My Mother at Sixty Six (Central Theme)

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Central Theme

The poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six,’  is an intimate work presenting the poet’s thoughts. It deals with the feeling of fear and emotions that daughters experience with their mothers. Any child is attached to its mother. Similarly, children generally are afraid of losing their mothers. This poem brings out this ordinary but profound human nature through a personal reverie. Death is inevitable but people are afraid of losing their dear ones. As the poet expresses, the bond between a mother and her child is special; and therefore, the anxiety in losing the relationship is also strong. As its thematic concern, the poem brings out the inner thoughts of a daughter for her mother.

Form, Style, and Literary Devices

The poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-Six,’ is confessional. As such, it is a first-person monologue. It runs like an aside. The poet expresses her inner thoughts and her reactions to those thoughts. The language is conversational. The arrangement of the lines is free and fluid. The poetic touch appears when the poet describes her mother and her old age. She first compares her mother’s appearance to that of a corpse. She then describes her mother as the winter moon. In both instances, the poet alludes to the imminent death of her mother. It is usually mothers who describe their children as moons, but here, an affectionate daughter describes her mother as a moon. The last lines of the poem repeat the word ‘smile’, indicating that people helplessly display such gestures to express their true feelings for their loved ones.



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