Poem: The Living Photograph

Exercise 1

Complete the poem. Try not to refer to the text.

The Living Photograph

My small grandmother is tall there,

straight-back, white broderie anglaise (1)___________________,

pleated (2)____________, flat shoes, grey bun,

a kind, old (3)_________ round her eyes.

Her big hand (4)____________mine,

white hand in black hand.

Her sharp blue eyes look her own (5) ______________ in the eye.

It was (6) __________ after all; that look.

My tall grandmother became small.

Her back round and (7) _____________.

Her (8) _____________ forgot to boil.

She went to the (9) ____________ place grandmothers go.

Somewhere unknown, (10) ___________.

But there she is still,

in the photo with me at (11)____________,

the crinkled smile is still (12) _____________ , breathing.

Exercise 2

Complete the bridge map with the antonyms to the words given.
 1. Word: true Antonym: ______________
2. Word: sharp Antonym: ______________
3. Word: forgot Antonym: ______________
4. Word: awful Antonym: ______________

Exercise 3

Read the following statements and state whether they are “True” or “False”.

1. The persona recollects the memories of her grandmother as she looks at the
photograph.
(___________)
2. The persona’s grandmother is still living with her.
(___________)
3. The grandmother seems to be a friendly and kind woman.
(___________)
4. The persona is three years old when her grandmother dies.
(___________)
5. The grandmother remains strong and healthy until her death.
(___________)
6. In the photograph, the grandmother will always be alive.
(___________)

Exercise 4

Answer the following questions based on your understanding of the poem.

1. How old was the persona when the photograph was taken?
___________________________________________________________
2. Which line in the poem tells us the grandmother has become forgetful?
___________________________________________________________
3. The grandmother seems to be a friendly and kind woman.
___________________________________________________________
4. The persona is three years old when her grandmother dies.
___________________________________________________________
5. The grandmother remains strong and healthy until her death.
___________________________________________________________
6. Give one moral value one can learn from the poem.
 ___________________________________________________________

Exercise 5

Answer all the questions.

1. List down 3 themes of the poem?

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

2. Give 4 moral values that are found in the poem.

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
3. How do you think of the persona feels towards her grandmother? Support
your answer with evidence from the poem.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________

4. “A picture speaks a thousand words” is a common proverb. How would you

relate this to the poem “The Living Photograph”?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________
Exercise 6

Read the questions carefully and answer all the questions.

1. Sometimes an elderly member of the family is sent to a nursing home. Do you

agree with this practice? Provide your reason.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
2. If you were to take care of your grandmother for a day, what would you do to
make her experience an unforgettable one?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________

Exercise 7

1. List two items ‘grandmother’ wears in the photo.

a) ________________________________________________________
b) ________________________________________________________

2. What do you think the writer is referring to in the phrase ‘the awful place
grandmothers go?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

3. Why do you think the writer’s ‘small grandmother’ is ‘tall’ in the photo?
 ______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

4. In the first stanza, what does the word there refer to?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

5. Which line tells you that the writer and her grandmother come from different
ethnic background?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

6. How old was the writer when the photo was taken?
______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

7. Why do you think the writer says that her grandmother is tall in the photo but
later became ‘small’?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

8. Quote evidence from line 14 to line 16 that the photograph was taken a long
time ago.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

9. Explain the meaning of the word ‘crinkled’.

______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

10. How do these lines make you feel about photographs of people you love?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Answers
Exercise 1
1. Shirt Exercise 4
2. Skirt
3. Smile 1. She was three years old
4. Holds 2. The line, “her soup forgot to
5. Death boil”
6. True 3. The word “unthinkable”
7. Hunched 4. In the first stanza, the
8. Soup grandmother is strong and
9. Awful healthy in the photograph while
10. Unthinkable in the second stanza the
11. Three grandmother is older and ill.
12. Living 5. The poem is about how a
photograph immortalises a
Exercise 2 person. This is illustrated in the
poem where in real life, the
1. false grandmother is dead but with
2. dull the photograph, she will always
3. remembered be remembered by the persona.
4. Beautiful 6. The poem teaches us that we
must spend time with our loved
Exercise 3 ones because when they pass
1. True away, all that will be left are the
2. False memories of the time spent
3. True together.
4. False Exercise 5 & 6
5. False
6. True
-Accept all correct and acceptable 9. Wrinkled
answers-
10. (accept all logical
Answers answers)
1. a) pleated skirt
b) flat shoes/white broderie
anglaise shirt
2. The writer is referring to death.
3. I think it is probably
because the photo was
taken when the writer’s
grandmother was
younger. Her back was
not rounded and
hunched then, so she
looked tall.
4. It refers to the
photograph.
5. ‘white hand in black
hand’
6. She was three years old.
7. I think she says that
because at the time the
photo was taken her
grandmother was
younger. Her back was
straight therefore she
seemed taller. It could
also be because the
writer was very young at
the time (only 3 years
old). As her grandmother
grew older, her back
became ‘round and
hunched’. So she
appeared ‘small’. The
writer would also have
grown bigger and taller
too, therefore her
grandmother no longer
appears tall to her.
8. The persona says that
the photograph was
taken when he/she was
three years old.