This is a Photograph of Me

Margaret Atwood, 1939

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)

________________________________________________________________________

Early Life: 

Born in 1939, Margaret Atwood was a Canadian poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She started writing when she was just 5 years old, and as she grew older, she decided to take writing and literature much more seriously; by even earning a master’s degree in English Literature at Harvard University. Margaret was much better known for her novels in comparison to her poems (yet her poetry still proves to be outstanding). Many of her novels included themes such as “Role Reversal” and “New Beginnings”, which I personally think contribute from the fact how she moved up north from Toronto when she was just a little kid. Along with being a stellar novelist, she created many creative poems which still continue to be dissected in schools to this day. 

Today, I’m going to dissect a peculiar poem of her’s that I stumbled upon called “This is a Photograph of Me”. 

Disclaimer: I actually have no idea what the poem really means but this is my interpretation of it!

Analysis:

Let’s take a look at the first stanza of the poem. If you don’t know what a stanza is, think of it as a chunk of the poem. In this case it is the first 4 lines. Most of the time when we begin to read a poem, it starts off with us reading the title and then each stanza. Firstly we read the words, “This is a Photograph of Me” which leads us into a physical description of this “photograph” in the first stanza. Specifically, it seems to be like this photograph was taken a long time ago and has undergone some minor damage. I made this inference from the literal first line, “It was taken some time ago”, and how the speaker described it to be a “smeared print” and with “blurred lines”. This starts off the poem with a mysterious effect as we do not know what is in the photograph yet and it doesn’t have a great quality either (for some reason it just gives me mysterious vibes at the same time too, even though I don’t really have any evidence for that). 

Then, readers approach the second stanza. It appears to be providing more description as to where the photograph was taken (which definitely eases the reader’s curiosity). The line, “as you scan it, you see in the left-hand corner a thing that is like a branch,” tells us not only more about the photograph but also what the author, Margaret, wants us to do. First of all, the speaker is not specific about what is in the picture as the speaker describes the object in the left-hand corner as a “thing that is like a branch”. Why is the speaker not specific? Is it because it is not an important detail for the rest of the poem, the speaker is just being careless with her choice of description, or is it because the speaker themselves does not know? 

Side note: reading this poem has taught me to question why famous writer’s say what they say. My teacher taught me how their choice of language, diction, and tone is almost always intentional. Another thing I learned is that when the author uses “I” in the poem, it is not always referring to the author themselves, but it is referring to the speaker of the poem. 

Anyways, back to analyzing the second stanza. After that confusing branch description, we then come to know that it is part of a tree (which the speaker doesn’t even know what kind as they say, “balsam or spruce”), and how there is a little house in the picture. By now I have come to the general conclusion that this photograph has been taken somewhere in nature. In my opinion, the second stanza doesn’t really add anything else other than helping readers gain a deeper understanding of where the photo was taken. 

Side note: Now I know I said to think of stanzas as chunks, but you should keep in mind that these “chunks” can be pretty small at times (like even 1 or 2 lines). 

After reading the second stanza, readers lay their eyes upon more imagery through the 2 lines in the third stanza. But something about this imagery seems to be more important than the descriptions from stanza two. Why do I feel this way you may ask? Well for starters, if it wasn’t so important, then why couldn’t Margaret just add those two lines to the second stanza? And then secondly, maybe the reason why she made them stand by themselves was because their purpose was to serve as a turning point, or some sort of detail that is relatively crucial to the rest of the poem? Again, I have no idea these are just some questions and ideas of mine that I am expressing through this analysis. 

We finally reach the fourth stanza. This line in brackets serves to be the line that gives me goosebumps almost every time I read it. 

“(The photograph was taken the day after I drowned.” 

My initial reaction to this line was,” HUH? WHAT DOES SHE MEAN DROWNED”?! IS SHE A GHOST OR SOMETHING?!?!?”

This singular line changes the poem tremendously as it not only advances the plot significantly but it also enhances the mysterious tone by a million (which is a hint of creepiness too). 

Side note: An important aspect about this poem I noticed was the use of brackets. Other than the simple usage of them in the second stanza during her confusion about trees, they are used in an important way after. From the start of the fourth stanza to the end of the poem, everything is in brackets. 

Why is everything in brackets? In modern day society, the use of brackets after phrases has become very common as it serves to indicate that the person has different intentions or words that they aren’t expressing directly. This is commonly used through texts as it would be pretty complicated to use them in real life. 

Example: I’m just going to lock in for all my exams (I have given up and there’s no hope). 

Ok that was a long “Side note” – back to the poem. 

I think that the first half of the poem not in brackets serves to show the perspective of the person viewing the photograph for the first time without any background context or knowledge. Then, I think the second part of the poem in brackets serves as a form of direct communication of the person in the poem and to the viewer of the picture. You will understand why I said “person” later in this analysis. 

The fifth stanza is what really shocked me. (Go scroll up and remind yourself by re-reading the poem if you have forgotten what’s happening). The lines, “I am in the lake, in the center of the picture, just under the surface.” IS SO CREEPY. I apologize for my usage of all caps, but I think that’s the only way to communicate what I feel when reading that line. This line is very very direct and blatant. I think that there is literally no underlying meaning to it. The speaker is just telling the audience where the person can be found in the photograph. No matter how strange it is to add a dead person under the surface of a lake in the photograph, it must have some kind of meaning that I can’t interpret (maybe you can!!). 

The sixth stanza basically just adds more description as to what the person looks like in the water. The speaker talks about how they don’t know where specifically they are or how large or small they are either – indicating some mental confusion. Throughout this stanza (and practically the whole poem at this point), the main emotion I felt was confusion. 

The seventh, and final stanza, ends the strange yet intriguing poem off. The speaker says how the viewers of the photograph will eventually be able to see her if they look long and close enough. Unsurprisingly, it gives off very creepy vibes. That’s pretty much all I got from the ending.How she ended the poem makes sense with how she built it up. What I mean was that it seemed like the whole poem was almost like in chronological order all the way from a person firstly viewing the photograph all the way to them examining the intricate and hidden details.

Conclusion:

I first read this poem in my grade 10 English class in November. With the help of my teacher and classmates, I was able to learn so much about not only the hidden details in this poem, but also just how to take a better approach to poetry in general. I learned that the author of the poem is not always the speaker, and how every single word, punctuation, or symbol serves its own crucial purpose. And finally, I also learned how we can’t always know the true meaning of any poem, and that we should accept and appreciate its multiple different unique interpretations – because that’s what makes poetry so beautiful

I hope you liked reading my little analysis (or honestly I would describe it as a rant), and hope that you will take a deeper dive into the beautiful world of poetry soon!