Revision 3 CBSE CLASS 12 BOOK Flamingo Poem My Mother at Sixty Six by Kamala Das

My Mother at Sixty-Six 

I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open-mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realized with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away

 Q1 The figure of speech used in the above verse is

(a) metaphor

(b) anaphora

(c) onomatopoeia

(d) simile

2 What was the poet’s childhood fear?

a. Losing her mother
b. speeding vehicles
c. Shifting to a new city
d. fear of growing up

3 The phrase ‘old familiar ache’ has been used to refer to a fear, in this extract. This phrase can also be used to 

 a) compare physical pain with mental agony.

 b) elicit someone’s unanswered queries.  

c) substantiate reasons for aches and pains. 

d) describe a longing one has been aware of. 

4 The tone of the poet in the poem is primarily a combination of _________ and ________. 

1. dauntlessness  

2. apprehension  

3. dejection  

4. disappointment 

 a) 1,  2   b)  2, 3    c)    3, 4  d) 1, 4

(B) 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, 

 1 Why does the poetess look at ‘young trees ‘and ‘merry children’?

(a)to put her thoughts away

(b)she  is a poet

c)   she was getting late

(d)the mother was old

 2 Which poetic device is used in “Trees sprinting-”?

a) metaphor

b) simile

c) alliteration

d) Personification

3What is the most likely reason the poet capitalised ‘Young Trees’?  This was to

 a) convey a clearer meaning.  

b) highlight the adj.-noun combination.  

c) enhance the contrast.  

d) draw a connection with the title. 

(C) 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......

1 Just as the brightness of the winter’s moon is veiled behind the haze and mist, similarly, __________________.

 a) the pain of separation has shaded the mother’s expression. 

b) age has fogged the mother’s youthful appearance. 

c) growing up has developed a seasoned maturity in the poet.

 d) memories warm the heart like the pale moon in winter. 

2 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.  

3 The word in the above verse that means 'colourless ' is

(a)familiar 

(b)wan

(c)pale

(d)ache

(a) What thought did the poet drive away from her mind?
(b) What did she see when she looked out of the car?
(c) How do you know that the joyful scene didn’t help her drive away the painful thought from her mind?
(d) What are the merry children symbolic of? 
(a) Which thought did the poet put away?
(b) What do the ‘sprinting trees’ signify?
(c) What are “the merry children spilling out of their homes”, symbolic of?
(d) Why does the poet make use of the images of ‘young trees sprinting’ and ‘merry children spilling’? 
or
(a) Who looked out at the young trees?
(b) Which thought did she put away?
(c) What do young sprinting trees signify?
(d) Why are the trees described as sprinting? 

Poetic devices used in the poem 

1. Simile: it is the comparison of two things by using as or like. . “her face ashen like that of a corpse”, “as a late winter’s moon”.
2. Personification: When we give human characteristics to animals or plants or non-living things. e.g. “trees sprinting”. 
3. Alliteration: It is the repetition of the consonant sounds in a line of a poem.  “my mother”,  “I said was, see you soon”.
4. imagery: when the poet says. 'trees sprinting,' 'merry children spilling'Imagery was an effective literary device to bring out the contrast between the “merry children” and mother. 

(Describe the appearance of the poet's mother.

HINTS

 late winter‟s moon 

 Her pale, bloodless, and wrinkled  face resembles that of a corpse 

 She has no vigor and energy left in her. Her mother’s face had lost all its glow and colour. It was nearly lifeless.     She looks wan and pale 

 The sprinting trees and merry children are happy and young

  They present a contrast to the mother‟s pain and old age and the poet‟s worry and fear.   They symbolize youth, vigour, and spring whereas the mother is old and frail.

 “That old familiar ache” refers to the agony and pain of separation from her mother that the poet felt in her childhood, as she feared that she might iose her mother.