My Mother at Sixty Six Class 12 Important Questions Answers for AHSEC 2023

My Mother at Sixty Six Class 12 Important Questions Answers for AHSEC 2023: My Mother at sixty six is a poem from class 12 NCERT English main text book Flamingo. My Mother at sixty six is written by poet Kamala Das. Here you'll get My Mother at Sixty Six Class 12 Important Questions Answers for AHSEC 2023.

My Mother at Sixty Six HS 2nd Year Important Questions Answers AHSEC 2023

Q1. Read the following extracts and answers the questions that follow. 

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. (AHSEC 2012, 2019)

(a) Where was the speaker driving to ? 1

Ans: The poet was driving from her parent’s home to Cochin airport.

(b) What did she notice when her mother sat beside her ? 1

Ans: When her mother sat beside her then she noticed that she was dozing/ sleeping lightly. Her mouth was open and her face looked ashen/pale like a corpse/dead body.

(c) Find two words from the passage that mean' sleep lightly' and 'dead body'. 1

Ans: sleep lightly --- doze, and dead body --- corpse

(d) Why was her mother's face like that of a corpse ? 1

Ans: Her mother’s face was ashen, pale, dull and totally colourless, so it was like that of a corpse.

2. 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. (AHSEC 2014)

(i) What did the speaker do after the security check ? 

Ans: After the security check the poet looked again at her mother's face which looked pale and wan.

(ii) Why did the poet compare her mother's face to a late winter's moon ? 

Ans: The poet's mother has been compared to late winters moon because as the late winter's moon looks pale and ash like so has the poet's mother turned pale because of growing old.

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

Ans: The poet's childhood fear was that she would lose her mother one day either soon or late.

Or

B. but soon  put that thought away, and 

looked out at young

trees sprinting, the merry children spilling

out of their homes, 

(i) Who looked out at the young trees ?

Ans: The poet Kamala Das looked at the young trees.

(ii) Which thought did the speaker away ? 

Ans: The speaker put away the thought of separation from her mother as her mother was growing old.

(iii) What do young sprinting trees signify ? 

Ans: The young sprinting trees signify the youthfulness of life.

3. "...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. (AHSEC 2015)

(i) What was the childhood fear that now troubled the poet ? 

Ans: The poet's childhood fear was that she would lose her mother one day either soon or late.

(ii) What do the poet's parting words suggest ? 

Ans: The poet's parting words suggest that she does not want to lose her mother.

(iii) Why did the poet smile and smile ? 

Ans: Poet smiled and smiled to hide her sadness and fear infront of her mother.

My Mother at Sixty Six HS 2nd Year Common Questions Answers AHSEC 2023

Q1. Why has the poet bought in the image of the merry children spilling out of their homes ? AHSEC 2013, 2016

Ans: The poet has bought in the image of the merry children spilling out of their homes to create a poetic effect through contrast. It is symbolic of life, merriment, vitality and joyfulness. This contrast brings the opposite and a painful realization of her mother's growing age.

Q2. What kind of pain and ache does the poet feel ? AHSEC 2014

Ans: The poet feels the familiar kind of pain and ache, which she felt in her childhood. The fear of parting with her mother and losing her.

Q3. Explain the statement "I saw my mother...Her face ashen like that of a corpse". AHSEC 2014

Ans: By this phrase, the poetess, Kamala Das explains a moment in her car when she saw her mother’s face. She mentions here that her mother’s face is ashen like a corpse or dead body.

Q4. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter's moon ? AHSEC 2015, 2017, 2020

Ans: The poet compares her mother's face to a late winters moon. Because her mother was growing old therefore her face was pale, wan, dim like the late winters moon.

Q5. What do the young sprinting trees signify ? AHSEC 2017

Or

What do the young sprinting tress signify in the poem, " My Mother at Sixty-six" ? AHSEC 2020

Ans: The young spiriting trees signify the activeness and liveliness of the environment. The poet describes the young trees as sprinting to contrast between her mother and the other active things.

Q6. What are the merry children spilling out of their homes symbolic of ? AHSEC 2018

Ans: The ‘merry children spilling out of their homes’ are symbolic of the activeness and liveliness of the environment, energy, youth, happiness, full of life etc. The poet has brought in the image of the ‘merry children spilling out of their homes’ to signify the contrast between her mother and the other active things like merry children.

Q7. What is the significance of the parting words of the speaker and her smile in My Mother at Sixty Six ? AHSEC 2019

Ans: The parting words of the poet “See you soon, Amma” signify an assurance of life and a promise of meeting again shortly. Along with this, her smile signifies the overcome of the ache and childhood fear that inside her heart.

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