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    My Mother at Sixty-Six by Kamala Das: Poem With Word Meanings, Poetic Devices and RTC Questions: Stanza 1

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    vanshika singla
    The poem describes the poet's mother dozing beside her with an ashen, corpse-like face as they drive to Cochin. Seeing her mother looking so old pains the poet, but she pushes the thought away and looks out at young, sprinting trees and happy children instead. After an airport security check, the poet looks at her mother again and sees her looking wan and pale like a late winter's moon, bringing back the poet's childhood fear for her mother and an old familiar ache. The poet bids her mother goodbye saying "see you soon" with three smiles, the parting words suggesting the poet's underlying sadness at her mother's aging.

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    My Mother at Sixty-Six by Kamala Das: Poem With Word Meanings, Poetic Devices and RTC Questions: Stanza 1

    Uploaded by

    vanshika singla
    2K views2 pages
    The poem describes the poet's mother dozing beside her with an ashen, corpse-like face as they drive to Cochin. Seeing her mother looking so old pains the poet, but she pushes the thought away and looks out at young, sprinting trees and happy children instead. After an airport security check, the poet looks at her mother again and sees her looking wan and pale like a late winter's moon, bringing back the poet's childhood fear for her mother and an old familiar ache. The poet bids her mother goodbye saying "see you soon" with three smiles, the parting words suggesting the poet's underlying sadness at her mother's aging.

    Original Description:

    class 12 notes

    Original Title

    My Mother at Sixty class 12 poem

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    The poem describes the poet's mother dozing beside her with an ashen, corpse-like face as they drive to Cochin. Seeing her mother looking so old pains the poet, but she pushes the thought away and looks out at young, sprinting trees and happy children instead. After an airport security check, the poet looks at her mother again and sees her looking wan and pale like a late winter's moon, bringing back the poet's childhood fear for her mother and an old familiar ache. The poet bids her mother goodbye saying "see you soon" with three smiles, the parting words suggesting the poet's underlying sadness at her mother's aging.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2K views2 pages

    My Mother at Sixty-Six by Kamala Das: Poem With Word Meanings, Poetic Devices and RTC Questions: Stanza 1

    Uploaded by

    vanshika singla
    The poem describes the poet's mother dozing beside her with an ashen, corpse-like face as they drive to Cochin. Seeing her mother looking so old pains the poet, but she pushes the thought away and looks out at young, sprinting trees and happy children instead. After an airport security check, the poet looks at her mother again and sees her looking wan and pale like a late winter's moon, bringing back the poet's childhood fear for her mother and an old familiar ache. The poet bids her mother goodbye saying "see you soon" with three smiles, the parting words suggesting the poet's underlying sadness at her mother's aging.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    My Mother at Sixty-Six

    By Kamala Das

    Poem with word meanings ,poetic devices and RTC questions:

    Stanza 1
    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 
     
    Word meanings:
    1. Beside: alongside
    2. Doze: nap
    3. Ashen: pale
    4. Corpse: dead body
     
    Literary Devices:
     
    1. Assonance: Use of vowel sound ‘o’,’a’, ‘e’ (doze, open mouthed, her face ashen like
    that of a corpse)
    2. 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)
     
    RTC Questions:
    1. What was the poet driving to?
    2. Where was the poet’s mother?
    3. Why was her mother’s face looking like that of a corpse?
    4. What did the poet notice -about her mother?

    Stanza 2:
    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,
     
    Word meanings:
    1. Merry: happy
    2. Spilling: let out/ coming out
    3. Sprinting: Moving fast
    Literary Devices:
    1. Consonance: use of the sound ‘s’ and ‘t’
    2. imagery: when the poet say trees sprinting, merry children spilling
    3. Repetition:  Repeated use of ‘looked’

    RTC Questions:
    1. What worried the poet when she looked at her mother?
    2. Why was there pain in her realization?
    3. Why did she put that thought away?
    4. What do the ‘sprinting trees’ signify?
    5. What are ‘the merry children spilling out of their homes’, symbolic of?
    6. What did the poet see out of the window and what does it symbolise?
    7. Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
     
     
    Stanza3:
    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......
     
    Word meanings:
    1. Wan: dim, weak
    2. Pale: dull, colourless
    3. Ache: pain
     
     Literary Devices:
    1. Repetition: use of ‘smile’
    2. Rhyme scheme - The poem does not follow any rhyme or rhythm. It has been written
    in free verse.
    3. Simile: Mother’s face is compared to the late winter’s moon - both are dull and
    lifeless. use of ‘as’ (as a late winter’s moon).
    4. Irony: in the words, see you soon Amma.
    RTC Questions:

    1. What do the first two lines tell us about the poet’s feelings for her mother?
    2. Why did the poet look at her mother again? What did she observe?
    3. Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
    4. What does the phrase, ‘familiar ache’ mean?
    5. What was the childhood fear that now troubled the poet?
    6. What Are the ironical elements present in the words “see you soon,Amma’
    7. What does the repeated use of the word, ‘smile’ mean?/What do the poet’s parting
    words suggest?

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