troy had done for Helen.
To Yeats, the coarse and plebian mob that Gonne led in dif- ferent revolutionary activities, and who she chose over the love of Yeats hardly deserved a royal mind and classic beauty that she embodied.
..., or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled thee little streets upon the great,
Had they but courage equal to desire,
The juxtaposition of the images "little street" and "the great" confirms Yeats faith in the aristocratic lineage, and his enthusi- asm for the traditional Irish society under the protection of the aristocratic lords. Therefore, the agents of nationalism for him should have been noble and valiant men of the upper class rather than the "ignorant men", who have no physical or moral "cour- age equal to desire".
The poet employs two similes to suggest the nobility of Gonne's mind her extraordinary beauty:
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
As pure "as fire" and ger physical beauty "like a tightened bow" are the exalted nature of her mind that give her superiority over the crowd, and make her presence out of place "in an age like this". In the simile "beauty like a tightened 'bow’ the world's transforms into a symbol of sternness and grace, a mix of austerity and passionate action, restraint and violence.
In the final movement of the poem, Yeats wonders what would Maud Gonne do knowing what she is, as there was no another Troy to burn for her.
a) Comprehension Questions.
Stanza 1
It was taken some time ago In the background there is a lake, and beyond that, some low hills.
Questions
1. What is the meaning of "it' in the poem?
Ans. The "it" in the poem represents a photograph.
2. What does it seem in the beginning?
Ans. It seems to be a stained print on which there are blurred lines and gray plots which merge with the paper.
3. What do you see in the left hand corner?
Ans. In the left hand corner there is a branch of tree.
4. What do you find on the right side of the photograph?
Ans. On the right side of the photograph there is a gentle slope and a small frame house.
5. Name the poem and the poet?
Ans. The name of the poem is “This is a Photograph of Me" and the name of the poet is Margaret Atwood.
Stanza 2
(The photograph was taken the day after I drowned......... but if you look long enough, eventually you will be able to see me)
Questions
1. In whose background is the lake situated?
Ans. The lake is situated in the background of the house.
2. When was the photograph taken?
Ans. The photograph was taken a day after the speaker was drowned.
3. Where is the speaker in the lake as he is already drowned?
Ans. The speaker is in the center of the lake.
4. Can you guess about its size?
Ans. No, it is not possible because of the effect of the water.
5. What is the effect of water on light.
Ans.It causes a distortion.
Short-Answer Questions
Q.1. Briefly discuss the character of the speaker of the poem?
Ans. The poetess herself is the speaker of the poem. She is a sentimental and reflective woman. She has a sense of belonging and connectivity. As she looks at the photograph she is reminded of the house and it's reflection in the water. And we find the house and the speaker merging into one identity.
Q.2. Why is the poem divided in two parts What is the con- nection between two parts?
Ans. The poem is divided in two parts. The first part reflects the physical aspect while the second part deals with the specula- tive aspect. The speaker who is not physically visible is the con- necting link between two parts.
Q.3. The title of the poem is" This is a Photograph of Me", yet the poetess is not to be seen in the photograph, why?
Ans. No doubt, the poetess is not to be seen in the photo- graph. Yet her imprint is there everywhere. She is related to the house and has a sense of belonging. The house is being reflected in the lake. The poetess has been drowned in the lake as such she is at a place in the lake where the house is reflected. In this way the poetess is there in the photograph of the house even though she is not physically present.
Q.4. Give a description of the photograph?
Ans. The photograph seems to be an old one. It is a smeared print. The lines are blurred and there are gray spots blending on the picture. On the left side there is a branch of a tree. On the right hand side of the center there is a gentle slope and a wooden frame house.
Objective Type Questions
Q.1. When was the photograph taken?
Ans. It was taken the day after the poetess was drowned.
Q.2. How does the photograph look?
Ans. It looks smeared and blurred.
Q.3. What do you find at the left hand corner?
Ans. We find a branch of a tree at the left hand corner.
Q.4. What do you find at the right hand corner of the photo- graph?
Ans. We find a wooden frame house at the right hand corner of the photograph.
Q.5. What is in the background?
Ans. In the background there is a lake and low-hills.
Q.6.How is the speaker in the lake?
Ans. The speaker has been drowned in the lake. The reflec tion of the house is in the lake and she loved the house.
Q.7.How large or small is the house in the reflection?
Ans. It is difficult to say as the movement of the wav destored the reflection.
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