Poem 1 English - FL - Poem 1

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.

Q.1. When did the poet’s mother die?
Q.2. Explain: ‘As the girl lived’.
Q.3. What does the phrase "Its silence silences" in the stanza suggest about the speaker's emotions or thoughts?

…………………….. The sea holiday
Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry
With the laboured ease of loss.

Q.1. Who went for the sea holiday in the past ?
Q.2. What does ‘both’ refer to?
Q.3. What is the significance of the word "wry" in the line.

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.”

Q.1. Who would laugh at the snapshot twenty-thirty years later?
Q.2. How did mother remember her past?
Q.3. How does the speaker refer to the people in the snapshot in the stanza?

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.

Q.1. Who does ‘all three’ refer to here?
Q.2. Why did they smile through their hair?
Q.3. What does "the sea, which appears to have changed less" signify in this stanza?

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.

Q.1. What does the cardboard refer to?
Q.2. Who was the big girl and how old was she?
Q.3. What activity were the two girl cousins and the poet's mother engaged in?

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. Questions:
Q.1. When did the poet’s mother die?
Q.2. Explain: ‘As the girl lived’.

…………………….. The sea holiday
Was her past, mine is her laughter. Both wry
With the laboured ease of loss.
Questions:
Q.1. Who went for the sea holiday in the past ?
Q.2. What does ‘both’ refer to?

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.”
Questions:
Q.1. Who would laugh at the snapshot twenty-thirty years later?
Q.2. How did mother remember her past?

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.
Questions:
Q.1. Who does ‘all three’ refer to here?
Q.2. Why did they smile through their hair?

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.
Questions:
Q.1. What does the cardboard refer to?
Q.2. Who was the big girl and how old was she?

‘There is nothing to say at all’

‘With the laboured ease of loss’

‘Washed their terribly transient feet’

‘And the sea, which appears to have changed less’

‘All three stood still to smile through their hair’

The three stanzas depict three different phases. Name them.

What does ‘this circumstance’ refer to?

What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”?

The poetess’s mother laughed at the snapshot? What did this laugh indicate?

What has not changed over the years? Does this suggest something to you?