XII:Poem:1

Class:XII

Book:Flamingo

Poem:1

My Mother At Sixty-six 

Questions and Answers 

Short Answer Type

Question 1.

What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet her mother might not live long with her. Therefore, feels ?

Answer:

The poet feels that her mother has grown so old that she couldnt grow older. She means to say that her mother might not live long with her. Therefore, the poet feels pain and ache,

Question 2.

Why are the young trees described as sprinting’?

Answer:

The young trees are described as sprinting since the car is moving fast in the forward direction. The trees appear to move in the backward direction. In fact it is the car that moves not the trees.

Question 3.

Why has the poet brought in the image of the children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

Answer:

The image of children spilling out of their homes has been brought to show the contrast between the old age and the childhood. In childhood, one is full of energy. In one’s old age the person becomes pale and lifeless.

Question 4.

Why has the mother been compared to the Tate winter’s moon’?

Answer:

Winter is considered as the season of death and life lessness. All the activities come to a standstill. The old age is often compared with the winter season. A person in old age looks as pale as a late winter’s moon. Therefore the poet has compared her mother to the late winter’s moon.

Question 5.

What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify ?

Answer:

The parting words of the poet were, ‘See you soon, Amma.’ And then she smiled and smiled only. These words show that the poet do feel for her mother but she could not express her feelings properly in words. Her smile signifies that she wants to hide her feelings for her mother under the garb of artificial smile.

Question 6.

Having looked at her mother the poet looked at her mother, why does Kamala Das look at the children ?

Answer:

The poet is full of pain and ache when she looks at her ageing mother. She has grown so old that she might not grow older. This means her days on this earth are numbered. The poet looks at the children outside to divert her attention from the sad thoughts she has about her old mother.

Question 7.

What was Kamala Das’s childhood fear ?

Answer:

In her childhood, the poet’s heart was filled with fear whenever her mother was not with her. The poet now feels similar kind of fear since she senses that her mother has grown very old and perhaps she might not live long.

Question 8.

In the last line of the poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’, why does the poet use the word ‘smile’repeatedly ?

Answer:

The repetition of the smile indicates that the poet does feel for her mother, but she is unable to ex-press her feelings openly. She tries to hide her true feelings under the garb of repeated smile.

Question 9.

How does Kamala Das try to put away the thoughts of her ageing mother ?

Answer:

When the poet sees her ageing mother, she becomes full of pain and agony. She thinks that her mother might not live long. To put away the thoughts of her ageing mother, the poet starts looking out of the car. She starts looking at the children rushing out of their homes and the trees that appear to sprinting.

Question 10.

What were the poet’s feelings at the airport ? How did she hide them ?

Answer:

The poet would become afraid when she did not find her mother with her. Her childhood’s fear now again, came to surface when she reached the airport. But she only said, ‘See you soon, Amma.’ And the poet could do nothing but smile and smile. The poet wants to convey the idea that the young ones do feel for their elders but they couldn’t express their feelings.

Question 11.

What were Kamala Das’s fears as a child ? Why do they surface when she is going to the airport ?

Answer:

In her childhood, the poet would become afraid when she could not find her mother with her. During her drive to the airport, the poet looked at her mother. The mother looked quite old and her face was white as a corpse. She felt that her mother was going to leave her for ever. In this way, the poet’s childhood fear surfaced when she was going to the airport.

BY:GR English Guru

Good night to all students.