My Mother at Sixty six

A poem by Kamala Das. It examines a mother-daughter relationship. The poet talks about her fear of losing her mother.

1. Prapared & Presented by
Jude Joseph

2. Kamala Das / Kamala Suraiyya
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

3. Kamala Das (1934-2009)
•Pen name(Malayalam) - Madhavikutty
•aka Kamala Suraiyya
•She grew up in Kerala & Calcutta
•She began writing poetry as a child
•She was married off at 15 to Madhava Das
•They moved to Bombay
•She had 3 sons
•She did her writing at night
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

4. JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

5. Kamala Das - the Writer
•wrote openly and frankly about female
sexual desire and the experience of being
an Indian woman.
•her work centred on personal rather than
colonial experiences.
•her short stories, poetry, memoirs, and
essays brought her respect and notoriety
in equal measures.
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

6. Kamala Das - Important Works
•Summer in Calcutta (1965) - Poems
•The Descendants (1967) - Poems
•The Old Playhouse, and Other Poems
(1973)
•Alphabet of Lust (1976) - Novel
•the short stories
– “A Doll for the Child Prostitute” (1977)
– “Padmavati the Harlot” (1992).
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

7. •The English
version was
published in 1976.
•A shockingly
intimate work, it
came to be
regarded as a
classic.
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

8. My Mother At Sixty-six
•is a first person confessional poem
•is written in free verse
•The poem captures the speaker’s train of
thought.
•The entire poem is written in a single
sentence, punctuated by commas.
•It provides a glimpse of the subtle
intricacies of a mother-daughter
relationship.
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

9. Summary - the Drive
•Poet/Speaker
•Mother - sixty-six years old
•Driving from home to the airport in Kochi.
•Old lady dozing - open mouthed, pale -
face ashen - looked like a corpse
•This pained poet - she diverted her
attention & looked outside the car.
•Outside the poet sees - “young trees
sprinting”, “merry children spillling out....”
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

10. Summary - At the Airport
•Reach airport - security check
•Looked at her mother - she's pale,
colourless - “as a late winter's moon” -
which has lost its strength & shine.
•The familiar ache/childhood's fear revived
•But, she controlled herself - tried to
appear normal - covered her sadness
under smiles - said goodbye to mom
•Unsure whether she'll see her again
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

11. Short Analysis
•The poem makes use of a natural
unaffected rhythm, striking imagery and a
sense of movement to convey the
insecurities and apprehensions of the
poet-persona about her rapidly ageing
mother and the inevitable separation that
must follow.
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

12. Themes
•ageing
•a person’s love for her mother
•separation
•uncertainty
•death
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

13. Words signifying movement
sprinting
spilling
driving
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

14. The idea of movement is central to
understanding the poem:
• the physical movement to the airport
• the emotional journey of the poet
•the movement of her mother towards
old age are all intermingled in this
poem about love, longing and
separation
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

15. Analysis
•This transition from the stillness of the
dozing mother to the frivolity and
movement of youth through a single
glance is simply remarkable.
• The parting is made all the more poignant
by the fact that though she hopes to see
her mother, she fears that she might not.
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

16. Figures of Speech /Poetic Devices
her face ashen like
that of a corpse
pale as a late
winter's moon
trees
sprinting
merry children spilling
out of their homes
smile and smile and
smile
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS
Simile
Personification
Metaphor
Repetition

17. Figures of Speech /Poetic Devices
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS
young trees
sprinting
merry children
spiling out of
their homes
Poet's mother - dozing,
face - ashen like that of
a corpse
contrasted with

18. Analysis
•This intermingling of emotions of love,
hope, longing, nostalgia, fear and a
sense of helplessness at the face of
the inevitable seems to find its way in
the repetition of the final words of the
poem: all I did was smile and smile
and smile…
JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS

19. JUDE JOSEPH, PGT ENGLISH, KVS