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GATE 2022 XH2 (English) – Question 57

Literary Forms, Genres, and Modes of Expression · Aesthetic and Rhetorical Strategies: Narrative and poetic techniques, and figures of speech · 2 marks · Multiple select

Why does the thin grey strand
Floating up from the forgotten
Cigarette between my fingers,
Why does it trouble me?
Ah, you will understand;
When I carried my mother downstairs,
A few times only, at the beginning
Of her soft-foot malady,
I should find, for a reprimand
To my gaiety, a few long grey hairs
On the breast of my coat; and one by one
I watched them float up the dark chimney.

Which of the following can be considered as correct about the above poem?

  1. It is written in the process of grieving for the poet’s mother.
  2. It is an autobiographical poem.
  3. It is a symbolic poem.
  4. It is a poem of youthful celebration.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (A) It is written in the process of grieving for the poet’s mother.; (B) It is an autobiographical poem.; (C) It is a symbolic poem.

Explanation

The poem recalls the poet carrying his ailing mother, and the grey smoke and grey hairs rising up the chimney stand for loss. It is grief, autobiographical and symbolic, and it is not a celebration.