"THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPH OF ME" POEM ANALYSIS

"It was taken some

time ago"

"It was taken some time ago"

The first line suggests the long tradition of society shaping female identity and disregarding the genuine one. It is noteworthy that only this line in the entire poem states Atwood's exploration of time as the rest of the poem is concerned with space, Atwood's particular area of interest in her writing in general.

"Smeared", "blurred", and "grey flecks"

"smeared" "blurred" "grey flecks"

The fact that the smudges are "blended" with the photography paper suggests that the photograph has been subjected to deterioration without no one minding it for a long time, which again emphasizes the society's everlasting disinterest in genuine female identity.

Distractions

Right from the start, the female speaker directs the readers into finding her image in the photograph. While doing so, she gives accounts of the not-so-necessary details such as "a branch of a tree". Depiction of plants halts the readers’ encounter with the image of the woman. The triviality of this information is telling as the speaker is not very concerned with identifying the exact branch "balsam or spruce" as she denotes them in parenthesis, as an extra piece of information.

"to the right, halfway up" is another direction

that makes the readers wander around the

periphery of the actual scene –

the image of the woman.

"scan - it"

"scan - it"

The verb suggests that one has to carefully scrutinize the photograph to find the female speaker; it is not visible at first glance. The object 'it' follows its verb 'scan' in the consecutive line. This unusual separation highlights the object, ‘it’, meaning the photograph, which reminds the readers that they still browse the photograph; they are still in the search for the woman. Coupled with this reminder, the enjambment employed here and all around mimics the effort the readers have to endure to find the woman as the enjambment causes an

unnecessary delay while reading.

"eventually"

This stand-alone adverb in the last stanza functions as a break in the poem, signaling the final destination of the readers’ gaze, the woman in the lake.

"eventually"

Anonymity of the Speaker

The speaker having no indicator of her personality or her physical traits "how large or small", other than the fact that readers’ assumption of the speaker being female, creates an uncanny atmosphere. The readers feel ambivalent toward the speaker as they do not know what to expect of her.

The Vastness of the Land

Vastness of the Land

The large scenery depicted from ‘lake’ to "some low hills" "beyond" gives the impression of a large wilderness, which is preliminarily intended to evoke a sense of fright in the readers as any harm could come from this unknown land. You can also argue that the maze-like directions also contribute to readers’ emotional distress. Ultimately, readers’ gaze travels through a foreign land by the guidance of a mysterious speaker.

The Living vs. The Dead

The Living vs. The Dead

The speaker shows that she transgresses a fundamental law of

nature: mortality. The speaker does not reveal how she died but the perpetrator is evident: men. By incorporating this supernatural element, Atwood draws parallels between the horror felt by the readers in the face of this ghostlike creature and horror of the female condition. The pastoral depiction of the land "gentle" slope and "small frame house" evokes warmth, which is a sensation contrast to the preceding lines of the poem created by the decaying imagery of the photograph ‘grey flecks’ etc. The imagery of the "branch" "emerging" and "small frame house" makes the second stanza the only stanza where the readers experience the "living" in the poem. Here, Atwood makes a distinction between the dead and the living by designating them different spaces that evoke contrasting feelings in the reader. "Small frame house" points out a man-made structure, suggesting a space on earth crafted by men, who is the settler and the ruler. On the other hand, the underground "just under the surface" is allocated to the female speaker, who is dead. Thereby, Atwood points out the power imbalance between sexes, suggesting women have no

space to claim on earth among the living –the men–

in the society.

Narration

Narration

The Camera Belongs to Female

The ruler, the settler, the master of the order of ‘things’ (think about enlightenment) and ‘the people’ (think about colonialism) is men. The history is told by men. As such, female identity - what female is and should be- is shaped by men and women are expected to comply with it. Thus, ‘the camera’ belongs to men. ‘This is a photograph of me’ appears to be a subversion to this historic fact. Atwood makes the female persona narrate her own story, make her point her ‘own’ photograph and then allow her to control the process by employing adverbial phrases such as ‘left-hand corner’, ‘halfway up’ and ‘in the background’, which, in the end, serves to subvert the gaze directed at the female. Here, the gaze directed at the female is not a male gaze to build his identity upon, rather it is by female to show the inauthentic nature of her identity and to urge others to seek the true identity of the female.

Furthermore, the narrator's pursuit of self can

be traced back to

Jung’s theory of ‘growth of self’.

Parenthesis in the midway

The narrator does not cry out. The readers feel a sense of detachment on the narrator's behalf, which intensifies in midway by the use of parenthesis. After directing the readers to the ‘lake’ ‘in the background’, in parenthesis, the narrator reveals that she is ‘drowned’, giving the effect that her death is an insignificant detail. This suggests that the death of a woman is not alarming as they are not worthy of concern as full persons in society. After –what should be– a shocking discovery for the readers, the speaker continues her directions, telling she is ‘in the center’. It can be argued that the speaker’s lack of emotive language when announcing a grim event such as her own death is Atwood’s attempt to address men realm by employing

their supposed rational language.

Altering length

Altering length

The poem is written in free verse with altering length of lines: at times, it is two words ‘a smeared’ as in line 3 or long as seven words ‘In the background there is a lake’ as in line 13. Likewise, the length of the stanzas is irregular such as five lines in the second stanza and two lines in the third stanza. The inconsistency of the length of the lines and stanzas suggest indefinite nature of female identity throughout history.