At first glance, “This Is a Photograph of Me” by Margaret Atwood (works cited) and “Photograph, 1958” by Patricia Young (works cited) are strikingly similar works in that both poems utilize the imagery of a photograph as a communication device however, upon closer examination they differ markedly in the approach each poet takes in utilizing this same device. The similarities between these two poems are immediately obvious to the reader; both poems are written by female poets, both poems have the poet as the speaker, both poems describe how the poet feels about herself, and both poems utilize the photograph as a device to convey their message to the reader. Less obvious, is the differing approaches taken by each poet.
In the poem “This Is a Photograph of Me” by Margaret Atwood, the photograph is used by the poet as a device to directly communicate her message to the reader. The title of the poem announces in a direct and forthright way that the poem will be a self examination. The poem begins with Atwood directly and literally describing the photograph itself: “It was taken some time ago. / At first it seems to be / a smeared / print: blurred lines and grey flecks / blended with the paper.” The poet’s use of words like “smeared”, “blurred” and “blended” immediately and directly communicates to the reader that the poet feels unclear, directionless and without focus.
After this opening stanza, the poet begins to describe the contents of the photograph: “then as you scan / it, you see in the left-hand corner / a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree” and “to the right, halfway up / what ought to be a gentle / slope, a small frame house.” Margaret Atwood is gradually drawing the reader inward, from the outside edge of the photograph towards the center of the photograph, the poem, and the poet herself. This can be seen clearly on the following lines: “I am in the lake, in the center / of the picture, just under the surface.” The atmosphere created is one of introspection and self examination: “but if you look long enough, / eventually / you will be able to see me.” Atwood is using the device of the photograph to draw the reader from the outside world inwards to her world in the center of the photograph.
Although the title of the poem “This Is a Photograph of Me” implies that the poet appears in the photograph, this is not exactly the case. The poet states “I am in the lake, in the center / of the picture, just under the surface.” The scene depicted in the photograph is a ”blurred” landscape devoid of people. This would appear to indicate a lack of relationships in the poet’s life. The lack of people in the photograph and in the poem conveys a feeling of being alone, depressed and isolated.
In the poem “Photograph, 1958” by Patricia Young the photograph is used by the poet as a device to indirectly communicate her message to the reader. In this poem, the poet is looking at a photograph of herself as a child and reflecting upon her relationship with her father. Young describes the scene depicted in the photograph as “My father and I play checkers / in profile.” She then observes, “He concentrates on the board, / I am watching him.” This wording suggests that her father needs watching. We then catch a first glimpse of the contrasting imagery that dominates this poem in the lines “who / is winning? / I no longer know / the rules or object of the game.” She no longer knows what the proper boundaries between a father and daughter are like, because he has violated her trust, perhaps even sexually. This suggests that her future relationships with men will be adversely affected by this confusion over what “the rules or object of the game” should be. She will not know what a good relationship is and what the limits should be. This image of an innocent child playing a simple game of checkers in a photograph contrasts starkly with the unequal and complex power struggle between parent and child associated with child abuse. Young is using the simplicity of the scene depicted in the photograph to contrast with the complexity of the poet’s abusive relationship with her father.
Unlike Atwood, Young not only describes the details of the photograph, but she also takes us beyond it. After describing the game of checkers, Patricia Young goes on to ponder what is beyond the photograph: “Beyond the barely / furnished room I guess snow: / banked against the front / and back doors.” The barely furnished room is a metaphor for the emptiness she feels in her life and her relationships. This suggests that the abusive nature of her childhood has resulted in emptiness in her adult life. The speculation about the snow beyond the photograph hints at the coldness of her relationship with her father. The banking of the snow up against the front and back door communicates her feelings of entrapment both in the house and in her relationship with her father. Young is using the device of the photograph to take the reader from inside the photograph outwards to the outside world of relationships.
The nature of the relationship of the poet with her father, ominously foreshadowed at the beginning of the poem in the checker’s game, becomes explicit in her description of the violent episode involving the stove. She explains how her father will “pull a stove out of a wall / and hurl it across a kitchen / on my account,” thus finally revealing to the reader his violent and abusive nature. The words “on my account” suggest that the poet, like most abuse victims, somehow feels partly responsible for her own victimization. The abusive, perhaps sexual, nature of her relationship with her father becomes clear in her saying, “I wait / for him to make his move.” The contrasting images of an innocent child and of a predatory father playing checkers is painfully clear. Equally clear is the contrast between the still-life checkers photograph and the real-life dynamic and violent stove episode. In contrast to Atwood’s imagery of a landscape devoid of people and life, Young’s imagery is that of people, relationships and violence.
While the two poems “This Is a Photograph of Me” by Margaret Atwood and “Photograph, 1958” by Patricia Young both employ the photograph as a device to communicate their message to the reader, they do so is starkly different ways. Atwood uses the imagery of a photograph as a device to directly reflect her feelings and her image of herself, while Young uses the imagery of a photograph to indirectly contrast her relationship with her father. Atwood’s photograph is unfocused, fuzzy and “blurred,” while Young’s photograph is clear, crisp and rich in “details.” Atwood’s poem takes the reader from outside the photograph ever inward towards “the center,” while Young’s poem takes the reader from inside the photograph ever outwards “beyond the barely / furnished room.” Atwood’s poem is an inactive landscape devoid of people while Young’s poem is an active one of people and relationships. In these four ways we can see the differing approaches taken by each poet in their utilization of the imagery of a photograph as a communicative device.
Forside
