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The Living Photograph by Jackie Kay
Prepared by Miss Tang (Theo2015)
Stanza 1
Lines
1. My small grandmother is tall there,
2. straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,
3. pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,
4. a kind, old smile round her eyes.
Meaning
• The word ‘there’ refers to the old photograph.
• Grandmother wears a white embroidered shirt, a pleated skirt and flat shoes. Her hair is tied up in a bun.
• Grandmother’s eyes look kind.
Stanza 1
Lines
5. Her big hand holds mine,
6. white hand in black hand.
Meaning
• Grandmother is holding the grandchild’s white hand in her black one. This tells us that the grandchild may be of mixed parentage.
• White hand represents the poet's youth, purity, and innocence.
• Black hand represents that the grandmother is experienced. An old soul who has been through a lot in life.
Stanza 1
Lines
7. Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye.
Meaning
• Grandmother has sharp blue eyes and they seem to look at death without fear. This reveal that grandmother is growing old and death is unavoidable.
Stanza 2
Lines
8. It was true after all that look.
9. My tall grandmother became small.
10. Her back round and hunched.
Meaning
• The look on grandmother’s face that she was expecting death was true.
• Grandmother became shorter as her back grew bent with age.
Stanza 2
Lines
11. Her soup forgo to boil.
12. She went to the awful place grandmothers go.
13. Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.
Meaning
• The soup that did not boil reveals that the grandmother became forgetful and senile.
• Grandmother died. Death is described as an ‘awful’, ‘unknown’ and ‘unthinkable’ place. This is clearly a child’s view point.
Stanza 3
Lines
14. But there she is still,
15. in the photo with me at three,
14. the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.
Meaning
• The word ‘there’ refers to the old photograph taken with the grandmother when the persona was three years old.
• To the grandchild, the grandmother looks alive in the photograph.
• The memory of his/ her grandmother is still fresh and new.
THEME
• Remembering a loved one
• Family relationships
• Life and death
MORAL VALUES • We should remember our elders.
• We should treasure our family photographs.
• We should cherish the memories with our grandparents.
TONE/ MOOD
• Nostalgic
• Serious
• Positive
POINT OF VIEW • First person narrative
Language/ Style
• Simple vocabulary: ‘flat’, ‘grey’, ‘kind’, ‘round’, ‘big’ …
• Imagery: ‘white broderie anglaise shirt’, ‘grey bun’.
• Contrast: ‘tall’ and ‘small’, ‘straight-back’ and ‘back round and hunched’, ‘white hand’ and ‘black hand’.
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