NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Hornbill) Poem 1: A Photograph by Shirley Toulson (NCERT 2026–27)

Complete solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Poem 1 – “A Photograph” by Shirley Toulson: an original stanza-wise explanation, summary, theme and message, word meanings, and every Think it out textbook question answered fully in exam-ready prose. We keep the questions exactly as printed in the NCERT Hornbill book and add extra questions, MCQs, Assertion–Reason items and FAQs for thorough revision.

Class: 11 Subject: English Book: Hornbill Type: Poem (Poem 1) Poet: Shirley Toulson Session: 2026–27
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About the poet

Shirley Toulson (1924–2015) was a British poet, journalist and author. Born in England, she worked for many years as an editor and writer before establishing herself as a poet. She is also well known for her books on the prehistoric and spiritual landscapes of Britain, especially her writings on ancient trackways and Celtic and monastic Britain. Her poetry is admired for its quiet emotional depth, its honesty about memory and loss, and its plain yet moving language. “A Photograph”, one of her most anthologised poems, reflects on a faded family snapshot of her own mother and meditates on the passage of time, the inevitability of death, and the helpless silence that grief finally leaves behind.

Summary

“A Photograph” is a deeply personal poem in which the speaker looks at an old cardboard-mounted snapshot of her mother as a young girl. In the picture, the mother – about twelve years old – stands at the seaside between her two younger cousins, Betty and Dolly. The three girls hold hands and smile shyly at the camera, which is held by an uncle. The poet notes that the sea, which gently washed their feet, has “changed less” than the people in the photograph – the children have grown old and died, while nature endures. The girls’ feet are called “terribly transient”, underlining how short and fragile human life is compared with the timeless sea.

In the second stanza the poet moves forward about twenty or thirty years, to a time when her mother, now grown up, would look at the same snapshot and laugh affectionately at how she and her cousins had been dressed for the beach. For the mother, that seaside holiday was a cherished memory of her own childhood; for the poet, the precious memory is the sound of her mother’s laughter. Both these joys, however, are touched by sorrow – they are “wry with the laboured ease of loss”.

The brief final stanza shifts to the present. The mother has now been dead for nearly as many years as she had lived as that little girl in the photograph. Faced with this painful fact, the poet finds there is “nothing to say at all”. Grief here is beyond words; the poem closes with the haunting line “Its silence silences”, showing how loss finally renders even the poet speechless.

Stanza-wise explanation

Stanza 1 – The photograph itself

The poet describes a snapshot mounted on cardboard that shows her mother as a girl of “some twelve years or so”, standing between two girl cousins as they went paddling at the seaside. All three hold hands, stand still and smile “through their hair” at an uncle holding the camera. The poet calls her mother’s face “A sweet face” and reminds us this moment was captured “before I was born”. She observes that the sea “appears to have changed less” than the girls, and that it “Washed their terribly transient feet” – a phrase that quietly contrasts the permanence of nature with the fleeting, mortal lives of human beings.

Stanza 2 – The mother’s laughter

Twenty or thirty years later, the grown-up mother would laugh at the snapshot, fondly pointing out “Betty / And Dolly” and remarking how oddly they had been dressed for the beach. The poet notes that the “sea holiday / Was her past”, while her own treasured past is her mother’s laughter. Both these memories are “wry with the laboured ease of loss” – that is, each carries a bittersweet ache, a forced or hard-won lightness that hides genuine sorrow.

Stanza 3 – The poet’s present silence

In the present, the mother has been dead “nearly as many years / As that girl lived”. Confronted with this fact, the poet says “There is nothing to say at all”. The closing line, “Its silence silences”, conveys that the silence surrounding her mother’s death is so deep and final that it silences the poet too, leaving grief beyond the reach of words.

Theme & message

The central themes of the poem are the passage of time, the transience of human life, and the silent, inexpressible nature of grief. Through three stages – the mother as a child, the adult mother laughing at the photograph, and the poet remembering her dead mother – the poem traces how each generation in turn becomes a memory. The unchanging sea symbolises the permanence of nature against which fragile human life is measured. The message is that loss is an inevitable part of life and that the deepest sorrow often cannot be spoken; in the end, memories captured in a photograph outlast the people themselves, while genuine grief retreats into silence.

Word meanings

Word / PhraseEnglish meaningHindi meaning
cardboardstiff card on which the photograph is mounted; the photograph itselfगत्ता (फ़ोटो जिस पर चिपकी है)
paddlingwalking or wading in shallow water for funउथले पानी में टहलना
cousinschildren of one’s aunt or uncleचचेरे/ममेरे भाई-बहन
stillwithout moving; motionlessस्थिर, बिना हिले
through their hairwith hair blown over the face by the windबालों के बीच से (हवा से बिखरे बाल)
sweet facea gentle, pleasing, lovable faceप्यारा चेहरा
transientlasting only for a short time; fleetingक्षणभंगुर, अल्पकालिक
terribly transientextremely short-lived (here, mortal)अत्यंत क्षणभंगुर
snapshotan informal, quickly taken photograph(जल्दी में ली गई) तस्वीर
sea holidaya holiday spent at the seasideसमुद्र तट पर बिताई छुट्टी
wryshowing dry, bitter or twisted humour; bittersweetकड़वा-मीठा, खिन्न मुस्कान वाला
labouredforced; produced with difficulty, not naturalकठिनाई से किया गया, बनावटी
laboured ease of lossa forced lightness that masks the pain of lossहानि के दर्द को छिपाती बनावटी सहजता
circumstancea fact or condition (here, the mother’s death)परिस्थिति (यहाँ माँ की मृत्यु)
silence silencesthe silence (of death) makes the poet too fall silent(मृत्यु का) सन्नाटा कवयित्री को भी मौन कर देता है

Think it out (NCERT textbook questions)

1. What does the word ‘cardboard’ denote in the poem? Why has this word been used?

ANSWERIn the poem, the word ‘cardboard’ denotes the stiff piece of card on which the old photograph of the poet’s mother has been mounted – in effect, it stands for the photograph itself. The word has been used because, in earlier times, photographs were commonly fixed on a hard cardboard backing to keep them flat and protect them. By naming the cardboard rather than the “picture”, the poet emphasises the physical, ageing object that has outlived the people in it, hinting at how the photograph endures while the human beings it captured have passed away.

2. What has the camera captured?

ANSWERThe camera has captured a happy seaside moment from the poet’s mother’s childhood. It shows the mother as a little girl of about twelve, standing between her two younger girl cousins (Betty and Dolly) after they had gone paddling in the sea. All three stand still, hold hands and smile through their wind-blown hair at the uncle who is taking the photograph. The camera has thus preserved the mother’s “sweet face” from a time before the poet was even born.

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

ANSWERThe sea has not changed over the years; the poet says it “appears to have changed less” than the people in the photograph. This suggests the permanence and timelessness of nature when set against the brief, fragile span of human life. While the sea continues to wash the shore much as it always did, the “terribly transient” girls in the picture have grown old and died. The contrast reminds us of human mortality and the unstoppable passage of time.

4. The poet’s mother laughed at the snapshot. What did this laugh indicate?

ANSWERThe mother’s laughter indicated her fond, nostalgic delight in remembering her happy, carefree childhood at the seaside. Looking back twenty or thirty years later, she found amusement in how she and her cousins had been “dressed for the beach”, and she affectionately recalled Betty and Dolly. The laugh was warm and full of love for those cherished days; yet, in hindsight, it is also touched with sadness, since those carefree times and the people in the photograph were already a part of an irretrievable past.

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

ANSWERThe line means that both of the poet’s precious memories – the mother’s memory of her childhood sea holiday, and the poet’s memory of her mother’s laughter – are bittersweet, coloured by the pain of loss. “Wry” suggests a bitter, twisted smile rather than pure happiness. “Laboured ease” is a paradox: the lightness or ease they show is actually forced and hard-won, because beneath it lies real sorrow. In short, both the mother (recalling lost childhood days) and the poet (recalling her dead mother) wear a strained, half-cheerful air that hides their grief at what time has taken away.

6. What does “this circumstance” refer to?

ANSWER“This circumstance” refers to the painful fact stated just before it – that the poet’s mother has now been dead for nearly as many years as she had lived as the young girl shown in the photograph. It is the harsh reality of her mother’s death and the long span of time that has passed since. The poet finds this circumstance so sorrowful and final that “there is nothing to say at all” about it.

7. The three stanzas depict three different phases. What are they?

ANSWERThe three stanzas depict three distinct phases of time:(i) The first stanza shows the distant past – the poet’s mother as a little girl of about twelve, enjoying a seaside holiday with her cousins, captured in the photograph before the poet was born.(ii) The second stanza shows a later, middle phase – the grown-up mother, twenty or thirty years on, laughing nostalgically at the same snapshot and recalling her childhood days.(iii) The third stanza shows the present – the poet’s own time, after her mother’s death, when she is left with silent, inexpressible grief.

Extra questions

Short answer (30–40 words)

1. Who are Betty and Dolly in the poem?

ANSWERBetty and Dolly are the two younger girl cousins of the poet’s mother. In the photograph they stand on either side of the mother, each holding one of her hands, as the three go paddling together at the seaside.

2. Why are the girls’ feet called “terribly transient”?

ANSWERTheir feet are called “terribly transient” because human life is extremely short-lived compared with the enduring sea. The phrase stresses that the girls, though full of life in the picture, were mortal and would soon grow old and die.

3. What is the significance of the sea in the poem?

ANSWERThe sea symbolises permanence and the timelessness of nature. It has “changed less” than the people in the photograph, providing a contrast that highlights the transience of human life and the relentless passing of time.

4. How does the poet describe her mother’s face in the photograph?

ANSWERThe poet describes her mother’s face as “A sweet face”, captured at a time “before I was born”. The brief, tender phrase conveys the poet’s love and admiration for her mother’s gentle, youthful innocence.

5. What does the last line “Its silence silences” convey?

ANSWERIt conveys that the silence surrounding her mother’s death is so deep and final that it makes the poet herself fall silent. Her grief is so profound that it cannot be put into words; loss leaves her speechless.

Long answer (100–120 words)

6. How does the poem “A Photograph” explore the theme of the passage of time?

ANSWERThe poem traces time through three clear phases. In the first stanza, the mother is a carefree girl of twelve paddling at the seaside, frozen in a photograph taken before the poet’s birth. In the second, she is an adult who, decades later, laughs nostalgically at the same snapshot. In the third, the mother has been dead for almost as many years as she once lived, and the poet is left grieving. Against these changing human lives stands the unchanging sea, which has “changed less”. By juxtaposing fragile, “transient” human existence with timeless nature, the poet powerfully shows how relentlessly time moves, turning living people into cherished memories and, finally, into silence.

7. Discuss how grief and loss are presented in “A Photograph”.

ANSWERGrief in the poem deepens gradually and ends in wordless silence. Early on, loss is gentle and reflective – the “terribly transient” feet hint at mortality. In the middle stanza, both the mother’s memory of her childhood and the poet’s memory of her mother’s laughter are “wry with the laboured ease of loss”, a forced cheerfulness masking sorrow. In the final stanza, grief becomes overwhelming: the mother has been dead nearly as long as she lived, and the poet finds “nothing to say at all”. The closing line, “Its silence silences”, shows that the deepest grief cannot be expressed in words – it can only be felt as an immense, silencing emptiness.

MCQs

1. Who is the poet of “A Photograph”?

(a) Walt Whitman   (b) Shirley Toulson   (c) Markus Natten   (d) Ted Hughes

2. How old was the poet’s mother in the photograph?

(a) about eight   (b) about ten   (c) about twelve   (d) about sixteen

3. What were the three girls doing when the photograph was taken?

(a) swimming   (b) paddling   (c) building sandcastles   (d) running

4. Who held the camera and took the photograph?

(a) the poet   (b) the mother   (c) an uncle   (d) a cousin

5. What are the names of the two cousins?

(a) Betty and Dolly   (b) Mary and Jane   (c) Anne and Kate   (d) Lucy and Lily

6. According to the poet, what has “changed less” over the years?

(a) the cardboard   (b) the sky   (c) the sea   (d) the beach

7. The girls’ feet are described as:

(a) terribly transient   (b) wet and cold   (c) small and soft   (d) firm and strong

8. About how many years later did the mother laugh at the snapshot?

(a) five to ten   (b) ten to fifteen   (c) twenty to thirty   (d) forty to fifty

9. For the poet, what is her own “past” in the second stanza?

(a) the sea holiday   (b) her mother’s laughter   (c) the cardboard   (d) the beach photo

10. The poem’s last line is:

(a) “A sweet face”   (b) “Its silence silences”   (c) “before I was born”   (d) “the laboured ease of loss”

Answer key: 1-(b), 2-(c), 3-(b), 4-(c), 5-(a), 6-(c), 7-(a), 8-(c), 9-(b), 10-(b).

Assertion–Reason

Choose: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A; (b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A; (c) A is true but R is false; (d) A is false but R is true.

1. Assertion (A): The poet calls the sea unchanged over the years.

Reason (R): The sea symbolises the permanence of nature against fleeting human life.

2. Assertion (A): The mother laughed at the old snapshot.

Reason (R): She was nostalgically amused by how the girls had been dressed for the beach.

3. Assertion (A): The word ‘cardboard’ refers to a child’s toy in the poem.

Reason (R): The photograph was mounted on a stiff cardboard backing.

4. Assertion (A): The poet is left speechless by her mother’s death.

Reason (R): The deepest grief is beyond words, so “Its silence silences”.

5. Assertion (A): Both the mother’s and the poet’s memories are purely joyful.

Reason (R): Both memories are “wry with the laboured ease of loss”.

Answer key: 1-(a), 2-(a), 3-(d), 4-(a), 5-(d). [In Q3, A is false (cardboard is the photo’s backing, not a toy) though R is true; in Q5, A is false (the memories are bittersweet, not purely joyful) though R is true.]

Exam tips

Score better on “A Photograph”

• Always link your answers to the three time phases – childhood, adult mother, poet’s present – examiners reward this structure.
• Learn the key phrases verbatim: “terribly transient feet”, “the laboured ease of loss”, “Its silence silences” – quote them (short) to support points.
• For the sea, write both the literal idea (it changed less) and the symbolic idea (permanence of nature vs human mortality).
• Note the literary devices: contrast (sea vs feet), oxymoron/paradox (“laboured ease”), and alliteration/repetition (“silence silences”).
• Keep the tone of your answers reflective and emotional, matching the poem’s mood of nostalgia and grief.

FAQs

Who wrote the poem “A Photograph” in Class 11 Hornbill?

The poem “A Photograph” was written by the British poet Shirley Toulson. It is the first poem in the NCERT Class 11 English textbook Hornbill.

What is the main theme of “A Photograph”?

The poem deals with the passage of time, the transience of human life, and the silent, inexpressible nature of grief. The unchanging sea is contrasted with the mortal lives of the people in the photograph.

What do the last words “Its silence silences” mean?

They mean that the silence of the poet’s mother’s death is so deep and final that it silences the poet herself. Her grief is too profound to be expressed in words.

Questions are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT Hornbill textbook; the summary, explanation and all answers are written originally by ClearStudy. Only short lines of the poem are quoted for explanation; the full copyrighted text is not reproduced.

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