DAV PUBLIC SCHOOL

KAILASH HILLS, NEW DELHI

Session-2024-2025

ENGLISH PROJECT
WORK
TOPIC :- ‘MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX’

SUBMITTED BY :-

NAME : AYUSH KUMAR DUBEY

CLASS : XII ‘B’
ROLL NO. :
 INDEX
S CONTENTS PAGE REMARKS
NO.
1 COVER PAGE 1

2 CERTIFICATE 2

3 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 3

4 INDEX 4

5 POEM 5-6

6 BIOGRAPHY OF – 7-8
KAMALA DAS
7 INTRODUCTION 9

8 SOCIAL MESSAGE 10

9 SUMMARY 11 - 12

10 EXPLANATION 13 - 14

11 POETIC DEVICES 15

12 CONCLUSION 16

13 BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

14 TEACHER’S REMARK 18
 Acknowledgement
I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude
Yamini ma’am for her tremendous support
and assistance in the completion of my
project. I would also like to thank her for
providing me with this wonderful opportunity to
work on a project with the topic “Social
Message Given by Kamala Das Through her
Poem : My Mother at Sixty Six”.

Secondly, I would also like to thank my

parents and teachers who helped me in
finalizing this project in limited time frame.
POEM: My Mother At Sixty Six
—by KAMALA DAS

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 realised with
pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yard
away, I looked again at her, wan,
pale
as a late winter’s moon 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......
BIOGRAPHY OF—KAMALA DAS

The poet, Kamala Das also wrote by her pen-name

of ‘Madhavikutty’. She was born in Kerala and is one of
India’s first poets. Her subject matter is basically
related to her personality- beautiful, sensitive, bold and
tormented. External factors do not reflect in her
writings, her writings bring out her true inner
feelings. In the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six’, she
talks about her mother. This poem is based on
mother-daughter relation and the poet shares her
feelings for her mother. She grew up in what is now
Kerala and in Calcutta (now Kolkata), where her
father worked. She began writing poetry when she
was a child. When she was 15 years old, she married
Madhava Das, a banking executive many years her
senior, and they moved to Bombay (now Mumbai).
Das had three sons and did her writing at night.
Awards and Other Recognitions

Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary

contribution, including:

• 1963: PEN Asian Poetry Prize

• 1968: KeralA Sahitya Akademi Award for Story –

Thanuppu

• 1984: Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature

• 1985: Kendra Sahitya Academy Award (English) –

Collected Poems

• 1988: Kerala State Film Award for Best Story

• 1997: Vayalar Award – Neermathalam Pootha Kalam

• 1998: Asian Poetry Prize

• 2006: Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut

• 2006: Muttathu Varkey Award

 INTRODUCTION
My mother at sixty-six is a poem whose author is Kamala Das.
The writer is famous for capturing the complications of relationships
between human beings. This poem is one of the best examples of
bonding in humans. Especially the bond between a mother and a
daughter. This poem defines the fear of the author of losing her
mother. My mother at sixty-six summary will elaborate on the
feelings of the author and will also define the meaning of the poem.
my mother at sixty six summary revolves around the beautiful
relationship between the poet and her mother. The summary shows
the theme of the advancing age of the mother of the author and the
fear of separation. This apparently short poem touches upon the
theme of a beautiful bond between the mother and the daughter. It
shows how beautiful a relationship a mother and a daughter can
have.
 SOCIAL MESSAGE
Aging is an important phase of human life. A person enters his
childhood, experiences youth when he is full of energy and
dreams to have luxury of life. Finally, he approaches his old age
and encounters death. Relationship between people becomes
stronger at every aspect of life and they can’t bear separation due
to aging. In this poem, the poet relates a personal experience.
She brings out a common paradox of human relationships and
portrays a sensational separation of a mother and a daughter.
She has been able to capture almost all the emotions which a
daughter is filled with, on bidding farewell to her beloved
mother. Sometimes we do feel deep sympathy for someone but
we fail to express it in a proper manner.

Ageing is an inescapable phase of every human’s life. A person

enters their childhood, experiences adolescence when they are
energetic and have so many dreams. Finally, every person
approaches their old age and then they die. Relationships
between people become much stronger in every phase of life.
No one can’t bear the separation from their loved ones just
because of ageing.
 SUMMARY
This is a touching poem written by Indian poet Kamla Das who
wrote under the pen name of ‘Madhavikutty’. In this poem, she
describes her feeling of love and attachment towards her ageing
mother. Once the poet went to visit her mother. She was on her
way back to the airport to return to Cochin. She looked at her
mother who was seated beside her in the car. Her mother had
dozed off to sleep and her ageing face - was smoky in colour like
ash. Her mouth was open and she resembled a dead body. The
poet realized that her mother was old. She felt pain and
sympathy for her. Her mother needed love, affection and care.
In order to come out of the gloom, the poet shifted her glance
and looked out of the car’s window. There she saw young trees
pass by. Little children were running out of their houses into the
playgrounds. These things were contrary to the ageing face of her
mother.
They symbolised energy, life and happiness. As they reached the
airport and the poet was about to leave for the aeroplane, she
glanced at her mother one more time. Her mother appeared
weak and pale just like the moon in the winter season which
seems to have lost all its strength. The poet felt the pain and fear
of losing her mother. She was reminded of her childhood when
she used to fear losing her mother.
As a child she could not bear to be separated from her mother
even for a few moments. Now the loss would be permanent as
her mother was about to die and she would lose her forever.The
poet did not express her feelings. She smiled and said “see you
soon, Amma” because she wanted that her mother should live
and they could meet again.
 EXPLANATION
Firstly, when the poet is on her way to the cochin airport with
her old mother sitting beside her, she looks at her closely and
presents before us her image. She compares her with a corpse.
(simile is a figure of speech to show comparison between her
mother’s face and a corpse.) As she looks at her mother’s pale
and pallid face, she is struck with the horror and pain of losing
her. The mother with the dozing face and open mouth is
compared to a corpse. Here, the poet shows the typical love and
affection which is present in a mother-daughter relation.
The poet is pained and shifts her attention outside the car in
order to drive out the negative feelings. She changes her sad
mood. The scene outside the window is of growing life and
energy. The rapidly sprinting trees alongside the merrily playing
children symbolize life, youth and vitality. The poet here is
reminded of her own childhood when her mother had been
young whereas now, she is encircled with the fear of losing her
and that has made her insecure.
She is at the airport to take a flight. It indicates departure and
separation which creates melancholy. As she bids goodbye to her
mother, the image of the old, wan, worn out mother in the
twilight of years strikes her again. Here again a similie is used to
compare her mother with a late winter’s moon whose light is
obstacle by fog and mist As she looks old now, her personality is
affected by it.
The poet is feeling the pain of separation, leaving her mother
and going. Also, herchildhood fear of losing her mother which
she feels that earlier was temporary but now, could be forever as
she could die of old age, is haunting her.
She is so pained that it is natural for herto cry but keeping a
brave front she hides her tears and smiles.She bids farewell to
her mother and keeping her hope of seeing her again alive,
says“see you soon, Amma”. She hides her sorrow as she does
not want to create a painfulenvironment for her mother and
conveys her that as she is enjoying her life similarly her
mothershould also be happy and enjoy her life (The poem
revolves around the theme of advancing age and the fear that
adheres to its loss and separation. It is a sentimental account of
the mother’s approaching end through the eyes of the daughter.
The seemingly short poem touches upon the theme of the filial
bond between the mother and daughter smeared in the
backdrop of nostalgia and fear. Nostalgia of the past (the time
spent with the mother) and fear of the future without her.)
It is a short poem, without a full stop, the poem is like a long
sentence, over flowing thought process. The poet uses the device of
comparison and contrast, simile and repetition.
 POETIC DEVICES
Following poetic devices have been used in the poem My
Mother at Sixty-Six.

1. Simile: it is the comparison of two things by using as or like.

e.g. “her face ashen like that of a corpse”, “as a late winter’s
moon”.

2. Metaphor: it is the direct comparison of two things without the

use of as or like. e.g. “the merry children spilling”.

3. Personification: When we give human characteristics to

animals or plants or non- living things. e.g. “trees sprinting”.

4. Anaphora: It is the repetition of a word or phrase to create a

poetic effect in a poem. e.g. the poet repeats these words, “smile
and smile and smile”.

5. Alliteration: It is the repetition of the consonant sounds in a

line of a poem. e.g. “my mother”, “that thought”, “I said was, see
you soon”
 CONCLUSION
To conclude, my mother at sixty six summary revolves
around the beautiful relationship between the poet and
her mother.

The summary shows the theme of the advancing age of

the mother of the author and the fear of separation. This
apparently short poem touches upon the theme of a
beautiful bond between the mother and the daughter. It
shows how beautiful a relationship a mother and a
daughter can have.

Ageing is an inescapable phase of every human’s life. A

person enters their childhood, experiences adolescence
when they are energetic and have so many dreams.

Finally, every person approaches their old age and then

they die. Relationships between people become much
stronger in every phase of life. No one can’t bear the
separation from their loved ones just because of ageing.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY-
For successfully completing my project file I have taken help
from the following website links :-

• www.youtube.com
• www.wikepedia.com
• Google images
• www.brainly.com

BOOKS:-
• Flamingo—NCERT Textbook
 CERTIFICATE
This is to Certify that Ayush Kumar Dubey of class XII ‘B’of
DAV PUBLIC SCHOOL kailash hills, new delhi has successfully
completed the English project on the topic " Social Message Given
by Kamala Das Through her Poem : My Mother at Sixty
Six’’ as prescribed by the CBSE Board for the Academic Year 2024 - 2025
It is further certified that theproject is Individual Work of the Candidate.

External's Signature -:
Internal's Signature-:
Principal’s Signature-: