"My Mother at Sixty-Six" is a beautiful poem written by Kamala Das. The poem talks about the speaker's mother who is sixty-six years old and is sitting beside her in a car. The speaker sees her mother's aged face and becomes emotional. The poem is full of figures of speech that enhance its beauty and emotional impact.


The poem begins with a simile where the speaker compares her mother's face to a "pale winter moon." This simile creates an image of the mother's face, which is pale and almost lifeless, just like the moon's face on a winter night.


The speaker then uses a metaphor when she says, "I watched my mother's face withered by age, / falling prey to time." Here, the mother's face is compared to a prey that falls victim to time. This metaphor highlights the inevitability of aging and how it affects everyone.


The poem also features personification when the speaker says, "the merry children spilling out of their homes, / Spilling out toys and woes alike." Here, the children are given the human quality of being merry, and their toys and woes are described as if they are alive and can spill out of their homes.


The poem also uses alliteration when the speaker says, "her face ashen like that / Of a corpse and eyes that have forgotten to blink." The repetition of the "f" sound in "face" and "ashen" and the "i" sound in "eyes" and "forgotten" creates a musical effect that adds to the poem's emotional impact.


In conclusion, "My Mother at Sixty-Six" is a poem full of figures of speech that enhance its beauty and emotional impact. The simile, metaphor, personification, and alliteration used in the poem create vivid images and convey the speaker's emotions effectively. The poem is a beautiful tribute to the speaker's mother and the inevitability of aging.