The Living Photograph

 By:Jackie Kay

Paraphrase of the Poem

Stanza 1

The persona looks at the photograph of her grandmother.In it,the grandmother is tall and graceful.The persona remembers her grandmother's comforting hands holding hers and her sharp eyes that seem to accept death bravely.

Stanza 2

The persona recalls how her 'tall' grandmother became 'small'.Her back rounded and bent-over.The grandmother became forgetful.Eventually her grandmother slipped into that 'unknown' place(death)

Stanza 3

She will remember her grandmother as she was in the photograph,standing 'tall' and smiling her 'crinkled smile'.

Theme

Grief and loss.The persona has lost her grandmother.The 'tall' grandmother became 'small'.It was as if age had diminished her.She was hunched and had become forgetful.Eventually she died.Death would have been something the persona found hard to understand at such a young age.For the persona it was that 'unknown,unthinkable'place.The persona deals with her grief and loss by remembering the good memories she has of her grandmother,rather than the sad time before she passed away.The photograph helps her to do this.Although her grandmother is no longer with her physically,she is still very much alive in her heart, still 'living,breathing'.

Close relationship and memories between the persona and her grandmother.Although she misses her grandmother very much,she continues to have a 'relationship' with her through an old photograph.She was only three years old then but her memories of her grandmother are as fresh as ever.She sees her tall,straight-back and  still 'living' and  'breathing'.The grandmother may have passed on but she still lives in the poet's memories.

Aging and dying.This is something that is part and parcel of our life's journey.How we arrive at the finishing line is what unforgettable memories are all about.Fortunately,the persona has many happy memories of her grandmother whom she remembers as a kind soul with a crinkled smile and hands that held hers as a child.Their relationship is so strong that not even age and death can set them apart,all because of the living photograph.