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Friends
Welcome
to my blog www.englishwithkk.blogspot.com
Today
we will discuss the first poem of your syllabus My mother at sixty six by Kamla
Das. Her pen name is Madhivikutti. But she has not used it for this poem. She
was born in Kerala and One of the formost poet of India writing in English. She
mostly deals with human relationship and depict a stark contrast in human
relations. Mother at Sixty-Six is an emotional poem by which deals with the
themes of aging, a person’s love for her mother, separation from her due to
death. We will study the poem in 3 steps
1.
Critical appreciation of the poem
2.
Use of poetic devices
3. Textual Questions and their answers.
Critical
Appreciation :
The
poem is a first person confessional poem. The entire poem is written in a
single sentence. Poet has beautifully presented her apprehensions of her aged
mother’s emotions and the inevitable act of separation which is surely to
happen. For better understanding we are dividing the analysis into two parts.
The first part of the analysis will deal with the emotional experience of the
poet during her travel in the car and the second will deal with her experience
at the airport when she gets separated from her mother
Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,
The
poet was driving from her parent’s home to Cochin Airport the previous Friday.
While inside the car, she saw her mother beside her doze off. The image of a
woman weakened by age, dozing off with her mouth open leaves a very strong
impression on the speaker who feels that her mother’s face resembles the pale
face of a dead body ( like that of a corpse). The poet is deeply disturbed with
the ageing of her mother and her approaching death & she tries to put the
thought away by looking outside the window where she saw trees sprinting and
merry children spilling out of their homes. Here trees are not sprinting
actually but they are seen moving while the poet is sitting in the car. There
is a contrast between the youthful and energetic life outside the window and
the other aged, pale face of her mother inside the car.
but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all
I did was smile and smile and smile......
Now
we are moving to the second part of our critical appreciation i.e. emotional
apprehensions of the poet at the airport while her mother is at some distance.
Her mother’s face is compared with late winter’s moon. “Winter” is used
to indicate the inevitable death of her mother considering her ageing, wan,
pale face. At this moment poet feels the old familiar ache of separation from
her mother as she has experienced in her childhood. To give her mother a
cheerful farewell and the repeated smiles signify her helplessness concerning
her inevitable separation.
Use
of Poetic Devices :
1.
Simile :
a) her face ashen like that of
a corpse
b) I looked again at her, wan, pale as
a late winter’s moon
2.
Personification :
a) Trees Sprinting
3.
Repetition :
a) all I did was smile and smile and
smile…
Textual
Questions and their answers :
1.
What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Ans
: Poet feels the ache of separation from mother as she is getting older and her
ageing is quite evident on her face too.
2.
Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?
Ans
: The trees are not ‘sprinting’, but they are seen sprinting while the poet is
sitting in the moving car and loking out of the window.
3.
Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of
their homes’?
Ans
: The poet is very much disturbed by the feeling of separation from her mother
when she apprehended the face of her mother resembling with that of a corpse.
She wants to put that such bad thought away so she looked outside.
4.
Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?
Ans
: The face of poet’s mother is wan (colourless) and pale and resembling the
pale colour of late winter’s moon. Winter is the ending season of the year
which is a signal by the poet towards the approaching end of her mother as she
is ageing.
5.
What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Ans : The parting words “See you soon, Amma” shows poet’s desire to see her mother again as well as her fear of her demise and thus being separated.But she is helpless and to her mother a cheerful farewell she repeated smiles only towards her mother.
Mindmap to revise the poem :
Questions
appeared in the previous years’ CBSE papers :
1.
CBSE AISSCE 2015 Set-1
and
looked
out at young
trees
sprinting, the merry children spilling
out
of their homes, but after the airport’s
security
check, standing a few yards
away,
I looked again at her, wan,
pale
as
a late winter’s moon and felt that
old
familiar
ache, ... … …
(a)
How can the trees sprint ? 1
(b)
Why did the poet look at her mother again ? 1
(c)
What did she observe ? 1
(d)
Identify the figure of speech used in these lines. 1
Value
points suggested by CBSE :
a)
– movement of trees backward as the car moves ahead
b)
– to see her before departing / her feeling of anxiety and insecurity / love
for her mother makes her look at her mother again
c)
– observed her pale unhealthy appearance / resembling the late winter moon
d)
– simile (as a late winte’s moon)
2. CBSE AISSCE 2016
Set-1
…….
I saw my mother,
Beside
me,
doze,
open mouthed, her face
ashen
like that
of
a corpse and realized with
pain
……….
(a)
Who is ‘I’ ? 1
(b)
What did ‘I’ realize with pain 1
(c)
Why was the realization painful? 1
(d)
Identify and name the figure of speech used in these lines. 1
Value points suggested by CBSE in answes:
a)
– poet / Kamala Das / poetess / narrator / daughter (any 1)
b)
– realised with pain that mother nearing old age / mom’s death / separation
from mother (any 1)
c)
– the mother’s approaching death was a hard fact for her to accept – thoughts
of separation from her mother made the poet sad (any
1)
d)
– simile ‘ashen like that of a corpse’
3.
CBSE AISSCE 2017 Set-1
9.
(c)
Having looked at her mother, why does Kamala Das look at the young children ?
Ans
:
The poet is emotionally disturbed by the doze, open mouthed face of her mother
resembling that of a corpse. It gives her the feeling of separation from her
mother and to put that thought away she looked outside of the car.
Value points suggested by CBSE in answes:
a)
-to drive away pain
-fear
of separation from her mother
-children
symbolic of life/ energy/ dynamism/ happiness
-to
distract from thoughts of her ageing mother. (any two)
4.
CBSE AISSCE 2019 Set 1-1-1
I
looked again at her, wan, pale
as
a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar
ache, my childhood’s fear,
but
all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all
I did was smile and smile and smile …
(i)
Name the poet and the poem. 1
(ii)
What was the poet’s childhood fear ? 1
(iii)
What is the poetic device used in lines 1- 2 ? 1
(iv)
Explain : ‘late winter’s moon’. 1
Value
points suggested by CBSE in answes:
a)
Poem – My Mother at Sixty –six, Poet –
Kamala Das
b)
fear of separation from her mother / losing her mother
c)
as a late winter’s moon / Simile
d)
dull and obscure / hazy / not shining / dim
5.
CBSE AISSCE 2019 Set 1-4-1
but
soon
put
that thought away, and
looked
out at young,
trees
sprinting, the merry children spilling
out
of their homes.
(a)
Name the poem and the poet. 1
(b)
What thought did the poet put away ? 1
(c)
Why are the young trees described as sprinting ? 1
(d)
How do you know that the joyful scene did not help her drive away ‘that
thought’ from her mind ? 1
Value points suggested by CBSE in answes:
a)
Poem – My Mother at Sixty –six, Poet –
Kamala Das
b)
fear of separation from her mother/ ageing mother/ losing her to death
c)
because the poet was in a moving car, trees seem to be running in the opposite
direction.
d)
at the security check, once again the old fear of separation came back / old
familiar ache
6.
CBSE AISSCE 2018 Set 1-1 (Compartment Exam)
I
looked again at her, wan, pale
as
a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar
ache, my childhood’s fear,
but
all I said was, ‘See you soon, Amma’
all
I did was smile and smile and smile........
(a)
What was the poet’s childhood fear ? 1
(b)
Why is the mother compared to a late winter’s moon ? 1
(c)
What were the poet’s parting words ? 1
(d)
What does her smile signify ? 1
Value points suggested by CBSE in answes:
a)
the fear was separation from her mother / loss of her mother / mother’s death
b)
to refer to her pale and wan appearance / to emphasize the paleness of the mother’s
face
c)
they were “See you soon, Amma.”
d) signifies her attempt to hide her fear from her mother / attempt to reassure her mother
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