Class 12 English Flamingo Poem 1 — My Mother at Sixty-Six (Kamala Das)
Welcome to HSLC Guru’s complete study guide for “My Mother at Sixty-Six” by Kamala Das, the very first poem in the ASSEB (Assam State Board) Class 12 / HS 2nd Year English textbook Flamingo. Written as a single, unbroken eighteen-line sentence in free verse, the poem is one of the most quietly powerful explorations of ageing, mortality, parental love and the fear of separation in modern Indian English poetry. In a brief journey from her parents’ home to the Cochin airport, the speaker glances at her dozing mother, realises with a stab of pain how old and frail she has become, and—after a hurried security-check parting—forces herself to smile through her grief. Behind the calm everyday surface, every image of the poem is loaded: the ashen corpse-like face, the sprinting young trees, the merry children spilling out of homes, the wan winter moon, the repeated “smile and smile and smile” — all working together to dramatise the daughter’s helpless love for an ageing parent.
This article is designed for ASSEB Higher Secondary (HS) 2nd Year students preparing for the AHSEC / ASSEB final examination. It includes a detailed line-by-line explanation, the original poem as a blockquote, a glossary of difficult words, an Assamese summary (সাৰাংশ) and an English summary, every NCERT “Think it out” / “Working with words” textbook question with answers, additional short and long answer questions, MCQs, extract-based comprehension questions, theme analysis and poetic-device notes. Read it carefully — the poem looks short but examiners can ask very subtle questions about it.
About the Poet — Kamala Das (1934–2009)
Kamala Das, also known by her pen name Madhavikutty and, later in life, by her Muslim name Kamala Surayya, was one of the most important and fearlessly honest voices in twentieth-century Indian writing. Born on 31 March 1934 in Punnayurkulam, Kerala, into the literary Nalapat family, she grew up bilingual — writing prose and short stories in Malayalam under the name Madhavikutty, and writing confessional poetry in English as Kamala Das. She is regarded as the mother of modern Indian English poetry alongside Nissim Ezekiel.
Her major collections of poetry include Summer in Calcutta (1965), The Descendants (1967), The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973) and Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (1996). Her autobiography My Story (1976) shocked Indian readers with its candour about female desire, marriage and identity. She also wrote acclaimed Malayalam stories such as Pakshiyude Manam and Neypayasam. Her poetry is direct, conversational, intensely personal and rooted in the body, family and memory — qualities that are clearly visible in “My Mother at Sixty-Six.” She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1984 and won the Sahitya Akademi Award (1985), the Asian Poetry Prize, the Kent Award and the Asian World Prize, among many other honours. She converted to Islam in 1999 and passed away on 31 May 2009 in Pune.
The Poem (Full Text)
Driving from my parent’s
— Kamala Das
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, 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 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……
Summary (English)
“My Mother at Sixty-Six” is a deeply moving short poem about the speaker’s painful realisation that her mother has grown old and is approaching the end of her life. One Friday morning, the poet (Kamala Das) is driving from her parents’ home to the airport at Cochin. Her elderly mother is sitting in the car beside her, dozing with her mouth open. As the poet glances sideways, she is shocked to notice that her mother’s face looks ashen, drained of colour, “like that of a corpse.” This visual jolt forces her to accept what she has been avoiding for years — that her mother is genuinely old and frail.
Pained by this thought, the poet quickly pushes it away and looks out of the car window. Outside she sees a contrasting world full of energy and life — “Young Trees sprinting” past the speeding car and “merry children spilling out of their homes.” These images of vitality and movement are deliberately set against the still, ageing figure of the mother inside the car. They symbolise youth, life and continuity — everything the mother is gradually losing.
At the airport, after the security check, the poet stands a few yards away from her mother and looks at her once more. This time her mother appears “wan, pale as a late winter’s moon” — a powerful simile suggesting that her mother is in the last winter of her life, just as the late-winter moon is colourless and dim. At that moment a familiar pang returns to the poet — a fear she has carried since childhood, the fear of losing her mother to death. But she does not let any of this show. Bravely controlling her emotions, all she says aloud is “see you soon, Amma,” and all she does is “smile and smile and smile.” The repeated smile is not joy — it is a mask of reassurance, hiding her aching heart from her mother and from herself.
সাৰাংশ (Assamese Summary)
“My Mother at Sixty-Six” কবিতাটো কমলা দাসৰ এক অতি ব্যক্তিগত আৰু আৱেগিক ৰচনা, য’ত কবিৰ মাতৃৰ বয়সজনিত দূৰ্বলতা আৰু মৃত্যুৰ ভয়ৰ কথা প্ৰতিফলিত হৈছে। এক শুকুৰবাৰৰ পুৱা কবিয়ে নিজৰ পিতৃ-মাতৃৰ ঘৰৰ পৰা কোচিন বিমানবন্দৰলৈ গাড়ীৰে যাত্ৰা কৰিছে। তেওঁৰ কাষত বহি থকা ছয়ষষ্টি বছৰীয়া মা মুখ মেলি টোপনিয়াইছে। কবিয়ে এপাল চাই দেখে যে মাকৰ মুখখন ছাইৰ দৰে বিবৰ্ণ আৰু মৃতদেহৰ নিচিনা পাণ্ডুৰ হৈ পৰিছে। এই দৃশ্যই তেওঁৰ মনত তীব্ৰ যন্ত্ৰণা আনে আৰু তেওঁ উপলব্ধি কৰে যে মা সঁচাকৈয়ে অতি বৃদ্ধা হৈ পৰিছে।
এই পীড়াদায়ক চিন্তাৰ পৰা মন হেৰুৱাবলৈ কবিয়ে গাড়ীৰ খিৰিকীৰ বাহিৰলৈ চায়। বাহিৰত তেওঁ দেখে “দৌৰি অহা যুৱ গছ” আৰু “ঘৰৰ পৰা ওলাই আনন্দেৰে খেলি ফুৰা শিশুসকল” — যিবোৰ যৌৱন, জীৱন আৰু গতিৰ প্ৰতীক। এই দৃশ্যবোৰ মাকৰ স্থিৰ, বৃদ্ধ ৰূপৰ সৈতে স্পষ্ট বৈপৰীত্য সৃষ্টি কৰে। বিমানবন্দৰৰ সুৰক্ষা পৰীক্ষাৰ পিছত কবিয়ে কেইগজমান আঁতৰৰ পৰা মাকলৈ পুনৰ চায়। এইবাৰ মাকজনীক “ঢলপুৱা শীতকালৰ চন্দ্ৰৰ দৰে ফেঁকুৰি, পাণ্ডুৰ” দেখে। এই উপমাই বুজায় যে মা জীৱনৰ অন্তিম শীতত উপনীত হৈছে।
সেই মুহূৰ্তত কবিৰ ল’ৰালিৰ পুৰণি ভয় ঘুৰি আহে — মাক হেৰুৱাবলৈ লগা ভয়। কিন্তু কবিয়ে এই বিষাদ মাকৰ আগত প্ৰকাশ নকৰে। তেওঁ কেৱল কয়, “see you soon, Amma” (“সোনকালে দেখা পাম, মা”) — আৰু “হাঁহি, হাঁহি আৰু হাঁহি” দি নিজৰ ভিতৰৰ যন্ত্ৰণা ঢাকি ৰাখে। এই বাৰে বাৰে কৰা হাঁহিটো প্ৰকৃততে আনন্দ নহয়, ই হৈছে পীড়া লুকুৱাবলৈ পিন্ধা এক মুখা — মাকৰ মনত আশা জগাই ৰাখিবলৈ আৰু নিজকেও আশ্বস্ত কৰিবলৈ। কবিতাটোৱে আমাক এজন বুঢ়া পিতৃ-মাতৃৰ প্ৰতি সন্তানৰ অগাধ ভালপোৱা, বিচ্ছেদৰ আশংকা আৰু বয়সৰ অনিবাৰ্য সত্যৰ কথা মৰ্মস্পৰ্শীভাৱে কৈ যায়।
Stanza-wise / Line-by-Line Explanation
The poem is technically a single eighteen-line sentence written in free verse — Kamala Das uses no full stops in the middle, only commas, so that the thought flows in one continuous breath the way real grief flows in real life. For exam purposes, however, we can divide it into four logical movements.
Movement 1 — The Drive Begins (Lines 1–4)
“Driving from my parent’s / home to Cochin last Friday / morning, I saw my mother, / beside me,”
The opening lines set the scene with cinematic simplicity: it is a Friday morning, the poet has just left her parents’ home in Kerala, and she is being driven to Cochin airport. Her aged mother is sitting in the seat next to her. The phrasing is everyday and almost prose-like, which makes the emotional shock of the next lines all the more striking.
Movement 2 — The Painful Realisation (Lines 5–10)
“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,”
The poet glances sideways and is suddenly confronted with her mother’s true age. The mother dozes with her mouth open — a posture associated with utter exhaustion or even death. Her face is “ashen” (the colour of ash) and the simile “like that of a corpse” turns the everyday image of an old lady’s nap into a vision of mortality. The poet “realised with pain” — the word pain is given a line of its own, which forces the reader to feel the shock of the recognition. She admits that her mother “was as old as she looked,” but the truth is so unbearable that she immediately “put that thought away.” This act of pushing away the thought is psychologically real — it is what every loving child does when faced with a parent’s mortality.
Movement 3 — The World Outside (Lines 11–14)
“and / looked out at Young / Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling / out of their homes,”
To escape her painful thought the poet turns her gaze outside the moving car. She sees “Young Trees sprinting” — capitalising “Young Trees” emphasises their youth and energy. Of course the trees do not really run; this is a piece of visual perception created by the speed of the car, but it is also a powerful contrast to the still, fading mother inside the car. Then she notices “the merry children spilling out of their homes” — children full of life pouring outdoors. Both images stand for youth, vitality and the future, deliberately placed against the inert old mother. Yet the contrast is bittersweet: the same world that bursts with new life is the world her mother is preparing to leave.
Movement 4 — The Parting at the Airport (Lines 15–22)
“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 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……”
After the security check, separated by a few yards, the poet looks at her mother for the last time. The second simile — “pale / as a late winter’s moon” — is the emotional climax of the poem. Late winter is the dying end of winter, the moon at that season is faint and colourless, and so is the poet’s mother in the late winter of her life. This vision brings back her “old familiar ache, my childhood’s fear” — the same fear she had as a small girl, that one day her mother would leave her forever. But the adult poet does not allow herself to break down. She hides everything behind cheerful words — “see you soon, Amma” — and a forced smile. The triple repetition “smile and smile and smile”, ending with the open dots “……”, suggests that the smile must be kept up endlessly to mask the inner anguish. The poem closes not on grief but on a brave, controlled performance of love.
Glossary / Word Meanings
| Word / Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Cochin | A major port city in Kerala, South India (now Kochi) |
| Doze | To sleep lightly for a short while |
| Open mouthed | With the mouth hanging open (a sign of deep, exhausted sleep) |
| Ashen | Pale grey, the colour of ashes; drained of life |
| Corpse | A dead human body |
| Realised with pain | Understood with deep emotional hurt |
| Put that thought away | Pushed the painful idea out of the mind |
| Sprinting | Running very fast (used here for trees rushing past a moving car) |
| Merry | Cheerful, joyful |
| Spilling | Pouring out in large numbers |
| Security check | Compulsory checking of passengers and luggage at an airport |
| Wan | Pale, weak-looking, especially because of illness or sadness |
| Late winter’s moon | The dim, colourless moon seen near the end of winter — symbol of fading life |
| Familiar ache | A pain one has felt many times before |
| Childhood’s fear | A fear carried since one was a child (here, the fear of losing one’s mother) |
| Amma | “Mother” in Malayalam (and several other Indian languages) |
| Smile and smile and smile | A repeated, forced smile used to hide pain |
Poetic Devices in the Poem
- Simile — Two famous similes carry the entire emotional weight of the poem:
(a) “her face ashen like that of a corpse” — comparing the mother’s face to a dead body’s face.
(b) “wan, pale as a late winter’s moon” — comparing the mother to a dying moon. - Imagery — Strong visual images: the dozing open-mouthed mother, the ashen face, the sprinting trees, the children spilling out of homes, the late winter’s moon, the smile.
- Personification — “Young Trees sprinting” treats trees as living, running beings.
- Contrast / Juxtaposition — The decaying, ageing mother inside the car is set against the youthful, energetic world outside (running trees, merry children). This is the central poetic technique of the poem.
- Repetition — “smile and smile and smile” — the threefold repetition emphasises the effort required to mask grief.
- Symbolism — Winter = old age and the end of life. Spring/young trees/children = youth and continuity. Airport = the place of separation. The moon = the mother’s dimming life.
- Enjambment (Run-on lines) — Almost every line runs into the next without punctuation. The thought flows in a single uninterrupted breath, mirroring the speaker’s stream of consciousness.
- Alliteration — “merry children spilling” (m, s sounds), “pale as a late winter’s moon” (l, w), “smile and smile and smile” (s).
- Free Verse — The poem has no fixed rhyme or metre. It is one long sentence with irregular line breaks — a form that fits its confessional, inward-looking tone.
- Tone — Reflective, melancholic, tender, restrained.
- Hyperbole / Visual Effect — Trees do not literally sprint; the exaggeration shows the speed of the car and, more importantly, the gulf between youth (fast, alive) and age (still, fading).
- Pun / Double meaning — “late” in “late winter’s moon” suggests both end of winter and the English word for someone who has died (the late so-and-so).
Themes
- Ageing and the inevitability of mortality — The central theme. The poet suddenly sees how time has worn her mother down and is forced to confront the certainty that she will one day lose her.
- Parent–child love (filial bond) — Behind every line is the tender, almost desperate love a daughter feels for an ageing mother.
- Fear of separation — A fear carried from childhood: the fear of being parted from one’s mother, briefly revived at every airport farewell and finally pointing to the ultimate parting — death.
- Hiding pain behind a smile — Indian (and indeed universal) family life often demands that we mask grief in front of loved ones. The poet’s triple smile is the perfect symbol of this everyday emotional restraint.
- Youth versus old age — The poem is built on a series of contrasts: dozing mother versus running trees, ashen face versus merry children, winter moon versus spring vitality.
- Acceptance and helplessness — The poet cannot stop her mother from ageing; all she can do is accept it gracefully and offer reassurance.
Understanding the Poem (NCERT Textbook Questions)
Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Answer: The poet feels a deep, emotional pain, not a physical one. When she looks at her mother dozing beside her with a face as pale as a corpse, she suddenly realises that her mother has truly grown old and is approaching the end of her life. This realisation revives a familiar ache she has felt since childhood — the fear of losing her mother and being separated from her forever. It is the universal pain of every grown-up child who realises that a parent is ageing fast.
Q2. Why are the young trees described as “sprinting”?
Answer: The young trees are described as “sprinting” because, as the poet’s car moves rapidly, the trees on either side of the road appear to be rushing past in the opposite direction. This is an example of visual movement created by the speed of the vehicle. On a deeper level, the racing young trees stand in sharp contrast to the still, ageing, almost lifeless mother sitting inside the car. They symbolise youth, energy and the unstoppable forward rush of life, opposite to the mother’s slow decline.
Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children “spilling out of their homes”?
Answer: The image of merry children “spilling out of their homes” is a symbol of youth, joy, freedom and life at its fullest. The children pouring out of doorways are full of energy and the future lies before them. The poet places this image deliberately against the picture of her dozing, ashen-faced mother to underline the contrast between the start and the close of life. It also helps the poet temporarily distract herself from the painful thought of her mother’s old age.
Q4. Why has the mother been compared to the “late winter’s moon”?
Answer: The mother has been compared to the “late winter’s moon” because, like the moon at the end of a long winter, she has lost her brightness and warmth. The late winter’s moon is dim, pale, hazy and weak — exactly how the mother looks at sixty-six. Winter symbolises the last season of the year, just as old age is the last phase of life. The simile beautifully suggests that the mother has reached the close of her life’s journey. The word “late” also carries a quiet pun, hinting at the English usage of “late” for someone who has died.
Q5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Answer: The parting words “see you soon, Amma” and the repeated smile are meant to conceal the poet’s deep inner pain and reassure her ageing mother. Inside, the poet is gripped by the old fear of losing her mother forever. Outside, however, she puts on a brave face. Her words promise a quick reunion, and her continuous smiling tries to communicate hope and love. The repetition “smile and smile and smile” shows how much effort she is making to keep the cheerful mask in place. They are smiles of love, courage and helplessness — not happiness.
Working with Words
Q. Notice the following expressions. The words in italics are not used in their literal sense. Explain what they mean.
- (a) Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday morning
Answer: Here “parent’s home” simply means the house in which the speaker’s parents live. The expression captures the affectionate sense of returning to the family home before having to leave it again — an experience common to married women who travel back to visit their parents. There is no figurative twist in this phrase; it is the contrast that follows that gives the everyday line its power. - (b) Her face ashen like that of a corpse
Answer: This expression is a simile. The mother is, of course, alive — she is only sleeping. But her grey, lifeless complexion has become so pale that it reminds the poet of a dead body. The phrase tells the reader, very vividly, that the mother is in the last phase of her life and that her vitality has faded. - (c) Trees sprinting
Answer: Trees cannot really sprint; they are rooted to the ground. The expression is a personification and an example of relative motion: as the poet’s car speeds along, the trees on either side appear to dash backwards. It also creates a contrast with the slow, ageing mother inside the vehicle. - (d) The merry children spilling out of their homes
Answer: “Spilling” literally means “pouring out like a liquid.” Children, of course, do not pour out — they walk or run. The verb gives the image a sense of uncontrolled, joyful abundance: so many cheerful children come rushing out of their houses that they look as if they are spilling. It symbolises youth and life. - (e) As a late winter’s moon
Answer: A late winter’s moon is faint, dull and colourless — quite unlike the bright moon of autumn. Comparing the mother to it suggests that she is in the final season of her life, dim and fading. The word “late” hints subtly at the English idiom “the late so-and-so,” used for someone who has recently died. - (f) All I did was smile and smile and smile
Answer: The smile here is not literal happiness. It is a protective mask. The poet smiles repeatedly to hide her grief, to reassure her mother and to keep herself from breaking down at the parting.
Additional Short Answer Questions (SAQs)
Q1. Where was the poet going and who was with her?
Answer: The poet was driving from her parents’ home in Kerala to the airport at Cochin on a Friday morning. Her sixty-six-year-old mother was sitting in the car beside her.
Q2. What did the poet notice about her mother in the car?
Answer: She noticed that her mother was dozing with her mouth open, and her face looked ashen and lifeless, almost like the face of a corpse.
Q3. What feelings did the sight of her sleeping mother arouse in the poet?
Answer: The sight aroused a sharp pain in the poet’s heart. She suddenly realised that her mother had grown very old. The familiar childhood fear of losing her mother returned to her.
Q4. How did the poet try to overcome the painful realisation about her mother?
Answer: The poet tried to push the painful thought away by looking out of the car window. She focused on the cheerful, lively scenes outside — young trees rushing past and children pouring out of their homes — to distract her mind.
Q5. Why does the poet look at her mother again at the airport?
Answer: After completing the security check the poet stood a few yards away from her mother. As she was about to depart, she looked at her mother again, perhaps anxious and uncertain whether she would ever see her alive again.
Q6. What is the “old familiar ache”?
Answer: The “old familiar ache” is the pain of an old fear that the poet has carried since childhood — the fear of being separated from her mother by death. Whenever she sees her mother growing weaker, this same ache returns.
Q7. Why does the poet smile and smile and smile?
Answer: She smiles repeatedly to hide her own pain and to give her mother courage and hope. The smiling is a deliberate effort, not an outburst of joy.
Q8. What two contrasting images does the poet present?
Answer: Inside the car: the still, dozing, ashen-faced mother — a picture of old age and approaching death. Outside the car: young trees sprinting past and merry children spilling out of their homes — a picture of youth, energy and life.
Q9. What does the word “Amma” tell us about the poet?
Answer: “Amma” is the Malayalam word for mother. By using it instead of “Mother”, Kamala Das brings out the deeply personal, regional and emotional nature of the moment, reminding the reader that this is her own mother, not just a generic figure.
Q10. Why is the poem written as a single sentence?
Answer: The poem is written as one long, unbroken sentence to mirror the continuous, uninterrupted flow of the speaker’s thoughts and emotions during the journey. The lack of full stops gives the poem the quality of a stream of consciousness.
Q11. What does the image of the late winter’s moon suggest about the mother?
Answer: It suggests that the mother is in the last stage of her life. Like the late winter’s moon, she has lost her shine and warmth and looks pale, dim and weak.
Q12. What is the significance of the airport in the poem?
Answer: The airport is the literal place of parting between the daughter and the mother. Symbolically it stands for the bigger, final parting — death — that the poet fears.
Q13. Why is the colour grey/ashen used to describe the mother’s face?
Answer: Ashen is the colour of ash — drained, dead, lifeless. The poet uses it to show that her mother’s complexion has lost its rosy glow, indicating poor health, weakness and the closeness of death.
Q14. What makes “My Mother at Sixty-Six” a confessional poem?
Answer: It is confessional because Kamala Das speaks directly out of her own personal experience. The “I” of the poem is the poet herself, recording an intimate, vulnerable moment with her real mother.
Q15. Why does the poet capitalise “Young Trees”?
Answer: Capitalising “Young Trees” gives them special emphasis. The trees become a symbol — almost a proper noun — for the new generation, for youth and for the energy that the mother no longer has.
Long Answer Questions (LAQs)
Q1. Discuss “My Mother at Sixty-Six” as a poem about ageing and the fear of separation.
Answer: Kamala Das’s “My Mother at Sixty-Six” is one of the most moving short poems in modern Indian English poetry on the universal theme of ageing parents and the fear of being separated from them. The poem is set during a brief car journey from the speaker’s parents’ home to Cochin airport. The journey, on the surface, is short and ordinary. Inwardly, however, it becomes a journey of painful self-discovery for the poet. Glancing at her sixty-six-year-old mother dozing in the seat beside her, the poet is suddenly struck by the truth that her mother has grown very old. The simile of an ashen face “like that of a corpse” makes the reader feel the icy shock of that realisation. To escape the thought, the poet turns her eyes outside, where she sees young trees sprinting and merry children spilling out of their homes — symbols of youth and life that stand in cruel contrast to the ageing mother inside. At the airport, the second simile of “a late winter’s moon” reinforces the picture of a life nearing its end. The “old familiar ache” and the “childhood’s fear” reveal that the dread of losing a mother is not a new feeling — it is the oldest, deepest fear of every child. Yet the poem ends not with weeping but with a brave, repeated smile and the words “see you soon, Amma.” The smile is a mask of love. By containing huge emotions in such everyday language and a single unbroken sentence, Kamala Das captures the universal experience of grown-up children watching their parents age — and shows that the deepest love is often expressed in the calm hiding of fear.
Q2. How does Kamala Das use contrast and imagery to bring out the central idea of the poem?
Answer: The whole poem is built on a series of carefully chosen contrasts. Inside the car the poet sees her mother — old, dozing, open-mouthed, ashen, corpse-like. Outside the car she sees young trees sprinting and cheerful children spilling out of their homes. Inside is stillness, fading, age and approaching death. Outside is movement, vitality, youth and the future. Kamala Das does not state this contrast in plain words; she lets the images do the work. The reader’s eye, like the poet’s, swings between the two pictures and feels the painful gap between them. The simile “ashen like that of a corpse” creates a direct image of death; the simile “pale as a late winter’s moon” creates an image of slow fading. Set against these are the running trees and joyful children — bright, colourful, full of motion. Even the structural choice of one continuous sentence intensifies the contrast: the thought never stops, just as life outside the car never stops, while inside the mother sleeps as still as death. Through this masterful use of imagery and contrast Kamala Das makes us feel, rather than merely understand, that life and death, youth and age, exist side by side, and that the love between a parent and child must somehow live with this truth.
Q3. Comment on the significance of the title “My Mother at Sixty-Six”.
Answer: The title is direct, simple and immensely effective. By giving the mother’s exact age — sixty-six — Kamala Das places her at a specific moment when the marks of old age have become unmistakable. Sixty-six is old enough for a face to look ashen, for the body to doze open-mouthed, for the daughter to suddenly notice that “she was as old as she looked.” The use of “My Mother” makes the poem deeply personal: this is not a general meditation on old age but a portrait of one woman, the poet’s own mother. At the same time, the title is so unspecific in detail that any reader can replace “My Mother” with their own mother. It thus combines confessional intimacy with universal appeal. The plain, almost prosaic title also prepares us for the plain, conversational style of the poem itself, in which a profound emotional event is recorded in everyday speech.
Q4. How does the poet present the relationship between mother and daughter in the poem?
Answer: The poet presents the mother–daughter relationship as one of deep, silent, almost sacred love. There is no dramatic dialogue, no embrace, no tears. The whole exchange is kept to one sentence at the end — “see you soon, Amma” — and a triple smile. Yet the love is unmistakable. It is felt in the protective tenderness with which the poet looks at her mother, in the pain that pierces her when she sees the ashen face, in the way she pushes the painful thought away because it is unbearable, in the “old familiar ache” of childhood fear, and in the brave smile she puts on so as not to hurt her mother. The relationship, in short, is one of mature, controlled, deeply Indian love, in which feeling is shown by what is held back, not by what is said.
Q5. Discuss the poetic devices used in “My Mother at Sixty-Six” and their effect.
Answer: Kamala Das uses several poetic devices to give her short poem its enormous emotional power. The two great similes — “ashen like that of a corpse” and “pale as a late winter’s moon” — turn the mother’s appearance into vivid pictures of approaching death. Imagery is used in pairs: the dozing mother is set against sprinting trees and merry children, creating a strong contrast between age and youth, decay and vitality. Personification appears in “Young Trees sprinting.” The triple repetition “smile and smile and smile” emphasises the effort needed to mask grief. Symbolism runs throughout: winter for old age, spring/young trees/children for youth, the airport for the ultimate parting. Alliteration (“merry children”, “smile and smile”) gives the lines musicality. The use of free verse in a single sentence captures stream of consciousness. Each device contributes to one effect — making us feel, very quietly, the pain that the poet refuses to shout.
Q6. The poem is full of contrasts. How do these contrasts deepen its meaning?
Answer: The poem juxtaposes opposites at almost every level. Visual: the ashen, still mother versus the running trees and pouring children. Emotional: the inner pain of the poet versus the outer smile she shows. Verbal: the long, painful unspoken thought versus the brief spoken sentence “see you soon, Amma.” Symbolic: late winter’s moon (end of life) versus young trees (beginning of life). These contrasts deepen meaning because they make the reader experience, simultaneously, the two truths the poem wants to teach: that life is full of energy and beginnings, and that, at the same time, every life is moving towards its winter. Love, the poem suggests, is what holds these two truths together without breaking down.
Q7. “All I did was smile and smile and smile…” — How does the closing line bring out the message of the poem?
Answer: The closing line is a masterstroke. After eighteen lines of growing inner pain — the corpse-like face, the late winter’s moon, the childhood fear — the poet finally faces her mother and says only “see you soon, Amma” and smiles three times. The repeated “smile and smile and smile” tells us how hard she is working to keep her composure. The trailing dots “……” suggest that the smile must continue even after she walks away, even on the plane, even later in life. The line teaches us that real love often expresses itself not by crying but by hiding tears. It also captures a deep truth about Indian family life: pain and love are most often shared in silence and in small everyday gestures. Thus, in just a few words, Kamala Das summarises the entire emotional message of the poem — that the only honest reply to the inevitability of losing a parent is the smile of a brave, loving child.
Q8. Why can “My Mother at Sixty-Six” be called a universal poem?
Answer: Although the poem is about Kamala Das’s own mother, it speaks to anyone who has watched a parent grow old. The setting (a car ride, an airport farewell), the situation (a grown child saying goodbye to a parent), the emotion (love mixed with the fear of loss) and the response (a forced smile) belong to every culture and every age. The simplicity of the language, the absence of names or specific events, and the use of an everyday word like “Amma” make it easy for any reader to substitute their own life into the poem. That is why the poem, though written in just eighteen lines, has become a permanent part of school and college syllabi all over India and beyond — it is a small, perfect statement of a feeling everyone eventually has.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. Who is the poet of “My Mother at Sixty-Six”?
(a) Sarojini Naidu (b) Kamala Das (c) Toru Dutt (d) Nissim Ezekiel
Answer: (b) Kamala Das
2. Where was the poet driving to?
(a) Calcutta (b) Chennai (c) Cochin airport (d) Bangalore airport
Answer: (c) Cochin airport
3. What was the mother doing in the car?
(a) Reading a book (b) Talking to the poet (c) Dozing with her mouth open (d) Looking out of the window
Answer: (c) Dozing with her mouth open
4. The mother’s face is compared to —
(a) A flower (b) A corpse (c) A statue (d) A child
Answer: (b) A corpse
5. The young trees are described as —
(a) Standing still (b) Crying (c) Sprinting (d) Bowing
Answer: (c) Sprinting
6. The poet looks at the merry children —
(a) Sleeping (b) Spilling out of their homes (c) Reading in school (d) Crying
Answer: (b) Spilling out of their homes
7. After the security check, the mother is compared to —
(a) A summer sun (b) A late winter’s moon (c) An autumn leaf (d) A spring flower
Answer: (b) A late winter’s moon
8. What was the poet’s “childhood’s fear”?
(a) Failing in exams (b) Losing her mother (c) Being alone in the dark (d) Travelling by aeroplane
Answer: (b) Losing her mother
9. What does the poet say to her mother at parting?
(a) “Goodbye, mother” (b) “I will miss you” (c) “See you soon, Amma” (d) “Take care, Amma”
Answer: (c) “See you soon, Amma”
10. What does the repeated word “smile” suggest?
(a) Genuine happiness (b) Mockery (c) Hiding inner pain (d) Boredom
Answer: (c) Hiding inner pain
11. The day on which the journey takes place is —
(a) Monday (b) Friday (c) Sunday (d) Wednesday
Answer: (b) Friday
12. “Ashen like that of a corpse” is an example of —
(a) Metaphor (b) Simile (c) Hyperbole (d) Apostrophe
Answer: (b) Simile
13. “Trees sprinting” is an example of —
(a) Personification (b) Simile (c) Metaphor (d) Onomatopoeia
Answer: (a) Personification
14. The poem is written in —
(a) Sonnet form (b) Blank verse (c) Free verse (d) Heroic couplet
Answer: (c) Free verse
15. The age of the mother in the poem is —
(a) 56 (b) 60 (c) 66 (d) 76
Answer: (c) 66
16. “Amma” is the word for “mother” in —
(a) Bengali (b) Tamil only (c) Malayalam (d) Punjabi
Answer: (c) Malayalam
17. The mother appears “wan” because she is —
(a) Sleeping deeply (b) Pale and weak (c) Excited (d) Angry
Answer: (b) Pale and weak
18. What is the central theme of the poem?
(a) Love for nature (b) Fear of ageing parents and separation (c) Patriotism (d) Friendship
Answer: (b) Fear of ageing parents and separation
19. The image of merry children stands for —
(a) Youth and life (b) Death (c) Wisdom (d) Schooling
Answer: (a) Youth and life
20. The poet “puts the thought away” because —
(a) She finds it unimportant (b) The thought of her mother’s old age is too painful (c) She is in a hurry (d) She is sleepy
Answer: (b) The thought of her mother’s old age is too painful
21. Kamala Das wrote in —
(a) English only (b) Malayalam only (c) Both English and Malayalam (d) Hindi and English
Answer: (c) Both English and Malayalam
22. Kamala Das’s pen name in Malayalam was —
(a) Kamala Surayya (b) Madhavikutty (c) Mahadevi (d) Sarojini
Answer: (b) Madhavikutty
23. “A late winter’s moon” symbolises —
(a) The mother’s fading life (b) Eclipse (c) Romance (d) Religious piety
Answer: (a) The mother’s fading life
24. Which poetic device dominates the poem?
(a) Rhyme (b) Contrast and imagery (c) Onomatopoeia (d) Refrain
Answer: (b) Contrast and imagery
25. The tone of the poem can be best described as —
(a) Cheerful (b) Angry (c) Reflective and melancholic (d) Sarcastic
Answer: (c) Reflective and melancholic
Extract-Based Questions
Extract 1
“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…”
(i) Where was the poet going?
Answer: The poet was driving to the airport at Cochin from her parents’ home.
(ii) What did the poet see beside her?
Answer: She saw her mother dozing beside her with her mouth open and her face pale as a corpse.
(iii) Identify the figure of speech in “ashen like that of a corpse.”
Answer: It is a simile, since the comparison is made using the word “like.”
(iv) What pain did the poet realise?
Answer: She realised the painful truth that her mother had really grown old and frail.
Extract 2
“…but soon put that thought away, and looked out at Young Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes…”
(i) Why did the poet put the thought away?
Answer: The thought of her mother’s old age and approaching death was too painful, so she pushed it aside.
(ii) Why are the trees described as “sprinting”?
Answer: Because the poet’s car was moving fast, the trees outside seemed to be running past in the opposite direction.
(iii) What do the “merry children” symbolise?
Answer: They symbolise youth, joy, energy and the freshness of life.
(iv) Identify the literary device in “Young Trees sprinting.”
Answer: Personification — the trees are given the human action of sprinting.
Extract 3
“…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 and felt that old familiar ache, my childhood’s fear…”
(i) Where was the poet when she looked at her mother again?
Answer: She was standing a few yards away from her mother after passing through the airport’s security check.
(ii) How did the mother look this time?
Answer: She looked wan and pale, as colourless as a late winter’s moon.
(iii) What is the “old familiar ache”?
Answer: It is the long-standing pain caused by the poet’s childhood fear of losing her mother.
(iv) Identify the figure of speech in “pale as a late winter’s moon.”
Answer: It is a simile.
Extract 4
“…but all I said was, see you soon, Amma, all I did was smile and smile and smile……”
(i) Whom is the poet addressing?
Answer: She is addressing her mother, calling her by the affectionate Malayalam word “Amma.”
(ii) Why does the poet say only “see you soon, Amma”?
Answer: She wants to reassure her mother and herself that they will meet again soon. She does not want her mother to see her sadness.
(iii) What does the repetition “smile and smile and smile” suggest?
Answer: It suggests the great effort the poet is making to hide her inner pain behind a constant, brave smile.
(iv) Identify the poetic device used in this line.
Answer: Repetition (and a touch of irony, because the smile masks pain rather than showing happiness).
Value-Based / Higher Order Thinking
Q. The poem suggests that grown-up children should hide their pain in front of their ageing parents. Do you agree? Give a reasoned answer.
Answer: The poet hides her pain behind a smile because she does not want her ageing mother to feel anxious or sad at the moment of parting. To that extent, her behaviour is a beautiful act of love and emotional protection. In a culture like ours, where parents have given a lifetime of care to their children, returning that care silently — by smiling, by saying “see you soon”, by not making them worry — is a true sign of maturity. At the same time, the poem does not ask us to bottle up every feeling forever. Modern psychology rightly says that some emotions need to be shared and expressed. The right balance, then, is the one Kamala Das herself shows: in front of the mother, smile; in private, write a poem, weep, talk to a friend or counsellor, and accept the truth of ageing. Real filial love combines emotional honesty with sensitivity to the parent’s feelings. Hiding pain at the airport is fine; refusing to face it inside oneself is not.
Q. What lesson does the poem teach about our duty towards ageing parents?
Answer: The poem teaches us that our parents will not always be young. Ageing is a natural and inescapable process. As children, we should not wait for an airport farewell to suddenly notice that they have grown old. We should spend time with them, listen to their stories, take care of their health, give them our patience and respect, and reassure them with our love. Even small things — a phone call, a smile, a “see you soon” — can comfort an ageing parent enormously. Above all, we must accept the truth of mortality without bitterness, and use the time we have together to fill our parents’ lives with warmth.
Quick Revision Notes
- Poet: Kamala Das (Madhavikutty / Kamala Surayya), 1934–2009.
- Form: One eighteen-line sentence in free verse, no rhyme, no metre, full of enjambment.
- Setting: A car ride from the poet’s parents’ home to Cochin airport, on a Friday morning.
- Central simile 1: Mother’s face “ashen like that of a corpse” — pain of seeing her so old.
- Central simile 2: Mother “pale as a late winter’s moon” — life nearing its end.
- Central contrast: Old, ageing mother inside the car versus young trees and merry children outside.
- Childhood fear: Losing the mother to death.
- Closing line: “All I did was smile and smile and smile……” — masking pain with a forced smile.
- Themes: Ageing, mortality, parent–child love, fear of separation, hiding emotions.
- Tone: Reflective, melancholic, tender, restrained.
This complete study guide for “My Mother at Sixty-Six” by Kamala Das has been prepared by HSLC Guru for ASSEB Class 12 / HS 2nd Year English (Flamingo) students preparing for the AHSEC / ASSEB final examination. Practise the textbook questions, additional short and long answers, MCQs and extract-based questions to build a strong, exam-ready understanding of this beautiful and emotionally rich poem.