This Is a Photograph of Me Poem - by Margaret Atwood –Notes - Summary

        This Is a Photograph of Me: Margaret Atwood – Summary

“This is a Photograph of Me” is a poem written by Margaret Atwood, a famous Canadian feminist writer. The title means – “This is a photo others have taken of me” – which symbolically means “This is a history of me which others have created”. So, with the title, Margaret Atwood tries to give her identity in her own words.

The photograph was taken some time ago. The time was not specified. The photograph is not clear, lines are blurred, and the light of the photograph has become dim. In the left hand corner, there are branches of tree. On the right hand side there is a frame house. There is a lake and there are low hills. Hills and lakes keep the woman in shadow. The speaker is not taken out of the lake. She is dipped and left in the lake.

All this description has symbolic meaning. The Photograph stands for the women’s history which is not clear; light stands for the creativity of the woman. Patriarchy ignores the contribution of female.  On the right hand side, there is a frame House which stands for male and left hand side (branches) stands for female. Left hand is normally weaker than right hand. Females are supposed to be weaker than male. Lake stands for the society, which is mainly responsible for distorting her identity.

In the final stanza there is a shift in tone. “If you look carefully, you will be able to see me. Photograph is dim, its true but I am there” – which means that the women’s work was undermined   but her presence was there. The society may destroy the photograph but cannot destroy the woman’s existence. Therefore the speaker does not like to historicize the time. Thus, the poem is showing the identity crisis of the women.

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NOOJILLA SRINIVAS

Lecturer in English

Govt. Degree College

Alamuru

Ph: 7981862200