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MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX
KAMALA DAS
VERY SHORT ANSWERS
Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
1. “Driving from my parents
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 “
(a) Where was the poet driving to? Who was sitting beside her?
(b) What did the poet notice inside the car?
(c) Why did her mother’s face look like that of a corpse?
(d) Find words from the passage which mean :
(i) sleep lightly (ii) dead body (iii) felt.
(e) Name the poem and the poet.
(f) What worried the poet when she looked at her mother?
(g) Why was there pain in her realization?
2. ”.…………..She
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,”
(a) Which thought did the poet drive away from her mind?
(b) What do the ‘sprinting trees’ signify?
(c) What did she see in the world outside?
(d) How do you know that the joyful scene didn’t help her drive away the
painful thought from her mind?
(e) What are ‘the merry children spilling out of their homes’, symbolic of?
(f) (Find words from the passage which mean:
(i) running fast (ii) happy (iii) moving out.
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3) “ 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”
(a) Who is “her” in these lines?
(b) Who was the poet looking at?
(c) Who looked pale and wan and why?
(d) Identify the figure of speech used in these lines
4) “…..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 childhood fear that now troubled the poet?
(b) What was the speaker’s familiar ache?
(c) What do the poet’s parting words suggest?
(d) Why did the poet smile and smile?
(e) Explain “pale as a late winter’s moon”.
(f) Name the poetic device used in these lines.
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MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX
KAMALA DAS
SHORT ANSWERS
1. How does the poet describe her mother?
2. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
3. What were Kamala Das’ fears as a child? Why do they
surface when she is going to the airport?
4. What were the poet’s feelings as she drove to Cochin airport?
5. What do you understand by the phrase, “face ashen like that
of a corpse”?
6. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?
7. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children
‘spilling out of their homes’?
8. What makes you say that the joyful scene did not help her
drive away painful thought?
9. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s
moon’?
10. What traits are associated with ‘old age’ and ‘youth’?
11. What do the parting words of the poet signify?
12. Why does the poet use the word “smile” repeatedly in the
poem?
13. What does the poet’s mother look like? What kind of
images has the poet used to signify her ageing decay?
14. What does the poet realise with pain?
15. Why does the poet ‘put that thought away’ and look
outside?
16. The poet’s repeated smile seems out of place in away. In
which way is that appropriate?
17. Why does the poet look outside? What does she see
happening outside?
18. How has the poet contrasted the scene inside the car with
the activities going on outside?
19. What does the poet do after the security check-up? What
does she notice?
20. Why does the poet smile and what does she say while
bidding good bye to her mother ?
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MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SX
KAMALA DAS
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Q.1- Who is the poet of “ My mother at sixty six”?
A) John Keats
B) Rudyard Kipling
C) William Wordsworth
D) Kamala Das
Q.2- Whose house was the poet leaving?
A) her friend's house
B) in-law's house
C) her husband's house
D) her parents' house
Q.3- What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
A) losing her mother
B) heart attack
C) headache
D) children screaming at her
Q.4- What is the significance of the title My Mother at Sixty Six?
A) Poet’s fear of losing her old mother
B) Poet’s fear of moving fast
C) Poet’s inability to express her feelings
D) All of these
Q.5- What worried the poet when she looked at her mother?
A) her loneliness
B) her loving face
C) her loving words
D) her declining poor health
Q.6- Name the poetic device used in “trees sprinting” ?
A) Metaphor
B) Simile
C) Alliteration
D) Personification
Q.7- What is the distinctive feature of the poem?
A) use of metaphors
B) simile used
C) alliteration used
D) narrative style using a single sentence in a set of 14 lines
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Q.8- What does this narrative style of the poem signify?
A) differing thoughts
B) many thoughts
C) contrasting thoughts
D) a single thread of thought mixed with harsh realities
Q.9- What did the poet realize with pain?
A) her mother's appearance like a corpse with growing age
B) she is helpless
C) old age is painful
D) she has duties
Q.10- What is the familiar ache?
A) her childhood fear of losing her mother
B) her mother's weak health
C) her duties
D) her helplessness
Q.11- Why are the trees described as sprinting?
A) to show fast moving change of human life
B) to show how young the trees look
C) to tell how trees look from a running car
D) to show the speed of the car
Q.12- What does 'ashen face ' signify?
A) to show the poet's fears
B) to tell aging is painful
C) pale and lifeless face of poet's mother
D) to show old age
Q.13- What does the poet notice in the outer world?
A) sprinting trees and merry children spilling out of their homes
B) schools
C) other vehicles
D) people on the road
Q.14- What do the parting words "See you soon Amma" signify?
A) her helplessness
B) her optimistic farewell full of cheerfulness
C) her hope
D) her helplessness and cheerfulness
Q.15- What is the universality of the theme of the poem?
A) Death is a truth
B) Death is a reality
C) Everyone can feel the pain and loss associated with death
D) All of these
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Q.16- Why did the poet look at her mother again?
A) because of her love
B) because of her care
C) because of her duties
D) because of fear and insecurity
Q.17- Quote an example of a simile used in the poem.
A) familiar ache
B) like that of a corpse
C) wan and pale
D) the merry children
Q.18- Quote an example of a metaphor used in the poem.
A) as a late winter's moon
B) childhood's fears
C) Driving from my parent’s home
D) None
Q.19- Quote an example of an alliteration used in the poem.
A) like ashen
B) smile, smile and smile
C) Friday morning
D) None
Q.20- Quote an example of personification used in the poem.
A) sprinting trees
B) home to cochin
C) airport's security check
D) All of these
Q.21- Why does the poet feel parted, upset and sad?
A) because of her fears
B) because she was getting late
C) fear of missing her flight
D) because of her duty towards her mother and her own needs
Q.22- What is the tone of the poem towards the end?
A) sad
B) helplessness
C) cheerful
D) resignation with acceptance
Q.23- What does the poem revolve around?
A) poet's fears
B) poet's love for her mother
C) poet's journey
D) theme of advancing age and fears associated with it
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Q,24- What does the expression smile, smile and smile signify?
A) hope is a way of life
B) never leave hope
C) never feel hopeless
D) poet's desperate efforts to hide her fears
Q.25- What pangs did she feel when she looked at her mother?
A) Pangs of head ache
B) Pangs of stomach ache
C) Pangs of knee pain
D) Pangs of heartache
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MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX
KAMALA DAS
LONG ANSWERS
1) . What poetic devices have been used by Kamala Das in ‘My Mother at
Sixty-six’?
2) Highlight the significance of the smile of the poet as she bade farewell to
her mother.
3) Did the poet find solace when she looked out of the car? If yes, how?
4) Justify the title of the poem and its universal appeal>
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MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX
KAMALA DAS
COMPETENCY BASED QUESTIONS
1. With fear and ache inside her heart, and words of assurance
on lips and smile on the face, the poet presents two opposite
and contrasting experiences. Why does the poet put on a
smile?
2. In today’s fast life, children neglect their ageing parents. What
do you think children can do to have an involved and inclusive
relationship with their elderly parents?
3. Whenever we are faced with problems in our lives, we go to
our mother for a sound opinion. We confide in her as for most
of us she is our best friend. What emotional bond do you share
with your mother?
