HOSUR PUBLIC SCHOOL

POEM: 1
My Mother at Sixty Six
- Kamala Das
I. Extract Based Questions:
Q.1. Driving from my parent's
Home to Cochin last Friday
Morning, I sas my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realize with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away…
(i) Choose the option that best applies to the given extract.
(1) a conversation
(2) an argument
(3) a piece of advice
(4) a strategy
(5) a recollection
(6) a suggestion
(a) 1,3 & 6. (b) 2, 4 & 5.
(c) Only 5. (d) Only 1

(ii) Choose the book title that perfectly describes the condition of the poet's mother.

Title 1 Title 2 Title 3 Title 4

You're Only The Gift of Somewhere Towards the The Book You Wish
Old Once! Years By Joan End By Diana Athill Your Parents Had Read
By Dr. Seuss Chittister By Philippa Perry

(a) Title 1 (b) Title 2 (c ) Title 3 (d) Title 4

(iii) Choose the option that applies correctly to the two statements given below.

Assertion: The poet wards off the thought of her mother getting old quickly.

Reason: The poet didn't want to confront the inevitability of fate that was to dawn upon
her mother.

(a) Assertion can be inferred but the Reason cannot be inferred.

(b) Assertion cannot be inferred the Reason can be inferred.
(c) Both Assertion and Reason can be inferred.
(d) Both Assertion and Reason cannot be inferred.

(iv) Choose the option that displays the same literary device as in the given lines of the
extract.

her face
ashen like that
of a corpse
(a) Just as I had I had this thought, she appeared and...
(b) My thoughts were as heavy as lead that evening when.....
(c) I think like everyone else who....
(d) I like to think aloud when….

(v) The mother's old age and lack of energy is a depiction of:
(a) her helplessness in old age
(b) joy and fun of old age
(c) bonding of mother with family members
(d) sickness and ill-health

(vi) The poem is made up of:

(a) twenty lines
(b) a single sentence
(c) ten stanzas
(d) five stanzas

Q.2. 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) What does the phrase 'familiar ache' mean?

(a) the pain poet had known, her fear from her youthful days
(b) the pain poet had not known, her childhood fear
(c) the pain poet had known, her childhood fear
(d) the pain poet had not known, her fear of getting old

(ii) What was the poet's childhood fear?

(a) fear of loneliness

(b) losing her toys
(c) fear of studies
(d) separation from her mother forever
(iii) What do the first two lines tell us about the poet's feelings for her mother?

(a) she loved her mother

(b) she wanted to console herself knowing her mother's falling age
(c) she knew about her mother's old age
(d) she wanted to live with her mother

(iv) Which word has been repeated in the poem? Why?

(a) The word 'smile' has been repeated thrice in the poem. The poet is very happy to know that
her mother will be fine.

(b) The word 'smile' has been repeated thrice in the poem. The poet hides her feelings with her
smile and she also reassures her mother that she will be fine.

(c) The word 'smile' has been repeated thrice in the poem. The poet hides her feelings with her
smile and she also reassures herself that mother will be fine.

(d) The word 'smile' has been repeated thrice in the poem. The poet is excited about her
mother's good health.

(v) In the poem, My Mother at Sixty-six, all that the poet did was smile and smile and
smile..., Her smile is:

(a) sudden, in response to her mother's

(b) meaningful and loaded with love
(c) accompanied with tears of farewell
(d) put on to cheer her mother

(vi) The narrator is only using her smile to:

(a) cover up her pain

(b) make herself happy
(c) make her mother happy
(d) make her father happy

II. Short Answers:

1. Imagery was an effective literary device to bring out the contrast between the "merry
children" and mother. Comment.

The poet has used the image of merry children spilling out of their homes to bring a contrast
between the old age and childhood. Her mother's pale, colourless face stands for old and fading
age. Merry children symbolise the spring of life, vigour and happiness. They also symbolize the
spontaneity of life in contrast to the passive and inactive life of her aged mother.

2. Why are the young trees described as sprinting?

The young trees running spiritedly in the opposite direction stand in sharp contrast to the
poetess' aged and pale-looking mother. The trees symbolize youth and life, whereas the old
mother represents old age and is moving towards the grave. They symbolise the quick passage
of time that has brought old age to her.

3. Why has the mother been compared to the 'late winter moon'?

4. What did Kamala Das think when she looked at her mother?

5. What were the poet's feelings as she drove to Kochi Airport?

III. Long Answers:

1. Imagine you are the poet's friend. Write a dialogue exchange between yourself and the
poet where the latter confides in you about her fears and asks for your advice. What
would your advice be -to face her fears, to ignore them or something else?

Poet: Hi, how are you doing?

Friend: I am good, but you are not your usual self. What happened? You seem lost somewhere
else.

Poet: I met my mother over the weekend. She is just sixty-six but was looking older than her
age.

Friend: O, they all look like that. My father is only fifty-nine but he already looks like seventy.

Poet: Not only that, but her health was also ….………………………….

(Note: Continue the conversation atleast with 3 to 4 dialogues)

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

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