Activities On Poem 4.1 Old Women

4.1 OLD WOMEN

Old women do not fly on magic wands
nor make obscure prophecies
from ominous forests.
They just sit on vacant park benches
in the quiet evenings,
call doves by their names
and charm them with grains of maize.

Or, trembling like waves
they stand in endless queues in
government hospitals
or settle like sterile clouds
in post offices awaiting mail
from their sons abroad,
long ago dead.

They whisper like drizzles
as they roam the streets
with a lost gaze as though
something they had thrown up
never returned to earth.

They shiver like December nights
in their dreamless sleep
on shop verandahs.

There are swings still
in their half-blind eyes,
lilies and Christmases
in their failing memory.
There is one folktale
for each wrinkle on their skin.

All dawns pass
leaving them in the dark .
They do not fear death,
they died long ago.
Old women once
were continents.
They had deep woods in them,
lakes, mountains, volcanoes even,
even raging gulfs.
When the earth was in heat
they melted, shrank,
leaving only their maps.
You can fold them
and keep them handy :
who knows , they might help you find
your way home.

K. Satchidanandan




1. Webchart

A2. Complete the following statements by choosing the correct alternatives.
1. Old women sit ….. in the quiet evenings.
i. In the chair
ii. In the verandah
iii. On vacant park benches
2.The old women are seen roaming aimlessly because
i. They have lost something.
ii. They have become blind.
iii. They have become insane.
3. ‘They shiver like December nights’ mean ----
i. They undergo trauma.
ii. They don’t have anything to cover.
iii. They shiver because of severe cold.
4. ‘lilies and Christmases in their failing memory’ means ---
i. They like lilies during Christmas festival.
ii. They remember good old days with family members.
iii. They have forgotten about lilies and Christmases.
5. ‘ …. One folktale for each wrinkle on their skin’ mean…
i. Old age with wisdom and lot many experience
ii. Old age with wrinkled skin
iii. Remembering folktales in old age.
2The line 'All dawns pass leaving them in the dark' suggest....
Ans : The line 'All dawns pass leaving them in the dark' suggest that they have lost their youth and now they are old. Their days of happiness are over. Now they are living a miserable life.
3. Pick out the lines that reveal isolation and loneliness of the old women.
4. Pick out the lines that highlight that the old women were living a happy and prosperous life.

Ans :There are swings still
in their half-blind eyes,
lilies and Christmases
in their failing memory.

5 Poetic Devices
I. 'settle like sterile clouds'. Name the figure of speech used .Find similar examples .
2. In the line 'They do not fear death, they died long ago' 'death' has been treated as a human being. Name the figure of speech.
3. You know that an implicit comparison is called a Metaphor. Now find examples of Metaphor from the poem.
4. 'All dawns pass leaving them in the dark'.
A striking opposition or contrast of words or ideas is employed to achieve emphasis. Such a figurative use is called 'Antithesis'.
5. 'They whisper like drizzles'. ' The figure of speech in the line is 'Onomatopoeia'. Name the other figures of speech in it .