SSC English First Paper | Unit Fourteen | Lesson: 2 | Pleasure and purpose | Two Mothers Remembered

A. Read the poem and answer the following questions

Two Mothers Remembered

I had two Mothers - two Mothers I claim
Two different people, yet with the same name.
Two separate women, diverse by design,
But I loved them both because they were mine.
The first was the Mother who carried me here,
Gave birth and nurtured and launched my career.
She was the one whose features I bear,
Complete with the facial expressions I wear.
She gave me her love, which follows me yet,
Along with the examples in life she set.
As I got older, she somehow younger grew,
And we'd laugh as just Mothers and daughters do.
But then came the time that her mind clouded so,
And I sensed that the Mother I knew would soon go.
So quickly she changed and turned into the other,
A stranger who dressed in the clothes of my Mother.
Oh, she looked the same, at least at arm's length,
But now she was the child and I was her strength.
We'd come full circle, we women three,
My mother the first, the second and me.
And if my own children should come to a day,
When a new Mother comes and the old goes away,
I'd ask of them nothing that I didn't do.
Love both of your Mothers as both have loved you.

Joann Snow Duncanson

Questions
Ask and answer the questions in pairs.
1 How are the two mothers different from each other?
2 How are they the same?
3 What did the first mother do to the speaker?
4 Who was the speaker's second mother? Describe her briefly.
5 What would be the speaker's advice to her own children?
6 Who are the three women referred to in the poem? Briefly describe them.
7 What should children do to their mother and why?
8 Do you like this poem? Why?

If you want to read the next lesson of this unit please click the link below:
Lesson: 3 | The Sands of Dee