Class 11 & 12 Reading Poem No-12 Of Mothers, Among Other Things(600 Words Subjective/Objective Solved)

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow:

Of Mothers, Among Other Things

A.K Ramanujan

I smell upon this twisted                        

blackbone tree the silk and white

petal of my mother’s youth.

From her ear-rings three diamonds

splash a handful of needles,                             

and I see my mother run back

from rain to the crying cradles

The rains tack and sew

with broken thread the rags

of the tree-tasselled light. 10

But her hands are a wet eagle’s

two black pink-crinkled feet,

one talon crippled in a garden-trap

set for a mouse. Her saris

do not cling: they hang, loose

feather of a onetime wing.

My cold parchment tongue licks bark

in the mouth when I see her four

still, sensible fingers slowly flex

to pick a grain of rice from the kitchen floor.

Choose the correct alternatives from the options given below:                                      

 (a) What is the narrator reminded of when he looks at the twisted backbone tree?

(i) his mother’s earrings                     (ii) his old mother

 (iii) his mother’s youthful self            (iv) his youth

(b) By saying that ‘her hands are a wet eagle’s,’ the narrator refers to

 (i) The mother’s hands which are wet as an eagle

(ii) The mother’s protective nature

(iii) The mother’s twisted and brown I. Ids that resemble an eagle’s

(iv) The mother’s crippled hands

Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:                                              

(c) What is meant by ‘crying cradles’?

(d) How has the mother lost one of her fingers?

 (e) What does the narrator want to imply by saying that the mother’s saris hang loose?

(f) How does the narrator feel on seeing the mother pick up a grain of rice from the floor?

(g) What impression do you get off the mother from this poem?

(h) Why has the image of the rain been used in the poem?

Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:                   

(i) wrinkled/crumpled (line 10-15)

(j) claw/finger (line 10-15)

ANSWERS:-

 (a) (iii)                        (b) (iv)

 (c) “Crying cradles” implies that there is a baby in the cradle in the house. The baby’s cries make the mother run back from the rain, as it is possibly alone.

(d) The mother lost her finger while setting a trap for a mouse. Perhaps her finger slipped and she lost it in the accident.

(e) By saying that the mother’s saris do not cling, the narrator implies that his mother has aged and has become thin.

(f)The poet says that his tongue licks bark when he sees his mother pick up a grain of rice from the floor. This suggests that he feels sad and uncomfortable when he sees his mother this way.

(g)The poet describes his mother as once youthful and beautiful, like a petal. She has since aged and become crippled, like the twisted blackbone tree, because of the hard work she did to care for her children. Even now she is mindful about letting a grain go to waste.

 (h) The poet uses the imagery of rain and says it tacked and sewed rags of light around the ‘tasselled tree’. This becomes a contrast to the description of his mother’s hands — which have become crippled and cannot tack and sew. (My deduction).

 (i) Crinkled.

(j) Talon.

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