“This is a Photograph of Me” opens The Circle Game, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s 1964 collection of poetry. As the speaker of this free verse poem describes a blurry photograph to the audience, the image's implications continuously transform. As such, the photograph becomes a means of exploring the malleability of history and truth, particularly with regard to the suppression of marginalized voices. In doing so, it sets the stage for the rest of The Circle Game, which centers female perspectives and experiences that have long been subsumed under male-dominated histories. The poem’s short, uneven lines and stanzas mirror the fragmented, ever-changing nature of history.

• Read the full text of “This Is a Photograph of Me”

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Summary

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Themes

  • 

    History and Erasure

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-26
  • 

    The Subjectivity of Truth

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-26

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “This Is a Photograph of Me”

  • Lines 1-4

    It was taken ...
    ... print:

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-5

    blurred lines and ...
    ... with the paper;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-9

    then, as you ...
    ... or spruce) emerging

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-12

    and, to the ...
    ... small frame house.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-14

    In the background ...
    ... some low hills.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-16

    (The photograph was ...
    ... after I drowned.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-18

    I am in ...
    ... under the surface.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-23

    It is difficult ...
    ... is a distortion

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 24-26

    but if you ...
    ... to see me.)

    

    

    

    

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• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Symbols

  • 

    The House

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “a small frame house”
  • 

    Water

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “a lake”
    • Line 16: “I drowned”
    • Line 17: “the lake”
    • Line 18: “the surface”
    • Line 22: “water”
  • 

    Light

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 23: “light”

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-26

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “seems,” “be”
    • Line 3: “smeared”
    • Line 4: “grey,” “flecks”
    • Line 5: “blended”
    • Line 6: “scan”
    • Line 7: “hand”
    • Line 8: “branch”
    • Line 15: “photograph,” “taken”
    • Line 16: “day,” “after”
    • Line 17: “lake,” “center”
    • Line 18: “the,” “picture,” “just,” “under,” “the,” “surface”
    • Line 25: “eventually”
    • Line 26: “be,” “see me”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “print: blurred”
    • Line 6: “then, as”
    • Line 7: “it, you”
    • Line 8: “branch: part”
    • Line 9: “spruce) emerging”
    • Line 10: “and, to,” “right, halfway”
    • Line 12: “slope, a”
    • Line 14: “that, some”
    • Line 17: “lake, in”
    • Line 18: “picture, just”
    • Line 20: “precisely, or”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “It,” “taken,” “time”
    • Line 2: “At,” “first,” “it,” “seems,” “to”
    • Line 3: “smeared”
    • Line 4: “print,” “blurred,” “lines,” “flecks”
    • Line 5: “blended”
    • Line 6: “scan”
    • Line 7: “see,” “hand,” “corner”
    • Line 8: “branch,” “part”
    • Line 9: “balsam,” “spruce”
    • Line 11: “what ought to,” “gentle”
    • Line 12: “slope,” “small,” “house”
    • Line 13: “lake”
    • Line 14: “low,” “hills”
    • Line 15: “photograph”
    • Line 16: “day,” “after,” “drowned”
    • Line 17: “center”
    • Line 18: “just,” “surface”
    • Line 19: “where”
    • Line 20: “precisely,” “or”
    • Line 21: “large,” “or”
    • Line 22: “effect,” “water”
    • Line 23: “light,” “distortion”
    • Line 24: “look,” “long”
    • Line 25: “eventually”
    • Line 26: “will,” “able”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “ago.”
    • Line 5: “paper;”
    • Line 12: “house.”
    • Line 13: “lake,”
    • Line 14: “hills.”
    • Line 16: “drowned.”
    • Line 18: “surface.”
    • Line 21: “am:”
    • Line 24: “enough,”
    • Line 26: “me.)”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “be / a”
    • Lines 3-4: “smeared / print”
    • Lines 4-5: “flecks / blended”
    • Lines 6-7: “scan / it”
    • Lines 7-8: “corner / a”
    • Lines 8-9: “tree / (balsam”
    • Lines 9-10: “emerging / and”
    • Lines 10-11: “up / what”
    • Lines 11-12: “gentle / slope”
    • Lines 15-16: “taken / the”
    • Lines 17-18: “center / of”
    • Lines 19-20: “where / precisely”
    • Lines 20-21: “say / how”
    • Lines 22-23: “water / on”
    • Lines 25-26: “eventually / you”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-18: “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.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 17: “in the,” “in the”
    • Line 19: “to say”
    • Line 20: “or,” “to say”
    • Line 21: “or”

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Print
  • Scan
  • Balsam or spruce
  • Slope
  • Distortion
  • (Location in poem: Line 4: “print”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “This Is a Photograph of Me”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Speaker

• “This Is a Photograph of Me” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “This Is a Photograph of Me”

• More “This Is a Photograph of Me” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Margaret Atwood Reads "This Is a Photograph of Me" — Listen to the author read the poem aloud.

    • Margaret Atwood's Biography — An overview of Atwood's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Subtle Horror of "This Is a Photograph of Me" — A brief commentary on the poem's ominous implications.

    • Women’s Movements in Canada: 1960–1985 — A summary of women's movements in Canada during the second half of the 20th century, including a discussion of literature.

    • Margaret Atwood's Website — The author's website, which contains a brief biography, full bibliography, and links to other relevant materials.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Margaret Atwood

    • Half-Hanged Mary

    • Siren Song

    • The City Planners

    • [you fit into me]

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