This Is A Photograph Of Me

image from: http://amyscott.com/poetry_+_emotion.htm

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 can see something 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 how small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion.

but if you look long enough
eventually
you will see me.)

Margaret Atwood

Introduction and Analysis

The title of Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me" is quite suggestive. The title may give rise to several interpretations. The poetess may want our attention drawn to the photograph. The fact that she claims that it is her in the photograph, verges on the fact that she looks very different in reality.The general perception or outlook about her was quite different; this was her real self in the photograph. She first goes on to describe the photo in terms of time. It was not a recent photograph but taken some time ago. It appears to be "smeared" which might be because of deconstruction. There appeared to be "blurred lines" as though she was graphically analyzed. The "blurred lines and grey flecks" seem to be blended with the paper itself. They have now become linked with her personality. The poet is therefore depicted in the first stanza by means of logical analysis, and in terms of the material. Women have always been intellectually disregarded.

The poetess starts talking about herself as she encloses those lines within parentheses. Parentheses are used when a text contains material that could be omitted without destroying or altering the meaning of a sentence. Parentheses may be used in formal writing to add supplementary information. 

Therefore, when the poetess talks of herself, she implies the stance of Women in general. Her part in this description of the photograph could be conveniently omitted without marring the perfection of the whole. She functions only as a supplement to this picture of society. Nature, the branch,and man-made objects, the slope of the house, gained predominance over her. Her gender is not specified, as it is taken for granted.