Justify the title of the poem "The Photograph" by Shirley Toulson.

In Toulson's poem "The Photograph", Touslon describes the
emotions felt as remembering the story behind the image and what it means to the poet
now.

Photographs capture a moment in time, and with that
capture the emotions felt during the moment the photo was taken as
well.

For the poet, the images brings out feelings of loss
given her mother has passed away (12 years prior). The poet remembers her mother looking
at the image and laughing as she recalled the moment in
time.

The title of the poem represents something very
different for the poet than it dis for her mother. The image evokes a sadness of the
loss of her mother, while it evoked thoughts of happiness for her
mother.

Materialistically, the poet can find sadness that
those depicted in the image have changed while the scenery in the photo has been allowed
to stay the same. Here, the poet could sense a feeling of the memory being unfair given
the ocean has been allowed to exist, without change, over the years while her mother has
changed dramatically and is now gone.

Therefore, the title
of the poem creates a double meaning for both the poet and the poet's mother. For one it
is sadness and the other is happiness. The poet finds this ironic given her saddness is
associated with her mother's happiness.

Another
justification behind the title lies in the fact that a photograph captures something
seen by many and can, therefore, evoke many different feelings for those depicted and
those looking at the image.