Poem - The Living Photograph

POEM : THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH BY : JACKIE KAY

My small grandmother is tall there, straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt, pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun, a kind, old smile round her eyes. Her big hand holds mine, white hand in black hand. Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye. It was true after all that look. My tall grandmother became small. Her back round and hunched. Her soup forgot to boil. She went to the awful place grandmothers go. Somewhere unknown, unthinkable. But there she is still, in the photo with me at three, the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.

Background Poet name : Jackie Kay Born : Edinburg, Scotland in 1961 Notable works : The Adoption Papers Awards : 1) Saltire Society Scottish First Book Award (1991) 2) Somerset Maugham Award (1994) 3) Guardian First Book Award Fiction Prize Occupation : A professor of creative writing at Newcastle University.

Setting • Time : The poem was written when the persona has grown up. • Place : At the family home.

Persona 1.The persona is the poet herself. 2.She is looking at an old photograph and is swept away by memories of her late grandmother.

Tone & Mood • Tone – Descriptive – Sad – Reminiscing

• Mood – Sad – Reflective

Themes 1. Memorise are to be treasured – Looking at old photograph brings back many treasured memories especially those of family members.

2. Death is a part of life – Death is an inevitable part of life. Ageing process affected the grandmother until she eventually passes away.

Moral Values 1. We must treasure our loved ones while they are alive. 2. We must try to accept that death is a part of life. 3. We must value the importance of family relationships.

Literary Devices 1.Imagery • Imagery is the used of words that enable the reader to visualise a person or a scene. • In the first stanza, the poet describes her grandmother in the photograph so vividly that the reader is able to

My small grandmother is tall there, Straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt, Pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun, A kind, old smile around her eyes.

Literary Devices 2.Contrast • Contrast refer to the differences between two things. • In the first stanza, the poet describes her grandmother when she is strong and healthy. In contrast, the second stanza shows her getting older and

Contrast First stanza My small grandmother is tall there, Straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt, Pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun, A kind, old smile around her eyes.

Second stanza My tall grandmother become small. Her back round and hunched. Her soup forgot to boil. She went to the awful place grandmothers go.

Literary Devices 3. Personafication i. Her soup forgot to boil Meaning : grandmother has become forgetful. ii. The crinkled smile is still living, breathing Meaning : grandmother’s smile looks so alive in the photograph.

Literary Devices 4.Symbolism • Symbolism means the use of objects, plants, or animals to represent something else. • The photograph represent the memories the persona has of her late grandmother.

Literary Devices 5. Irony • Irony refers to the use of words to mean something very different from what they appear to be. • The irony is in the title itself. The Living Photograph, which seems to suggest that the grandmother is still alive, in reality she is actually dead.

Literary Devices 6. Foreshadowing • Foreshadowing means a warning or indication of a future event. • Last line in the first stanza ‘her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye’ foreshadows what is to happen next. This prove to be true because in the next stanza, the grandmother dies.

Summary 7 The poem consists of16____________ lines. There are 2 lines3in stanza ____ _______ 1lines in6 stanza ____, _______ 3 _____ lines in free and stanza _____. It is written in ____________ verse where there is no rhyme scheme. The first poet delivers the poem in narrative style using the experience persona ____________ person point of view. The poem is most likely based on the poet’s own ___________________. Thus grandmother the ________________ could be the poet herself. In the poem, the persona is looking at an old photograph of herself with her _______________________. It brought back passed memories of a specific time when her grandmother was alive away/dead and well. Although, her grandmother has since __________________________, when the persona looks at the photograph, she feels the presence of her

Practice 1 1. ‘tall there’

Symbol

2. ‘white hand in black hand’

Metaphor

3. ‘crinkled smile’

Alliteration

4. ‘still living’

Imagery

5. ‘soup forgot to boil’

Contrast

6. ‘photo’ 7. ‘her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye’ 8. ‘Straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,

Personafica tion Assonance diction

Practice 2 Phrases 1. ‘tall there, straight back’ 2. ‘grey bun’ 3. ‘white hand in black hand’ 4. ‘back round and hunched’ 5. ‘look death in the eye’ 6. ‘but there she is still’

Meaning a) A white person e.g. an English man with a black person e.g. a Nigerian b) But, contrary to what you think , she is still alive. c) An old person with a bent back d) A person with height and has a good posture e) White greying hair tied back like a bun f) To accept the fact that one is going to die

Practice 5 1. Skirt 2. Shirt 3. Big hand 4. Black hand 5. Small 6. Round 7. Awful 8. Grey bun 9. Flat shoes 10.photo

Practice 3 1. Broderie anglaise shirt 2. Kind, old smile 3. Round and hunched back 4. Unknown,unthinkable place 5. Living, breathing smile 6. Sharp, blue eyes 7. Pleated skirt 8. Grey bun 9. Flat shoes 10.Living photograph

Practice 4 1.Who wrote the poem? Jackie Kay.

2.To whom do you think the title of the poem relate to? The persona’s grandmother.

Practice 4 3. Describe the persona’s grandmother: i.

Dressing – what did she wear? A white broderie anglaise shirt and pleated skirt. ii. Physical appearance – In verse 1, how did the persona describe her grandmother? Tall and straight-back. iii. Facial expression – How did her grandmother look? Kind, smiling and pleasant looking. iv. Eyes – what colour were her eyes? Blue. v. What is the skin colour of the persona and grandmother?

Practice 4 4. What happened to her grandmother’s physical appearance as she aged? She became small and short with her back round and hunched.

5. How does the persona describe the other world? How does this reflect the persona’s perception of life after death? It is described as awful, unknown and unthinkable. I think she feels the other world is a terrible unknown place and she cannot understand the living

Practice 4 6.Answer the following questions about the photograph. i. Who are in the photograph? The persona and her grandmother.

ii. How old was the persona when the photograph was taken? Three years old.

SPM Practices

SPM Practices a)In stanza 1, which words mean ‘open embroidery on white linen’? Broderie anglaise.

b)Describe the grandmother’s skirt and shoes? The skirt was pleated and the shoes were flat.

SPM Practices c) Why do you think the grandmother forgot to boil the soup? I think she was getting old and forgetful.

d) Look her own death in the eye where do you think the persona was when the grandmother passed away? Provide a reason for your answer. Where : By the grandmother’s side. Reason : The persona mentions ‘her big hands hold mine’.