This is a heart-melting poem written by an Indian poetess Kamala Das under the pen name of ‘Madhavikutty’. In this poem, she describes her feeling of love and attachment towards her mother.
The Summary of the poem “My mother at sixty-six” revolves around the relationship between a girl and her aging mother. It shows how beautiful and refined a bond a mother and a daughter can share. The poet wants to escape this harsh reality but on the other side, she knows death is inevitable and didn’t want to share this same feeling with her mother keeping a fake smile on her face she parted from her to meet her again.
My Mother At Sixty Six Summary Poet’s introduction
The poetess Kamala Das was born in Kerala and is one of India’s first poets. She is very true to her heart and pours her inner feelings out very expressively ignoring the external factors. She has written openly about female sexual desire. She spoke and wrote in many languages, also known by various names. Some of her notable works include the novel “ALPHABET OF LUST” collection of some short stories Padmavati etc.
In this poem, My Mother At Sixty Six, she has penned down her heart describing the beautiful bond between a mother and her daughter. Also lays stress on the irreparable loss after her death. Also lays stress on the irreparable loss after her death. We have also penned down NCERT Solutions of Summary of my mother at sixty-six along with some extract-based questions for students to get a better understanding of the prose.
My Mother At Sixty Six Central idea
The poem focuses on the beautiful bond shared between a daughter and her aging mother in her sixties. The poem is a short verse without a full stop containing a lot of similes and personification, imagery and repetition excluding any kind of rhyme scene.
My Mother At Sixty-Six Summary
Stanza1 Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday morning, I saw my mother, beside me,
Once after visiting her parent’s home in Cochin the poet explains that when she was driving back home her mother was sitting next to her and the poet glanced at her. The poet uses the phrase last Friday morning in order to tell that it is past now. The central theme is revealed in the very first line itself.
Stanza2 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
In the second stanza, the poet compares her mother’s miserable condition and compares her a corpse. Her mother was dozing beside her with her mouth open and her ash-like face was now pale yellow due to old age. Age was not a number but a harsh reality to accept so she quickly put the thought away by looking outside the car window. The poet senses the fear of losing her mother and it is quite excruciating.
Figure of speech
- Simile– her face like ashen
Difficult meaning
- Doze- short sleep
- Corpse- a dead body
- Ashen- pale; colorless
Stanza3 looked out at Young Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes, but after the airport’s security check, standing a few yards away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
The poet tries to explain that her mother has turned old and grown. She put away this thought by looking at young trees outside and children coming out of their houses young and energetic. She remembers her young days when her mother was youthful but now she is encircled in the fear of losing her. After reaching the airport, at the security check again she glanced at her mother to notice how her mother had turned old and pale.
Figure of speech
- Personification– trees sprinting
- Metaphor– children spilling
Difficult meanings
- Sprinting- protruding out of the ground
- Spilling- moving out in great numbers
- Wan- unnatural paleness
Stanza4 as a late winter’s moon and felt that old familiar ache, my childhood fear, but all I said was, see you soon, Amma, all I did was smile and smile and smile……
While at the security check again, gazing at her she compares her mother with the late winter’s moon which is not much radiant showing her lifeless and dull. The thought reminded her of losing her; the same thought haunts her in her happy days as a preteen.
Thus, the poet reveals that the fear of losing someone is inevitable; it is not carried by old age but remains even in our childhood. She did not want this fear on her face so she smiled and smiled again hoping to see her again even though she was in distress she kept a smile on her face.
Figure of speech
- Simile- as a late winter’s moon
- Repetition- smile and smile and smile
Difficult meanings:
- Ache- pain, pang
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 My Mother At Sixty-Six
Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday morning, 1 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
(a)Where was the poet driving to? Who was sitting beside her?
(b)What did the poet notice about her mother?
(c)Why did her mother’s face look like that of a corpse?
(d)Find words from the passage which mean :
(i) sleep lightly (ii) dead body (iii) felt.
- The poet was driving from her home to the Cochin airport. Her mother was sitting next to her.
- She noticed that her mother was dozing with her mouth open and looked pale and weak.
- Her mother’s face looked pale and weak, like a lifeless body. She looked like this as she had grown old.
- (i) doze (ii) corpse (iii) realised.
…………..She
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,
(a)What did the poet realize? How did she feel
(b) What did she do then?
(c)What did she notice in the world outside?
(d)Find words from the passage which mean: (ii) running fast (ii) happy (iii) moving out.
- Her mother was lost somewhere else in her thoughts. It is painful to see her.
- The poet withdrew her thoughts from her mother and looked outside.
- The young trees growing outside went past as if they were sprinting. Happy children were coming out of their houses.
- (i) sprinting (ii) merry (iii) spilling.
……………but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon ft and felt that 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 did the poet do after the security check?
(b)Why did the poet compare her mother’s face to a late winter’s moon?
(c)What is her childhood fear?
(d)How do the parting words of the poet and her smile present a contrast to her real feelings?
- After the security check, the poet stood at a distance from her mother and looked at her face again.
- The late winter moon lacks brightness as well as strength. The pale and colorless face of the mother takes after the late winter moon.
- The fear of aging and ultimate death/separation. From her mother.
- Her words and smiles are a deliberate attempt to hide what is going on inside. She wants to hide this fear and so she smiled and smiled.
Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
The poet feels that her mother has become pale and weak and her face is seen as a corpse. The poet has had this fear of separation since her childhood. As aging is a natural process and her mother has gradually become old and she lies on her deathbed.
Q2. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?
The poet was going to Cochin Airport and when she looked outside from her car she saw trees walking past them. And it seems that they are sprinting. She compares them with her sleeping mother.
Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes?
The poet Kamala Das has brought the image of merry children spilling out of their houses to present a contrast as it represents happiness and spontaneous flow her mother seems to be old and dozing and she looks pale and lifeless. She describes her as aging and decaying with the passage of time.
Q4. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?
Kamala Das has compared her mother with an ashen face that takes after a corpse. She has now lost her happiness and youth. She compares her with the late winter’s moon that looks hazy and blurry as her mother on her deathbed looks the same.
Q5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Her parting words and her smiling face hide the fear that she has had since her childhood. Her words and smiles are the way to hide this fear as she knows that might be she would not be able to see her again, so she smiled and smiled again.
Short Answers Questions
Q1. Where was the poet going and who was with her?
The poet Kamala Das was driving home from Cochin Airport, and her mother had come with her to bid her goodbye. She was sitting next to her in the car and dozing while her mouth was open. Driving and dozing have been used in contrast as dynamic and static activities simultaneously.
Q2. What does the poet realize with pain? Why does the poet ‘put that thought away and look outside?
The lifeless and faded face of her mother who was in the last lap of her life gives pain to the poet and to this, she puts that thought away and looks outside to avoid reality. Outside she gets a picture of happiness and dynamic activities.
Q3. Describe the world inside the car and compare it to the activities taking place outside?
Her mother looks pale, weak, and like a corpse who was in the last lap of her life. While in the moving car, she was dozing, mouth open and looking still. Outside the car, there seems to be activity around, children were spilling out, and tres were like sprinting with the moving car.
Q4. What does the poet do after the security check-up? What does she notice?
At the Airport, they had to pass through the security check; her mother was a few yards away from her. She was looking at her again and again. Her face was pale and weak like a late winter’s moon. It represents a picture of aging and decay with the passage of time.
Q5. Why is the poet’s mother compared to the late winter’s moon?
Like the late winter’s moon that looked blurred and hazy, her mother was also with spare time and looked pale, colorless, and old. She compares her face to a corpse that has lost its shine and strength.
Q6. What were Kamala Das’ fears as a child? Why do the fears surface when she is going to the airport?
Kamala Das fears that her mother would leave her alone and go away. These
fears surface now as she looks at her old mother doze with her mouth open in the car.
Q7. How can suspension of activities help?
The poet wants to prove that there can be life under apparent stillness. The poet
invokes the earth as a living symbol to prove his point. The earth never attains total
inactivity. Nature remains at work even under apparent stillness.
Q8. Why did the poet promise her mother a meeting in the near future?
The poet was doubtful of seeing her mother again. She knew that the mother was
also aware of the same. Yet, to encourage her mother, to leave hope in her mind, to
make herself strong, the poet promised a futile reunion in the future.
Q9. The poet’s repeated smile seems out of the place in a way. In which way is that appropriate?
The poet had no reason to smile at the time of separation from her aged mother.
She was deeply distressed and pained to separate from her mother when she was so
old. Yet, to make the mother feel ‘there is nothing to worry about,’ the poet attempted to be glad, and cheerful and reassured her with her extended smile.
Q10. “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 realized with pain that she was as old as she looked but soon put that thought far away,...”
1. Where is the poet at present?
The poet is on her way to Cochin Airport from her ancestral home. She is
traveling in a car with her mother sitting beside her.
2. How does she describe her mother?
Kamala Das describes her mother as old, pale, and senile. As she was asleep, the
poet noticed that her mother looked as pale and colorless as a dead body. She
seemed to have lost the vitality of life.
3. What thoughts had she given away?
The poet has put away the haunting thoughts of losing her mother.
4. Mention the poetic device used here?
Simile e.g. face ashen like that of a corpse.
Conclusion
Here, we have gone through a precise summary of a beautiful poem, “My Mother At Sixty-six,” a short poem without a full stop with overflowing thought process; reminisces of her mother and daughter bond and the poet feels that pain and weakness will very soon take away her mother comparing her with a corpse.
She remembers her youthful days and compared her with sprinting trees and relative motions outside the car’s window. Children brimming out from houses and trees moving to remind her of her (mother) young days. That time also the same thought haunts her.
The poet also compares her mother with dim moonlight to show her age and the pain she is suffering. At last, she says, see you soon amma, she knows very well she won’t be able to, but to keep away that thought, she kept smiling, hiding her grief and sorrow.
