CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Poetry Notes

MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX by KAMALA DAS

Summary:

• The poets driving from her parents home to Cochin by car, her mother by her side—sleeping –open mouthed very pale, colorless and frail-like a dead body indicating that her end was near.

• The poet looks at her and feels intense pain and agony to realize that soon death will cast her mother from her. 

• Tries to divert her mind, looks outside at the young trees and happy children bursting out of their homes in a playful mood (a contrasting image)

• After the security check at the airport looked again at her mother’s face—pale and cold.

• “Familiar ache-My childhood fear” –the poet has always had a very intimate and close relationship with her mother and she has always felt the fear of being separated from her mother hence it is familiar.

• The poet reassures her mother that they will meet again

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

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 realized with pain 

That she thought away.”

a) Where was the poet coming from? Where was she going?

The poet had gone to her parents’ home to visit them. She was now going to Cochin airport.

b) How does the poet describe her mother? 

The poet describes her mother as old, pale, cold and senile. As she dozed off beside her, the mother looked almost like a corpse, for her face was colorless and seemed to have lost the fervor of life.

d) Who does ‘she’ refer to in the last line? What thoughts had she driven away?

‘She’ here refers to the poet. The thought of her mother’s approaching death which she wanted to put it away.

2. “ and looked but soon

put that thought away, and looked out at young

trees sprinting, the merry children spilling 

out of their homes”

a) What was the poet ‘looking’ at? What did she notice?

The poet was looking at her mother. She noticed the mother’s ashen and almost lifeless face distraught with pain.

b) What thought did she try to drive away? 

She tried to drive away the thought of her mother’s approaching death.

c) Why did the poet start ’looking out’? What does her gesture suggest? The poet started looking out of the window because she wanted to drive away the pain and agony she experienced on seeing her aged mother. She wanted to drive away her helplessness in the wake of her mother’s ageing and approaching death.

d) What did the poet see from the window of the car? The poet saw young trees running past her car and merry children sprinting out of their homes to play.

e) What did the images of ‘young trees’ and ‘merry children’ symbolize? Trees and children symbolize the spring of life, its strength, vigour and happiness which contrasts with the lifelessness and helplessness that sets in with age.

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”

a) Where was the poet standing?

The poet was at the Cochin airport waiting to board the plane after the security check.

b) Who does ‘her’ here to? How did she look like? 

’Her’ here refers to the poet’s mother. She was an aged lady and hence looked pale, cold like a corpse and colourless.

c) Why does the narrator ‘look at her again’? 

The narrator looked at her mother once again for the last time before she left to reassure herself about the well being of her mother. She had tried to drive away the pain she had felt on seeing her weak and aged mother. One last time she looked at her to wish her goodbye.

d) Explain: ’wan, pale as a late winter’s moon’.In this simile, the poet compares the mother’s pale and withered face with the winter’s moon. The moon seems to lose its brightness in the winter season as it is veiled behind fog and mist. The mother’s face also seemed to have lost its radiance which was now misted by age. Winter symbolizes death and the waning moon  symbolizes decay

4. “ 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 ‘familiar ache’ did the poet feel? 

The ‘familiar ache’ refers to the poet’s fear of losing her mother and the realization that she has not cared and cannot care for her ageing mother. It is an ache of helplessness. It is also a fear of separation from the mother or the mother’s death.

b) What could have been the poet’s childhood fears? I think the poet’s childhood fear was that she would lose her mother or be separated from her and that death would consume her mother.

c) Did the poet share her thoughts with her mother?

The poet did not share her fears and agony with her mother. She only bid good bye to her with the hope of seeing her soon.

d) Why do you think, the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother?

I think the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother because they were caused by her fear of the unknown. Sharing them with the mother would have worried the frail old woman to death.

e) Why did the poet only ‘smile’?

The poet only smiled to hide her guilt, anxiety and fear of the unknown. Also, she wanted to bid a cheerful farewell to her mother before boarding the flight.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

When the poet looks at her mother’s face she found that it had become pale and withered. She realized that her mother was at the edge of her life and her end was near. The thought that her mother would be soon separated form her caused unbearable pain and ache in the poet’s heart.

2 What does the poet do to shrug off the painful thought of her mother’s approaching end?

To get rid of painful thought her mother‘s nearing the poet looked out to seethe sprinting tree and the happy children, bursting out of their house.

3. Why does the poet draw the image of sprinting trees and merry children?

Sprinting trees and merry children bursting out from the doors suggest fresh life and  warm energy. The poet draws this image to strikes a scene of contrast with the pale, dull and withered face of the mother. Here the curtain is falling and the life coming to an end and there the curtain is rising and fresh life is beginning and bubbling with energy and vitality.

4. Why have the trees been described as sprinting?

The poet was driving in a car along with her mother. Her movement created the visionary, illusion of the trees outside appeared to be sprinting past.

5. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?

The late winter moon lacks luster. The mothers face was pale and withered. Moreover, the late winter moon suggests the end of season and mother too is nearing the end of her life, therefore the poet compares her with the late winter’s moon.

6. What is the ‘familiar ache’?

The fear of losing her mother has tortured the poet from her very childhood because she had been intimately bound up with her. Therefore this ache is familiar to her; it is known to her.

7. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?

The parting words of the poet reflect the poet’s pain. But she puts on a smile on her face to mask her pain and to give hope, happiness and reassurance to her mother.

AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM -BY STEPHEN SPENDER GIST OF THE POEM

• In this poem the poet focuses on the theme of social injustice and inequalities.

• He presents the pathetic and miserable picture of the elementary classroom in a slum.

• These children have pale and lifeless faces.

• They are like rootless weeds which are uncared and unwanted with their disorderly hair torn around their faces.

• They are depressed and oppressed with the burdens of life and keep their heads down. They have stunted growth.

• They inherit the diseases of their father.

• Some of them do have dreams. A sweet young boy is sitting at the back of the dim classroom. He is dreaming of a squirrel’s game in the trees and probably other interesting things.

• The walls are dirty and creamy and on them are hung the donations given by the rich and also Shakespeare’s portrait.

• A civilized dome found in the cities and Tyrolese valleys with beautiful flowers are also put up.

• The map on the wall shows the children, the beautiful world outside; but for these children of the slum it is meaningless.

• The children studying in these schools do not have the means to go and explore the world. For them what they see through their classroom windows, the narrow street and the lead sky is the world.

• Shakespeare is wicked for them as he has written only about the rich, beautiful world tempting them to steal.

• The map is of no interest to them because it does not reflect the world they live in-cramped and dark lanes.

• Their lives start in darkness and ends in utter darkness.

• They are undernourished and their poverty has distorted their vision as they spend their whole time in foggy slums.

• The poet feels that the map which shows beautiful and exotic places should be replaced with slums as it is not the world they live in.

• Unless the governor inspector and visitor play a vital role in bringing about a change, their lives will remain in dark.

• The slum children will be able to peep through the window only when the gap between the two worlds is bridged.

• They should break the barriers till they come out of the dirty surroundings and their world should be extended into the green fields, golden sands and bright world.

• They should have the freedom of expression and their outlook be broadened.

• For, only the educated and learned people can create history whose language has strength and power.

SOLVED QUESTIONS

1. “Unless, governor, inspector, visitor, This map becomes their window and these windows That shut upon their lives like catacombs.”

(a) Why does the poet invoke ‘governor, ‘inspector’ and ‘visitor’?

The poet invokes the ‘governor, ‘inspector’ and ‘visitor’ because they are the powerful people who can bring about a drastic change in the miserable lives of the slum children. They can remove the social injustice and class inequalities.

(b) What does ‘this map’ refer to? How can it become ‘their window’?

This map refers to the beautiful world of the rich. Their window refers to holes and the stinking slums of the unfortunate children of the slum. This can become their window only when the difference between the two worlds is abridged.

(c) What have ‘these windows’ done to their lives?

These windows have cramped their lives, stunted their physical and mental growth shutting them inside filthy and dingy holes.

(d) What do you understand by catacombs?

Catacombs are long underground graves. Here they stand for the dirty slums which block their progress.

(e) Which literary device has been used? Explain.

Simile has been used to describe the oppressive effect of the surroundings on their pathetic lives. The simile is: ‘these windows that shut upon their lives like catacombs.’

Answer the following in 30-40 words.

1. What is the theme of the poem?

This poem deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. The poet presents it by talking of two different and incompatible worlds. The world of the rich and the civilized has nothing to do with the world of the narrow lanes and cramped holes. This gap can be bridged by the authorities.

2. So blot their maps with slums as big as doom’. What does the poet want to convey?

The poet is angry at the social equalities in the world. There are two worlds – the dirty slums and the prosperous and the beautiful world of the rich. The poet wants the map of the world should also have blots of slums as big as the ‘doom’. In reality he wants the gap to be reduced.

3. ‘History is theirs whose language is the sun’. Explain.

This statement means that those who have the power and confidence in speech to influence others create history. One can make a mark only if one can outshine others. Education only can give them power and strength like the sun which will bring about a change in the lives of the people.

QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

B. Read the stanza and answer the questions that follows:

”Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example, With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal- For lives that turn in their cramped holes From fog to endless nights.”

i) Name the poem and the poet

ii) Why has Shakespeare been described as wicked?

iii) Why is the map a bad example?

iv) What tempts them to steal?

v) How do the children continue to live?

vi) Explain: ‘From fog to endless night.’

C. Read the stanza and answer the questions that follows:

“The stunted, unlucky heir Of twisted bones, reciting a father gnarled disease His lesson from his desk. At the back of the dim class One unnoted , sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream Of squirrels game, in tree room, other than this.”

Please click the link below to download pdf file for CBSE Class 12 English - Flamingo (Poetry).