My Mother at Sixty-six Class 12 English Poet Kamala Das

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My Mother at Sixty-six Class 12 English Poet Kamala Das

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

Poet:  Kamala Das (known as Kamala Surayya)
Born: 31 March, 1934 Madras, British India.
Died: 31 May, 2009 Pune, India

She used Madhabikkuty, as her pen name.
She was known as poet and short story writer

Kamala Das Notable Works:

  1. My story (1976)
  2. Yaa Allah (2011)
  3. Alphabet of lust (1977)
  4. My mother at sixty- six (1999)

Awards

  • Asian poetry Prize (1998)
  • Kerala Sahitya Academy Award (1969)
  • Sahitya Academy Award (1985)

About The Poem – My Mother at Sixty-six

“My mother at sixty-six” was published in 1999. The poem is written in free verse. The poem is a representation of the melancholic feeling of the poet about her mother’s superannuation and approaching end. Suddenly she discovers the inevitable end of humans in her mother.

The Inevitable End

Every living entity in this world is subject to decay decline and death. When the poet was on her way to the airport with her mother, she realized this very truth. She could discover the signs of her mother approaching the end. Her ashen , pale, wan, and corpse-like reflected that the ultimate time is near.

Escaping The Truth

When the poet suddenly discovered her mother’s apparently corpse like body marked with her old age, pale and ashen look, she got to realize the unbearable truth. She did not want to lose her mother. She tried not to think about this may more and to deviate herself looked outside to behold the optimistic and young trees and spilling children.

Fear Of Childhood

The poet has here touched us delicately when she refers to the fear of childhood. The fear of losing her mother was aroused again when she glimpsed the impending disaster. She tried to hide her concern and fear at last and tried to make her mother happy by smiling and waving her hand.

Some Important Questions

  1. Establish the poem “My Mother at Sixty Six” to be melancholic one.
  2. ‘Every living being meets the horns of death’. How is this depicted in the poem?
  3. How was the mother looking when the poet took her in her car?
  4. What does the last line imply?
  5. What do the Children and young sprinting trees signify?
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