Previous Year Questions: Poem - My Mother at Sixty Six

CBSE Previous Year Questions 2025    

Extract-Based Questions 

Q1. Read the following extracts and answer the questions: 

Extract: 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, and 
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling 
out of their homes ......," (6 Marks)

Q.1. (i) Complete the following suitably:The expressions 'doze' and 'open mouthed' are used by the poet to indicate the poet's mother's _______.

Answer: physical frailty and the exhaustion associated with her advanced age.

Solution: The poet uses these specific descriptive words to highlight her mother's state of weakness and lack of vitality. "Dozing" with an "open mouth" is a posture typical of the elderly in deep sleep, emphasizing her loss of energy and making her appear pale and lifeless, similar to a "corpse".

(ii) Give the phrase that suggests the following.The image of exuberance and youthfulness affects the poet's thoughts.

Answer: "Young Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes".

Solution: To distract herself from the "pain" of seeing her mother's ageing and corpse-like face, the poet looks out of the window. The "sprinting" trees and "merry children" represent life, energy, and the fast-paced nature of time, which stands in sharp contrast to the stillness and decay she perceives in her mother.

(iii)What does the imagery of 'Trees sprinting' not represent in the given extract?(A) energy (B) liveliness (C) shade (D) vitality

Answer: (C) shade

Solution: In the context of the poem, the "sprinting" of trees is a metaphorical representation of the rapid passage of time and the vibrant energy of youth (vitality and liveliness). While trees do provide "shade" in a literal sense, this poem uses them specifically to create a contrast of movement and life against the mother's impending end; therefore, "shade" is not what the imagery represents here.

(iv)Select the correct option from those given in the brackets, to fill in the blank.The poet's use of the phrase 'ashen like that of a corpse', illustrates the poet's use of ________ (irony/imagery).

Answer: imagery

Solution: The poet employs vivid descriptive language to create a powerful visual of her mother's pale, bloodless face. By comparing her to a corpse, the poet uses "imagery" to evoke a sense of death and decay, making the reader "see" the mother's condition through the poet's eyes.

(v) Choose the correct option:The poet is unable to bear the sight of her ageing mother, because:
(A) her mother had refused to accompany her 
(B) she is upset with her mother dozing off 
(C) it upsets her to see the ageing face of her mother
(D) she is in a hurry to reach the airport

Answer: (C) it upsets her to see the ageing face of her mother
Solution: The sight of her mother looking "as old as she looked" with a face like a "corpse" brings back the poet's "old familiar ache" and "childhood's fear" of losing her mother. This realization of her mother's mortality is too painful for her to process, leading her to "put that thought away".

(vi) Read the assertion and the reason below, with reference to the given extract.
Assertion: The mother was accompanying her daughter to the airport.
Reason: The daughter was leaving her mother behind and flying off.
Choose the correct option regarding their relationship:
(A) Both the assertion and the reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.
 (B) Both the assertion and the reason are true, but the reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion. 
(C) The assertion is true, but the reason is false. 
(D) The assertion is false, but the reason is true.

Answer: (A) Both the assertion and the reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.

Solution: The poem begins with the poet driving from her "parent's home to Cochin" for a flight. The mother is "beside me" in the car because she is seeing her daughter off at the airport before the daughter departs, which explains why they are together during this emotional journey.

CBSE Previous Year Questions 2024

Short Answer Type Questions 

Q.1. It is said that the child is hidden in the mother's smile. Substantiate this?  (2 Marks)

Answer: In the poem, the poet's smile is a conscious effort to hide her intense "childhood's fear" of losing her mother to old age and death. Just as a child might hide their anxiety behind a simple gesture, the poet uses her smile as a mask to cover her emotional pain and reassure both herself and her mother during their parting.
Solution: This question is worth 2 marks, requiring a 40-50 word response. The answer is correct because it identifies the "smile" as a defensive mechanism to conceal the "familiar ache" mentioned in the source.

Q.2. 'See you soon Amma.' How are these words contrary to the speaker's emotions?  (2 Marks)

Answer: These words are contrary to the speaker's emotions because, while she says "see you soon" to offer hope and reassurance, she is actually gripped by the "pain" and "fear" that she might not see her mother again. Her mother's face appears "ashen like that of a corpse," indicating a frail state that makes the poet deeply anxious about her mother's mortality.
Solution: For 2 marks, the solution highlights the contrast between the optimistic verbal parting and the internal "ache" of realizing the mother's advanced age and proximity to death as described in the text.

Long Answer Type Questions 

Q.3. Write a comparative analysis for your study group focusing on how the poems "Keeping Quiet" and "My Mother at Sixty-six" illuminate the different facets of human introspection and the significance of quiet reflection in understanding oneself.  (5 Marks)

Answer: Both "Keeping Quiet" and "My Mother at Sixty-six" explore introspection, but through different lenses. In "My Mother at Sixty-six," Kamala Das engages in a painful, personal introspection triggered by the sight of her aging mother. Her reflection is a "single thread of thought" that forces her to confront the harsh reality of mortality and her own childhood fears.

Conversely, Pablo Neruda's "Keeping Quiet" advocates for a universal, "exotic moment" of stillness to interrupt the "sadness of never understanding ourselves". While Das's introspection is an emotional reaction to a loved one's frailty, Neruda suggests that quiet reflection is a necessary tool for humanity to stop its "rush" and "engines" to foster mutual understanding and avoid self-destruction. Together, the poems show that reflection can be both an involuntary response to personal grief and a voluntary path toward global peace and self-awareness.

Q.4. How do imagery and symbolism in the poems "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" and "My Mother at Sixty-six" offer insights into relationships? Write a diary entry expressing your thoughts.  (5 Marks)

Answer: Dear Diary, I read the two poems today and realized how deeply imagery reflects the complexities of human relationships. In "My Mother at Sixty-six," the "late winter's moon" symbolises the mother's fading vitality, highlighting a relationship marked by the "ache" of impending separation and the burden of witnessing a parent's decline.

In contrast, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" uses the "massive weight of Uncle's wedding band" to symbolise the oppressive constraints of a difficult marriage. While the first poem deals with the pain of losing a bond to time, the second deals with being "mastered by" a bond's ordeals. The "prancing tigers" represent the freedom Aunt Jennifer lacks in her actual relationship, just as the "merry children" in Kamala Das's poem represent the youth and life that is slipping away from the poet's mother. Both poems use these symbols to show how relationships can be defined by either the fear of loss or the weight of duty.

Extract-Based Questions 

Q.4. Read the following extract and answer the questions:  (6 Marks)
"I saw my mother, 
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face 
ashen like that 
of a corpse and realized with
Pain
that she was as old as she 
looked but soon
put that thought away, and 
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling 
out of their homes.

(i) The phrase 'ashen like that of a corpse' gives the impression that the mother is
​(A) frustrated 
(B) depressed 
(C) dead
(D) weak

Answer: (D) weak
Solution: The term "ashen" and the comparison to a "corpse" are used to describe the mother's pale, lifeless appearance due to old age, indicating extreme physical frailty or weakness.

(ii) State whether the following statement is True or False, with reference to the extract.
​"The mother was suffering from some fatal disease."

Answer: False
Solution: The text states the poet realised her mother "was as old as she looked," implying her condition is a result of the "natural process" of ageing rather than a specific disease.

(iii) Which of the following themes is best represented in the given extract?
​(A) Life is short and one must enjoy it 
(B) Ageing and Mortality 
(C) Sleeping and Playing 
(D) Art of Parenting

Answer: (B) Ageing and Mortality
Solution: The extract focuses on the poet's painful realisation of her mother's physical decline ("ashen like that of a corpse") and the inevitable passage of time.

(iv) Pick the option in which the word 'spilling' is used in the same sense as in the extract.
​(A) Rahul was responsible for spilling the beans by telling everyone the secret. 
(B) He opened the bag, spilling all its contents on the table. 
(C) Try to keep that crowd from spilling onto the main street. 
(D) The cat spilled all the milk.

Answer: (C) Try to keep that crowd from spilling onto the main street.
Solution: In the poem, "spilling" refers to a large number of people (children) moving out of a space in an uncontrolled or lively manner, which matches the movement of a "crowd" in option C.

(v) The phrases 'Young Trees sprinting' and 'merry children spilling' represent:
​(A) Youth 
(B) Old age 
(C) Disease 
(D) Travel

Answer: (A) Youth
Solution: These images are used as a sharp contrast to the mother's "ashen" face; they represent vitality, energy, and the beginning of life.

(vi) Complete the sentence appropriately.'
She was as old as she looked.'
​The repetition of the word 'as' suggests that __________ .

Answer: there is a direct and painful correspondence between the mother's outward physical frailty and her actual advanced age.
Solution: The use of "as... as" (simile) emphasises that the mother's aged appearance is a true reflection of her stage in life, which the poet finds difficult to accept.