Poetry Chapter 1 - My Mother at Sixty-Six

Class 12 English Poem, My Mother At Sixty-six, is written by Kamala Das. Through this poem, she portrays the realisation, which she felt – that her mother might pass away at any time. Such feelings and thoughts come in our minds based on situations or circumstances. Kamala too had something in mind which she has tried to portray this feeling in this short poem. For the summary and My Mother at Sixty-Six NCERT Questions and Answers, read on.

Summary 

‘My Mother at Sixty-six’ is a touching and heartwarming poem by Kamala Das. She wrote this poem under the alias Madhavikutty. Kamala visited her ageing mother. Out of sheer love, Kamala’s mother decided to drop off Kamala to the Cochin airport. On the way, Kamala glanced at her mother, who fell asleep in the car. She noticed her mother’s ageing face, which had turned into a smoky colour.

She noticed that her mother kept her mouth open, which shared a resemblance with a dead body. Kamala suddenly felt a sensation of pain along with sympathy for her mother. She realised that her mother needed all the care, love and affection in the world.

To distract herself, Kamala shifted her attention and started looking at the views outside. She saw blooming trees as they passed by and young children playing in the playground. Her surrounding was filled with youthfulness while her mother was there, withering away with time. The things she saw signified life, energy, and happiness which were all lacking in her mother.

As she approached the airport, she looked at her mother once again. She appeared frail and weak like the moon in winter, which seemed as though it had lost all its strength. Kamala Das felt the feeling of fear and pain of losing her mother forever. She remembered how she feared that thought of losing her mother since her childhood days. Since then, she couldn’t bear the feeling of being separated from her mother, even for a few days. However, the situation now has changed, and this loss seems to become permanent. She didn’t reveal her true feelings to her mother; instead, she smiled and said, “See you soon, Amma”. Her words signified her intention of wishing a longer livelihood for her mother.

Literary Devices Used

• Simile 

A simile is a literary device, which is used to make a direct comparison between two unrelated things. Here the poet has used this device twice.

1. Line – 5 to 7: She draws a contrast between her mother’s face and a corpse.

2. Line – 15 to 16: A comparison is made between the moon during the winter season and her mother.

• Apostrophe 

This is a device which is used by a poet to address an absent person. In this poem, Kamala uses this device when she speaks to her mother directly calling her “Amma”, even though her presence has not been mentioned by the poet in-line 12.

• Personification 

Personification is a literary device, which gives animate, inanimate or natures, the attributes of human beings. In this poem, the poet personifies a tree in line 12 by imagining the tree to be running alongside her car.

For a better understanding of this poem, you can refer to My Mother at Sixty-six Question Answers Ncert and Class 12 English Poem My Mother At Sixty-six here at UrbanPro.