THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH

Poem:         THE LIVING PHOTOGRAPH
byJackie Kay

A.      Fill in the blanks to complete a synopsis of the poem with words from the text.

The persona talks about grandmother as 'The Living Photograph'. A photographof her at the age of (1)t____________ with her Grandmother makes her feel thatGrandmother is (2)s___________ there for her. Grandmother when young wastall and (3)s___________. She was dressed very neatly in a white shirt and(4)p__________ skirt. She was not afraid of dying. The persona sat by herbedside and held her hand as her grandmother drew her last breath and wentto the awful, (5)u______________and (6)u______________ place. The persona recallsthat her grandmother became (7)s_____________ as she grew older. Her backbecame round and (8)h___________.  But, to the persona, her grandmotheris still very much alive as she looks at the photograph of herself and her grandmother.

B.         Match the following phrases to their meanings.

	Phrases		Meanings
1	tall there, straight-backed	a	A white person with a black person
2	grey bun	b	She is still alive
3	white hand in grey hand	c	An old person with a bent back
4	back round and hunched	d	A person with height and has good posture
5	look death in her eyes	e	She looks alive in the photograph
6	her soup forgot to boil	f	To accept the fact that one is going to die
7	But there she is still	g	She has become forgetful
8	crinkled smile still living	h	White greying hair tied back like a bun

C.         Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.

1.         Who wrote the poem?

            ____________________________________________________________________

2.         Who are in the photograph?

            ___________________________________________________________________

3.         What happened to her grandmother’s physical appearance as she aged?

            ___________________________________________________________________

4.         How does the persona describe the other world?

            ____________________________________________________________________

5.         Which line in the poem tells us that the grandmother has passed away?

            ____________________________________________________________________