Class 12 English Previous Year: Short Questions With Answers (Part- 1) - My Mother at Sixty Six

Q. 1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“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 but soon, put 
that thought away.”
(a) Name the poetess and the poem?
Ans. The poem is ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’ composed by Kamala Das.

(b) Where was she driving to?
Ans. She was driving to the Cochin Airport.

(c) How did her mother look like?
Ans. Her mother looked sick and drowsy.

(d) What thought did she put away?
Ans. She tried to put away the thought and her fear that her mother would not live long.

Q. 2. Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.
............ I saw my mother,
beside me, 
doze, open mouthed, her face 
ashen like that 
of a corpse and realised with
pain ............
(a) Who is ‘I’?
Ans. Value Points: poet / Kamala Das / poetess / narrator / daughter.
Detailed Answer: ‘I’ here is Kamala Das, the poetess.

(b) What did ‘I’ realise with pain?
Ans. Realised with pain that mother nearing old age / mom’s death / separation from mother.
Detailed Answer : She realised with pain that her mother had grown old.

(c) Why was the realisation painful?
Ans. Value Points:
 – The mother’s approaching death was a hard fact for her to accept
– thoughts of separation from her mother made the poet sad.
Detailed Answer: The realisation was painful because she might not live for a very long time.

(d) Identify and name the figure of speech used in these lines.
Ans. Value Points: – simile – e.g. ‘ashen like that of a corpse’
Detailed Answer: The figure of speech used is Simile. e.g. ‘ashen like that of a corpse’.

Q. 3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
…….. but soon,
Put that thought away and
Looked out at young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
Out of their homes, ……
(a) What thought did the poet drive away from her mind?
Ans. The poet put the thought of her impending death.

(b) What did she see when she looked out of the car?
Ans. She saw sprinting trees, happy children coming out of their homes to enjoy themselves.

(c) How do you know that the joyful scene didn’t help her drive away the painful thought from her mind?
Ans. The poet looked again at her mother’s face and experienced the old familiar ache.

(d) What does the phrase ‘trees sprinting’ signify?
Ans. The phrase ‘trees sprinting’ signifies time, which has passed at a fast pace.

Q. 4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
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 
and all I did was smile and smile and smile… …
(a) Who looked pale and wan?
Ans. The poet’s mother looked pale and wan

(b) What was the speaker’s familiar ache?
Ans. The speaker’s ache was fear of being separated from her mother due to her growing age and death.

(c) Explain ‘as a late winter’s moon’.
Ans. Mother has lost her brightness and strength due to her old age just as the winter moon is hazy and obscure.

(d) Name the poem and the poet.
Ans. Poem is ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’ and the poet is Kamala Das.

OR

(a) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
Ans. The fear was separation from her mother / loss of her mother / mother’s death.

(b) Why is the mother compared to a late winter’s moon?
Ans. To refer to her pale and wan appearance / to emphasize the paleness of the mother’s face.

(c) What were the poet’s parting words?
Ans. They were “See you soon, Amma.”

(d) What does her smile signify?
Ans. Signifies her attempt to hide her fear from her mother / attempt to reassure her mother.

Q. 5. Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.
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 ....
(a) What does the phrase, ‘familiar ache’ mean?
Ans. Value Points: Pain / fear / pain that mother was growing old / fear of separation.
Detailed Answer : It means that the sight of her mother revived the poet’s old, childhood fear.

(b) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
Ans. Value Points: Her mother would get old / die / final separation from mother.
Detailed Answer: Her childhood fear was of being separated from her mother.

(c) What do the first two lines tell us about the poet’s feelings for her mother?
Ans. Value Points: Loved her / pained at seeing the mother growing old / fear of losing her mother.
Detailed Answer: The first two lines tell us that she wanted to console herself.

(d) Which word has been repeated in the poem?
Ans. Value Points: Hides her feelings from her mother / reassures herself that mother will be fine.
Detailed Answer: Smile

Q. 6. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
............ my childhood’s fear
but all I said was, see you soon,
Amma, all I did was smile and
smile ..........
(a) What was ‘my childhood’s fear’?
Ans. Her childhood fear was being separated from her mother.

(b) Who is ‘I’?
Ans. ‘I’ is the poetess, Kamala Das.
OR
What were the poet’s parting words?
Ans. ‘See you soon, Amma’.

(c) Why did the narrator smile repeatedly?
Ans. The narrator smiled repeatedly to hide her fear of losing her mom.

(d) What is the poetic device used in these lines?
Ans. Repetition/Simile.