NCERT Solutions for Class 12

English
Poem- My Mother at Sixty-Six

Before you read:

1. Ageing is a natural process; have you ever thought about what our
elderly parents expect from us?
Ans: Old age is often considered parallel to loneliness. They lack the
company of people of their age as well as young individuals along with the
physical inabilities that old age has. They often end up developing pessimistic
approaches towards life which can be shunned only if we provide them with
love, care, importance, and empathy. Small moments of happiness will
encourage them to live their lives enthusiastically.

Think it out

1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Ans: While leaving her parent's home the poet's eyes fell on her mother's
pallid face. For the poet, the 'ashen' face of her mother, which was also
deprived of all its vitality and colour, bore resemblance to a corpse. She
realized that over the past decades her mother had grown old and was nearing
her death. Such thoughts make her nostalgic and she starts recollecting
fragments of her childhood memories from the underlying fear of losing her.
The idea of staying away from her mother deeply distressed her. Even the
smile on her face was an expression of her helplessness, which was inevitable.

2. Why are the young trees described as 'sprinting'?

Ans: While driving to the airport the poet was worried about her mother. She
was worried that she was getting older and approaching her end. She looks
out from the window of the cab, to distract herself from the thoughts, at the
young trees which almost appear to be sprinting. Viewing the trees from the
moving cab created an illusion of them almost running past them. The
sprinting of the trees symbolizes the pace at which time passes. We start as
infants and in no time, with happy and bitter memories harboured in our
hearts, we reach old age. This image, which shows activity and strength, is
contrasted with that of her old and weak mother who seems dormant and is

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sleeping in the car. The 'young' trees represent life in contrast to her mother's
approaching death.

3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children 'spilling
out of their homes?
Ans: The poem brings forth the contrasting image of life and death in various
instances. The merry children symbolize liveliness, happiness, beauty, and
vigor, characteristics we tend to lose during old age. The children are
enjoying their youthful age playing outdoors while the mother is inside the
taxi, fast asleep because of tiredness. She is nearing her death and has become
weak and withered. The poet has juxtaposed the two and has made the sharp
contrast between them evident. Childhood is the beginning of our life journey
on earth while old age is the end chapter of it.

4. Why has the mother been compared to the 'late winter's moon'?
Ans: With age, we as human beings tend to lose all the vitality and
youthfulness that we had during youthful age. The simile ‘late winter moon’
indicates the approaching death and old age of the mother. With age her face
is filled with freckles, marks, and wrinkles and looks like the surface of the
moon. Winter is the last season of the year and is characteristic of dormancy,
laziness, and lifelessness, like old age. All these natural elements resemble her
mother who has lost all her strength and beauty and looks 'wan' and 'pale' to
the poet. The poet’s mother is gradually progressing to her end after being in
the last stage of her journey on earth.

5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Ans: The poet's parting words, "see you soon, Amma," states her heart’s keen
desire and wish to see her mother again when she returns. She wants her to
live more but her physical state says otherwise. This also signifies the regret
she has in her heart for leaving her mother alone at such a delicate time in her
life. Her inability to be physically present for her pinches her heart and she
suppressed it with her smile. We all are helpless before nature. It expresses
her love and concern for her mother along with the underlying pain and
struggle that she was undergoing while coming to terms with this bitter
realisation.

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