Unseen Poem Comprehension

Q. Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions given below:

A. 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 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,”


i) Which day is described in the above extract?

a) Monday b) Friday c) Tuesday    d) Sunday

ii) Who was sitting beside the speaker of the poem?   

a) her mother b) her father c) her brother d) her sister

iii) Give the opposite of the word ‘soon’.

a) early- b) hurry-

c) late- d) quick- 

iv) Where was the poetess going?   

v) What did she notice about her mother?

vi) Why did her mother’s face look like that of a dead body’s face?

vii) Find the words from the passage which mean:

a) felt- b) sleep lightly-  c) dead body-

B. 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…

i) Make sentence using word merry 

ii) What did the poet notice in the outside world?

a) roads b) happy children           c) birds        d) both a and b

iii) Find out the word from the passage which means running fast: 

C. 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…

i) What was the poet’s childhood fear?

a) Losing mother b) Shifting from parental house   

c) Shifting to a new city      d)Darkness  

ii) What has been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’?

a) best friend    b) mother c) daughter d) sister

iii) What do the poet’s parting words suggest?

D. “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 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….”

i) How were the young trees sprinting?

ii) What were the children doing?

iii) What did the poetess do after the security check?

iv)The poetess compared her mother’s face to a winter’s moon. Why?

v) Find words from the passage which mean:

a) running fast b)happy c)colourless