Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Flamingo Chapter 1 My Mother Sixty-Six Poems Free PDF Download
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English
My Mother Sixty-Six Text Questions and Answers
think while reading questions
Question 1.
What kind of pain and suffering does the poet feel?
Answer:
Whenever the poetess looks at her mother’s colorless and pale face, her old familiar pain comes up and she realizes that her mother is growing old and will soon die.
Question 2.
Why are young trees called ‘sprinting’? [Delhi 2010]Answer:
Young trees have been described as “sprinting” because when we view them from a moving car, they
They seem to be running fast in the opposite direction.
Question 3.
Why has the poet brought the image of happy children coming out of these houses?
Answer:
The image of happy children ‘coming out of their house’ suggests the idea of youth and beauty in contrast to the ashy pale face of the poet’s aged mother. This image emphasizes the fact that the old mother has lost vitality, energy, attractiveness, beauty and youth.
Question 4.
Why is mother compared to the winter moon? [Foreign 2011. Delhi 2013]Answer:
The mother has been compared to the winter moon because she is very old and her face has turned red,
Yellow and withered. She looks very dull and lifeless, like the last moon of winter.
Question 5.
What do the poetess’s parting words and her smile represent?
Answer:
The parting words express the optimism of the poet. These words console the mother that she will soon come to meet her again. She smiles to hide the fear and pain of separation from her mother and assures her old mother of survival.
My mother is sixty-six years old – Solved Question Bank
context-to-context practice
Read the excerpts below.
Question 1.
driving past my parents
home in Cochin last Friday
In the morning I saw my mother,
beside me,
drowsy, open mouthed, his face
ashes like that
felt like a dead body
Pain
answer the following.
(a) The poetess was driving from her parents’ house towards Cochin. (right wrong)
(B) The poetess was sleeping with her mouth open near her mother. (right wrong)
(c) On which day does the incident of the poem take place?
(d) According to the poet, which color describes the color of the dead body?
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) wrong
(c) Friday morning
(d) ash
Question 2.
…I saw my mother,
beside me,
drowsy, open mouthed, his face
ashes like that
felt like a dead body
Pain…
answer the following.
(A) The poetess saw her mother sitting beside her with her mouth open. (right wrong)
(b) His mother’s face looked like ashes, because his mother was a corpse. (right wrong)
(c) The poet’s mother was sitting near him and ___________.
(d) Seeing his mother near him, a painful ___________ came home to the poet.
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) wrong
(c) to sleep
(d) realization
Question 3.
…that he thought far away, and
saw but soon
put that thought away, and
looked at young
Running trees, jumping happy children
Out of their homes,…
answer the following.
(a) The poetess put aside the idea of living with her mother. (right wrong)
(b) The young trees appeared to be ___________.
(c) The happy children were out of their homes.
(d) The poet kept ___________ away during the journey?
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) running
(c) spilling
(d) his idea
Question 4.
…I looked at him again, Van,
fade
As the late winter moon and felt her
Old
The familiar pain, the fear of my childhood.
answer the following.
(a) When the poet looked at his mother, she looked pale and pale. (right wrong)
(b) What kind of pain arose in the poet’s mind due to a childish apprehension?
(c) The poet’s mother’s face looked ___________ yellow as the moon.
(d) The reference to a fear comes from the poet’s ___________.
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) childish
(c) winter
(d) childhood
Question 5.
Old
Familiar pain, my childhood fear, [Delhi 2016]But I just said, see you soon,
Anima,
I just smiled and smiled and
Smile…
answer the following.
(a) The poet uses the words ‘old familiar pain’ to describe a painful, persistent thought. (right wrong)
(b) The familiar pain transformed into a childish fear in the mind of the poet. (right wrong)
(c) The poetess’s parting words to her mother were: ‘See you ___________, Amma’.
(d) What did the poet do when she was separated from her mother?
Answer:
(Truthful
(b) wrong
(c) soon
(d) smile
Question 6.
…and it felt like this
Old
Familiar pain, my childhood fear,
But I just said, see you soon,
Mother,
I just smiled and smiled and smiled…
(a) The poet’s parting words indicate passion. (right wrong)
(b) The poet smiled to hide his childhood.
(c) ‘Familiar pain’ had been troubling the poet since his ___________.
(d) What familiar thing did the poet feel?
Answer:
(A) wrong
(b) fear
(c) childhood
(d) pain
My Mother at the Age of Sixty-Six Short Questions and Answers
Question 1.
What were the poet’s feelings at the airport? How did he hide them?
Answer:
The poetess was filled with pain and fear of separation from her old mother. The fear of losing his mother began to haunt him. But he said goodbye to his mother with a smile to give her hope to survive and meet again.
Question 2.
Why is youth described in spring? [Delhi 2017]Answer:
Youth are called spring because they are full of energy and vitality. They represent vibrant youth. The poetess is trying to compare her old and senile mother with the energetic youth.
Question 3.
What was Kamla Das’s fear in childhood? Why does this come up when she is going to the airport?
Answer:
In her childhood, the poetess was always afraid of being separated from her mother. There was a feeling of insecurity and fear of losing my mother. That childhood fear resurfaced when, on her way to the airport, she looked at her mother’s pale and withered face. She realized that her mother was growing old and that she might soon lose her.
Question 4.
What does the poet’s smile represent in the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty’? [CBSE 2018]Answer:
The poet was really very sad. But she did not want to show her fear to her mother so she was smiling. His smile was just a show. He feared losing his mother soon.
Question 5.
How does Kamala Das try to dispel the thoughts of her old mother?
Answer:
To drive away thoughts of her old mother, the poet begins to look out the car window at young trees running, happy children running out of their houses.
Question 6.
After looking at her mother, why does Kamala Das look at the small children? [All India 2017]Answer:
Kamala Das looked at her mother and painfully realized that she had grown old and was moving towards death. To divert her attention she started looking at the small children playing outside the window.
Question 7.
What was Kamla Das’s childhood fear? [All India 2017]Answer:
Kamala Das had been afraid since childhood that one day she would lose her mother and looking at her old face, she felt sad at the thought of separation.
Question 8.
Why does the poet repeatedly use the word ‘smile’ in the last line of the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty’? [All India 2017]Answer:
To hide her feelings, the poet has repeatedly used the word ‘smile’ in the last line. She tries to give hope to her old mother by telling her that they will meet again.
