NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Chapter 9 My Mother at Sixty-Six

Short Note:

• Kamala Das was a celebrated Indian poet known for her deeply personal, confessional style, and this poem captures a poignant moment during a car ride to the airport, where the poet observes her ageing mother beside her.

• The poet notices her mother's pale, aged face, comparing it disturbingly to that of a corpse, which triggers a sudden, overwhelming realisation and fear about her mother's mortality and the inevitability of loss.

• Despite this painful realisation, the poet hides her fear behind a smile as she says goodbye at the airport, only to be flooded once again with the same anxious thoughts about her mother's ageing and eventual passing.

Short Note:

• The poem explores the universal themes of ageing, mortality, and the complex, often unspoken emotions involved in the parent-child relationship as parents grow old.

• It captures a deeply personal, universal fear familiar to many, that of confronting a beloved parent's fragility and mortality, often triggered unexpectedly during ordinary, everyday moments.

• The poem also subtly contrasts the vibrant, youthful energy of the outside world - young trees and children - with the pale stillness of the ageing mother, deepening the poem's emotional impact.

Short Note:

• Simile: The mother's pale face is compared to 'that of a corpse', a startling and powerful simile capturing the poet's sudden fear.

• Imagery: Vivid, contrasting images, such as young trees rushing past merrily against the mother's pale, aged face, heighten the emotional tension of the poem.

• Symbolism: The mother's dozing, open-mouthed posture and pallor symbolise the encroaching presence of old age and mortality.