My Mother At Sixty SiX 12th Eng Question And Answer/Vocabulary/Poetic devices

Poem-1 My Mother At Sixty Six by Kamla Das

Annotations 

Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

Ans.When the poet sees the pale and corpse-like face of her mother, her old familiar pain or the ache returns. Ageing is a natural process.The lifeless and faded face of the poet’s mother pains her heart. She looks lifeless like a corpse.Poet is having fear of losing her mother.

Q2. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?

Ans.The poet is driving to the Cochin airport. When she looks outside, the young trees seem to be walking past them. With the speed of the car they seem to be running fast or sprinting. The poet presents a contrast—her ‘dozing’ old mother and the ‘sprinting’ young trees.

Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’ ?
Ans: The poet has brought in the image of merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’ to present a contrast. The merry children coming out of their homes in large numbers present an image of happiness and spontaneous overflow of life. This image is in stark contrast to the ‘dozing’ old mother, whose ‘ashen’ face looks lifeless and pale like a corpse. She is an image of ageing, decay and passivity. The contrast of the two images enhances the poetic effect.

Q4. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’ ?
Ans: The poet’s mother is sixty-six years old. Her shrunken ‘ashen’ face resembles a corpse. She has lost her shine and strength of youth. Similarly the late winter’s moon looks hazy and obscure. It too lacks shine and strength. The comparison is quite natural and appropriate. The simile used here is apt as well as effective..                               Q.5. Where is the poet going and who is with her?

Ans. The poet is driving from her parent's home to the Cochin airport. Her mother has come to see her daughter off. She is sitting beside her and dozing with her mouth open. The words "driving" and "doze' provide a good contrast. They give images of dynamic activity and passivity respectively.

Q.6. How does the poet's mother look like? What kind of images has the poet used to signify her ageing decay?

Ans. The poet's mother is at sixty-six. She is sitting beside her. She is dozing as old people usually do during the journey. She keeps her mouth open. This is also a sign of old age. Generally old people have to keep their mouth open. Her face looks pale and faded like ash. Actually, she is an image of death as her 'ashen' face looks like that of a corpse.

Q.7. Why does the poet 'put that thought away and looks outside?

Ans. The poet's old mother is sitting beside her. She is dozing with her mouth open. Her face looks pale and faded. She looks lifeless like a corpse. Actually, she gives an image of passivity, decay and death. The poet needs a distraction, a change. Hence she looks outside where she gets a picture of life, happiness and activity.

Q.8. Why does the poet feel her old familiar ache and what is her childhood fear?

Ans. The sight of her old mother's corpse-like face arouses 'that old familiar ache' in her heart. Her childhood fear returns. The fear is that with ageing comes decay and death. Perhaps she herself may have to face all these things. This idea is quite painful and fearful to her.

Vocabulary 

1-Driving-(here) driving the vehicle; गाड़ी चलाते हुए। 

2-Beside-by the side of; near, साथ में, समीप ।

 3-Doze-dozing, ऊँघते हुए। 

4-Ashen-pale and grey like ash; राख की भाँति धूसर तथा विवर्ण। 

5-Corpse-dead body; लाश । 

6-Thought away-(here) lost in thought somewhere else; दूर कहीं विचारों में खोई हुई।

 7-Put that thought away-removed her thought from her mother; अपनी माँ से विचार हटाया।

8- Sprinting- short fast race running; तेज़ दौड़ते हुये।

9- Merry - happy; प्रसन्न। 

10-Spilling-moving out; बाहर निकलते हुए। 

11-Security check-routine security check-up at the airport; हवाई अड्डे पर आमतौर पर होने वाली सुरक्षा जाँच।

12- Wan-colourless;  फीका । 

13-Pale-faded, yellowish; पीलापन

14-Familiar-well known; चिर-परिचित, जानी-पहचानी। 

15-Ache-pang, deep pain; पीड़ा, टीस ।

Poetic device

Theme

The theme of the poem is 'ageing' which is the law of nature. It also depicts the helplessness and aspirations of the young generation

Rhyme scheme - Free Verse,blank verse

Tone-pensive and sorrowful. 

Repetition: Repeated use of ‘looked’use of ‘smile

Simile: The colour of the mother’s face has been compared to that of a corpse – ashen. use of ‘like’ (her face ashen like that of a corpse)

use of ‘as’ (as a late winter’s moon).

imagery: when the poet say trees sprinting, merry children spilling

Personification- trees sprinting 

METAPHOR-Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes’ to show the 

contrary image of her mother’s age and approaching end.

Alliteration: It is the repetition of the consonant sounds in a line of a poem. e.g. “my mother”, “that thought”, “I said was, see you soon”.