The Living Photograph

Ace Your Literature

(Form 4)

The Living Photograph

Jackie Kay

The Living Photograph (Jackie Kay)

The Poet

Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1961 to a Scottish mother
and a Nigerian father. She was adopted by a white couple at birth and
was brought up in Glasgow, studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama and Stirling University where she read English. She
also Studied.

Her first novel, Trumpet, published in 1998, was awarded the Guardian
Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award. Inspired by the life of musician Billy Tipton, the novel
tells the story of Scottish jazz trumpeter Joss Moody whose death
revealed that he was, in fact, a woman. Kay develops the narrative
through the voices of Moody's wife, his adopted son and a journalist
from a tabloid newspaper.

Her books, Why Don't You Stop Talking (2002), Wish I Was Here (2006),
and Reality, Reality (2012) are collections of short stories, and she has
also published a novel for children, Strawgirl (2002). Her collection of
poetry for children, Red, Cherry Red (2007) won the 2008 CLPE Poetry
Award

Introduction

• The living photograph is
about a grandchild
looking at a photograph
of his/her departed
grandmother and
remembering her. Even
though the grandmother
is gone, the photograph
keeps her alive in the
grandchild’s memory.

Stanza 1

Line 1: My grandmother is tall there.

The word ‘there’ refers to the old photograph.

Line 2: Straight back, white broderie anglaise
shirt
Line 3: Pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun

Grandmother wears a white embroided shirt,
a pleated skirt and flat shoes. Her hair is tied
up in a bun.



Line 4: A kind, old smile round her eyes

Grandmother eyes look kind.

Line 5: Her big hand holds mine
Line 6: white hand in black hand

Grandmother is holding the granchild’s white
hand in her black one. This tells us that the
grandchild may be of mixed parentage.



Line 7: Her sharp blue eyes look her own death
in the eye.

Grandmother has sharp blue eyes and they
seem to look at death without fear. This reveals
that grandmother is growing old and death is
unavoidable.

Stanza 2

Line 8: It was true after all; that look

‘was’ – how she remembers her grandmother
used to be or the look that a grandmother give

•thHatasshbeewcoams eexpsmecatilnlegrdineastihzewas true.

Line 9 : My tall grandmother became small.

•LiLnien1e0:LHineer back round and hunched.

Grandmother becomes shorter as her back grows
bent with age.



Line 11: She went to the awful place
grandmothers go.
Line 12: Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.

‘Her soup forgot to boil’ – forgetful, senile,
signs of dementia
She passes away and goes to a place that is
unimaginable to the persona



Stanza 3

Line 13: But there she is still,
Line 14: In the photo with me at three,
Line 15: the crinkled smile is still living,
breathing.

•‘is’ – in the photograph (still living in her
heart)
•Feels her grandmother’s presence whenever
she

looks at the photograph
•She wants to remember her as a healthy person,
not old and fragile



Setting

• There is no mention of place and time. The
persona looks at an old photograph taken
with her grandmother when she was only
three years old. Going through an old
photo album could indicate an indoor or
living room setting. But there is no
expressed statement to validate that.

Theme

• Love and fond memories of a person who
has passed away. It also declares how fond
memories are perpetuated by an old
photograph

• The positive image people create in
remembrance of a departed person

• Coping with grief and loss – one way is to
hang on to the good memories of a person

Moral Values

• We must strive for close family
relationships.

• We should love and appreciate our family
members while they are still alive.

• We must not dwell on the past too much.
• We should learn to let go of the dead.

References

• http://literature.britishcouncil.org/jackie-kay