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Long-answer literature questions, about 100–120 words each.
10. ‘I Cannot Remember My Mother’ shows how memory and the senses keep a lost mother alive. Discuss.
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How to answer:
Plan it stanza-by-stanza around the three senses, then close with the refrain and the central idea.
Answer:
Tagore’s poem is built on a tender paradox: the poet cannot remember his mother, yet she fills every stanza. He lost her early, so he has no clear picture of her face. Instead, she returns through the three senses. In the first stanza she comes as
sound
- a tune hovering over his playthings, the lullaby she hummed at his cradle. In the second she comes as
smell
- the shiuli flowers and the temple prayer that together become ‘the scent of my mother’. In the third she comes as
sight
- her still gaze spreading across the wide blue sky. Through the repeated refrain and these gentle sensory images, Tagore shows that a mother’s love does not vanish; it lives on quietly in nature and memory.
11. Compare ‘I Cannot Remember My Mother’ by Rabindranath Tagore with ‘I Remember, I Remember’ by Thomas Hood. How do both poets treat memory and nature?
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How to answer:
Give one clear similarity (nature + senses), then contrast the moods, and finish with a shared conclusion.
Answer:
Both poems look back at childhood and use
nature and the senses
to bring memories alive, but their moods differ. Tagore’s poet cannot clearly remember his mother, yet she returns through a hummed tune, the scent of shiuli flowers, and the stillness of the sky. The tone is calm, loving and peaceful, and her presence feels comforting. Thomas Hood, on the other hand, remembers his birthplace in sharp detail - the little window, the morning sun, the red and white roses, and the laburnum tree his brother planted. His tone begins joyfully but turns a little sad as he contrasts his happy past with a heavier present. So while Tagore moves from absence to comfort, Hood moves from joy to longing. Both, however, prove that nature and small sensory details are the truest keepers of childhood memory.
12. Q11-1 Evaluate the poem as an ode to the poet’s mother.
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How to answer:
Explain ode as a poem of praise, then show how this poem praises the mother softly through images.
Answer:
The poem can be read as a quiet ode because it lovingly remembers the mother and honours her presence. It does not praise her with loud words. Instead, it shows her through a lullaby-like tune, the scent of shiuli flowers and the calm blue sky. These images make the mother seem gentle, pure and almost everywhere. So the poem becomes a soft poem of love and memory.
