Two Photographs

Two Photographs

Stanza 1

Here's a photograph of grandmother, Annabella.

How slim she appears, how vulnerable.Pretty.

And here's a photograph of grandmother, Doris.

How portly she looks, formidable. Handsome.

Annabella wears a demure black frock with an amber 

brooch. 

Both grandmas appear to be he complete opposites of each other, 

Annabella (typically associated with more physically attractive women) is very slim and pretty whereas Doris ( a more everyday name for a more normal women) is very 'formidable' and strong physically and mentally.This stanza is basically just a fond look back at Abe's past with no real interesting facts given.

Stanza 2 

Doris, a lacy black gown with a string of pearls.

One photo's marked Ystalyfera 1880,

the other Bridgend 1890.

Both were told to say, 'Cheese'; one, defiant, said 'Chalk!'

Here we see a complete change in what we would believe their stereotypical characteristics to be, Doris is pictured wearing ' a lacy gown with a string of pearls' we would normally associate Annabella to be wearing something like this. The last line highlights how one of them is acting defiant to any authority, it is more than likely that this was Doris because we are now made aware of her defiant nature. 

Stanza 3 

Annabella spoke Welsh with a Patagonian accent.

Doris spoke English with a Welsh Valleys lilt.

Annabella fasted- pious, passive, enjoyed small-talk.

Doris feasted- pacy,pushy, would never pray. Ate pork!

When Annabella told Doris she was damned 

indecorous Doris devilishly laughed.

I liked Doris, I liked Annabella,

though Doris was bossy and Annabella daft.

I do not think they liked each other.

Here we are shown even more of how different they are. Annabella is a devout Welsh women who also follows Judaism like Abse. The only reason that we are made aware of this is because she believes that Doris is damned because she eats pork. however Doris, who could be Jewish, obviously does not think much of her religion. She feasts when Annabella fasts, also when Annabella says she is damned she 'devilishly' laughs. The reason behind the animosity between them could be that Doris is symbolic of the devil whereas Annabella is a saint. 

Stanza 4 

Last night I dreamed they stood back to back,

not for the commencement of a duel

but to see who was taller! Now, in these revived 

waking hours, my Eau de Cologne grandmothers

with buns of grey hair, of withered rose,

seem illusory , fugitive, like my dream-

or like the dust that secretively flows

in a sudden sunbeam (sieved through leaky curtains)

and disappears when and where that sunbeam goes. 

even after death, both grandmothers still seem to fight for supremacy over the other, now there memory is distant and fading and all that is left of them is these two photographs.