Class: XII

Subject: English Core

Chapter: My Mother at Sixty-Six(Poem); Book: Flamingo
Sub topic/ Pages: 90-91
Learning Objectives:
• to understand and appreciate poetry.
• to interpret the poem.
• to identify poetic devices used.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Interpreting the Poem

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
and realised with
pain
that she was as old as she
looked
Explanation:
The poet was going to the Cochin Airport. She was probably in a taxi or car.
She was accompanied by her aged mother. The mother looked very old, older
than her age. During the journey the mother slipped into a doze. Her mouth
remained open like that of a dead body. Moreover, her face had lost its colour
and she was in poor health. Her face was colourless, ashen. Her mother’s frail
and sickly appearance pained the poet.
2. but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,
Explanation:
To drive away the painful thought that her mother was getting old and might die
anytime, the poet looked out of the car. She saw young trees on the roadside,
which appeared to be running in the opposite direction. She also saw a group of
children, merrily rushing out of their homes to play.

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 and felt that
old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,

Explanation:
After the poet passes through the security check at the airport, she once again
looks at her mother, who is standing a few yards away. The poet notices with
pain that her mother’s face looks pale and colourless like the late winter’s
moon. She presents a picture of ageing and illness. The poet experiences the
same pain that she used to experience in her childhood, while being parted from
her mother.

1. but all I said was, see you soon,

Amma, all I did was smile and smile and
smile......

Explanation:
The poet, while parting, smiled and said to her mother that she would see her
soon. This suggests that though she was aware that her mother was quite old
and weak, she could not do anything about it. She could not communicate her
true feelings to her mother.
She kept smiling because she wanted to hide her fears from her mother. She was
reassuring her mother and herself that they would meet again.

ASSIGNMENT 3: To be done in the notebook or file paper, if the former is

unavailable. Use a pencil and ruler to draw the table properly.
Match the expressions given in Column A with the correct poetic devices in
Column B. The same option may be used more than once.

Column A Column B

a) her face ashen Personification

like that of a corpse
b)Young Repetition
Trees sprinting
c) pale Metaphor
as a late winter’s moon
d) all I did was smile and smile and Simile
smile......

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