Summary: Poem 1 - My Mother at Sixty Six

Key Points of the Poem

• My Mother at Sixty-Six is a short, evocative poem written by Kamala Das.
• The poem focuses on the intimate, emotional bond between a daughter and her ageing mother and explores the daughter's fear of losing her.
• The poet uses everyday incident - a car journey to the airport - to record a sudden realisation about mortality and the passage of time.
• The poem relies on contrasts: the vigour of the outside world (young trees, playing children) and the frailty of the mother inside the car.
• Key images and phrases include the mother's "ashEN, open-mouthed" face (likened briefly to a corpse), the "sprinting" trees, and the repeated injunction to "smile and smile and smile". The farewell words "See you soon, Amma" capture hope amid anxiety.

About the Poet

Kamala Das (also known as Kamala Surayya) was an important Indian poet who wrote candidly about personal life, relationships and identity. Her style is often described as confessional: she uses direct, conversational language to express intense emotion and private experience. Her poems commonly employ vivid everyday images to explore larger themes such as love, loss and the passage of time.

Detailed Summary  

The poem opens with the daughter (the narrator) sitting beside her sleeping mother as they drive to the airport. The mother is described as dozing with her mouth slightly open and her face ashen - an image that unexpectedly makes the narrator think of a corpse. This sudden, frightening association forces the narrator to confront the reality of old age and mortality in the person she loves.

To steady herself the narrator turns away from the mother and looks out of the car window. The sight of trees rushing past, young leaves in bright green and merry children spilling out of their homes reminds her of life, youth and movement. These external images form a sharp contrast with the frailty of her mother and prompt the narrator to remember the mother's earlier youth and beauty. The contrast between the energetic world outside and the weary figure of the mother inside the car deepens the narrator's sadness.

At the airport, as they prepare to part, the narrator watches her mother against the dimming evening light and compares the mother's faint smile to the moon on a late winter night - the moonlight is present, but faint and obscured by haze. The simile suggests how age has dimmed the glow that was once bright. The thought of separation fills the narrator with fear and anxiety; she is terrified by the possibility of losing her mother unexpectedly. Still, she checks her tears, forces herself to hide her anguish and smiles repeatedly so as not to upset her mother. She says a gentle farewell, "See you soon, Amma", and wishes her mother life and happiness.

The poem ends on a note of guarded hope: the narrator continues to smile to conceal her pain and to spare her mother sorrow, while internally she carries the fear of separation and an awareness of the cycle of life - birth, youth, ageing and death.

Conclusion

My Mother at Sixty-Six is a compact but emotionally rich poem that uses a small, everyday scene to meditate on ageing, mortality and the tender responsibilities of love. Through simple language, precise imagery and subtle contrasts, Kamala Das captures the narrator's sudden awareness of loss and her effort to respond with quiet strength. The poem teaches the reader to notice how ordinary moments can reveal deep truths about life and the human heart.

Literary Devices

• Imagery: Vivid sensory images are central. The mother's pale, open mouth and the comparison to a corpse present a stark visual. The green trees and merry children create lively, contrasting images of youth and movement.
• Simile and Metaphor: The mother's faint smile is compared to the "late-winter moon" - present but dimmed - which works as a metaphor for old age and the fading of earlier brightness.
• Personification: The trees are described as "sprinting" past, giving them human-like energy that emphasises the life and motion outside the car.
• Repetition: The phrase "smile and smile and smile" is repeated to stress the narrator's deliberate effort to keep up a cheerful appearance despite inner sorrow.

Difficult Words

• Driving - operating a car, steering
• Doze - nap, snooze
• Open-mouthed - agape; mouth slightly open
• Ashen - very pale, greyish
• Corpse - dead body
• Realised - understood, grasped
• Pain - ache, discomfort
• Sprinting - dashing, rushing
• Merry - joyful, happy
• Children - kids, youngsters
• Spilling out - emerging, overflowing
• Standing - upright, on feet
• Yards - units of length (three feet)
• Wan - pale, weak
• Pale - light in colour, not dark
• Late - delayed, not on time
• Old - not young; aged
• Familiar - known, recognised
• Ache - pain, discomfort