NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Poetry Chapter 1 - My Mother at Sixty-Six

Text Book Questions :-

Think :

  1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
    Ans. The poet looked at her mother’s face and found that it had become pale and withered. She realised that her mother was at the last stage of her life and her end was near. The thought that her mother would be soon separated from her, caused unbearable pain and ache in the poet’s heart.
  2. Why have the trees been described as sprinting?
         Ans. The poet was driving in a car along with her mother. The car’s movement created the visionary and illusion of the trees outside and that’s why, they appeared to be sprinting past.
  3. Why has the poet brought in the image of sprinting trees and merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?
    Ans.     Sprinting trees and merry children bursting out from the doors suggest fresh life and warm energy, vitality, youthfulness, spirit etc. The poet draws this image to strike a scene of contrast with the pale, dull and withered face of the mother at the declining stage of her health.
  4. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?
    Ans. The late winter moon lacks lustre. The mother’s face was pale and withered. Moreover, the late winter moon suggested the end of season and the mother too was nearing the end of her life, therefore, the poet compared her with the late winter’s moon.
  5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
    Ans. The parting words of the poet reflect the poet’s pain, frustration, guilt and helplessness. But she wears a smile on her face to mask her pain and to give hope, happiness and reassurance to her mother.