Practice Flashcards: The Portrait of a Lady & A Photograph

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key terms, idiomatic expressions, and literary vocabulary from the stories 'The Portrait of a Lady' and the poem 'A Photograph' found in the Hornbill textbook.

Effective reading

The process of receiving ideas and feelings from others, involving understanding text, talking about it, thinking about language, working with words, and noticing form and patterns.

Khushwant Singh

The author of the autobiographical account 'The Portrait of a Lady'.

The thought was almost revolting

An expression used by the author to describe his difficulty in believing that his grandmother could have once been young and pretty.

An expanse of pure white serenity

A description of the grandmother, likening her peaceful, calm, and contented appearance to a winter landscape in the mountains.

Hobbled

To walk with difficulty or an awkward gait; specifically, how the grandmother moved around the house in spotless white.

Rosary

A string of beads that the grandmother used to tell prayers as her fingers moved constantly.

Woodenslate

An item the grandmother used to prepare for the author, which she washed and plastered with yellow chalk for school.

A turning-point

The moment the author and grandmother moved to the city, which changed the nature of their friendship as they spent less time together.

Accepted her seclusion with resignation

The grandmother’s quiet acceptance of her isolation and loneliness after the author moved to a city school and later university.

A veritable bedlam of chirrupings

The intense and chaotic noise created by hundreds of little birds (sparrows) when the grandmother fed them in the afternoon.

Frivolous rebukes

Lighthearted or non-serious scoldings given by the grandmother to the sparrows.

Dilapidated drum

A worn-out, old drum that the grandmother thumped while singing of the home-coming of warriors upon the author's return.

Pallor

An unhealthy pale appearance that spread on the grandmother's face when she passed away.

Red shroud

A red cloth used to cover the grandmother's body as part of the funeral custom.

Paddling

Walking with bare feet in shallow water, as described by Shirley Toulson in 'A Photograph'.

Transient

Lasting for only a short time; impermanent, as used to describe the humans' 'terribly transient feet' compared to the unchanging sea.

Both wry with the laboured ease of loss

A phrase indicating that both the mother (losing her childhood) and the daughter (losing her mother) cope with loss through a difficult but necessary acceptance.

Tell the beads

An expression meaning to count beads while reciting prayers.

Shuffle

A manner of walking by dragging one's feet along the ground.

Waddle

To walk with short steps and a swaying motion from side to side.

Past perfect forms

Verbs used to recount things in the distant past, such as 'had been' or 'had known'.

Shirley Toulson

The poet of 'A Photograph', which reflects on themes of time, loss, and memories captured in a cardboard frame.