This Is a Photograph of Me by Margaret Atwood

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.)

Analysis:
Margaret Atwood did her further studies in Harvard University. Back in those days, Harvard was filled with very conservative people. This was what developed Atwood's extremely feminist views. This poem was part of her very first published collection of beautiful poems, 'The Circle Game'. Margaret Atwood's poems are very honest and that is what makes her famous. 

The poem begins with a title that is a critical part of the text. Unlike many poems, where the title has little effect on the work’s meaning, here the title is significant to a total understanding of the whole piece. The title, in fact, sets the tone of the poem in many ways. Like the rest of the poem, the title seems to be simple, clear, and straightforward, both in syntax and in diction. The simplicity in the title implies (falsely, as it turns out) that the poem itself will be simple. Not until much later in this lyric do we discover two of its essential paradoxes: that the speaker who seems so alive is actually dead, and that the clear visual depiction of the speaker, which the title seems to promise, is never actually presented.

The poem is written as if the poet is directly addressing the reader and is, perhaps, showing either the reader or another person a picture of herself. Atwood not only shows the photo but explains how it should be viewed and interpreted. In short, the poet tells us how to make sense of a photograph we never really see, and she does so as part of a poem that seems to defy rational explanations in various other ways. In both of these senses, then, the poem is additionally paradoxical.

Further paradox results from the fact that the poet describes, with great precision, the details of a photograph we cannot actually view. She shows, then, the power of words to create images in our minds even when no actual images appear before our eyes. She implies and demonstrates the power of poetry to be both precise and suggestive, both accurate and full of mysterious implications. The poem implies that photographs allow us to see things clearly, and yet her description of the photograph shows the limits of mere photographic realism.

In patriarchy, males are creating women’s stories. The photograph was taken some time ago. She has not specified the time. The photograph is not clear, lines are blurred, and the light of the photograph has become dim. The photograph stands for her history which is not clear; light stands for the creativity of women. She expresses that if a woman does some important work in the society, it is shadowed. Patriarchy ignores the contribution of female. In the left hand corner, there are branches of a tree. These branches of the tree have emerged to right hand side. On the right hand side there is a frame house. This can be seen if you see the photograph minutely. Here the right hand side (frame House) stands for male and left hand side (branches) stands for female. She may imply that in the patriarchy, a woman is treated as left hand and man is treated as right hand. 

Woman is placed on the left hand with simply associated with branches which have no roots and man is placed on the right hand side. Left hand is normally weaker than right hand. Females are treated inferrer to males. By giving her left position she has been shown as passive. Lake stands for the society. Beyond the society, there are low hills. Hills and lakes keep the woman in shadow. Hills and lakes are the causes that distort her history.

Margaret is trying to show the small frame houses are not responsible for the exploitations of women. As a whole background society or the lake/ hills are responsible behind what happens to women. The speaker is not taken out of the lake. She is dipped and left in the lake. She could not get her identity. As per Christian culture one is dipped and taken out to name but here in her case it does not happen. Here she is showing identity crisis. She is left in the lake she can’t come out of lake that society is to revolt. She is center for domestic work and she is marginal for social, political and economic work. In patriarchy, women are taken forward in domestic roles but in the social roles male come ahead. In the final stanza there is a shift in tone. 

If you look carefully, you will be able to see me. Photograph is dim, its true but I am there. They have dimmed my photograph, undermined my work but my presence is there. Patriarchy cannot negate me completely. The last line is revolutionary. Despite all the discrimination I am there. They can destroy my photograph but cannot destroy my existence. Time is not clear it means that when the domination started it was not clear. Woman has been exploited since time immemorial. Therefore the speaker does not like to historicize the time. 

(Chinmai)