I Cannot Remember My Mother Questions and Answers | Class 9 Kaveri

The speaker says that a clear memory of the mother is unavailable. Yet sometimes, in the middle of play, a tune seems to float over his toys — the very song she used to hum while rocking his cradle. Though her face is lost to memory, her voice survives in music, returning unbidden in his most carefree moments.

Again the refrain — and again a memory. On early autumn mornings, when the fragrance of shiuli flowers floats in the air, it brings him the scent of morning worship in the temple — and that sacred fragrance comes to him as the very scent of his mother. Her presence is fused with devotion, purity and the season’s first freshness.

Once more he cannot remember her — but when he looks out of his bedroom window and sends his eyes into the blue of the distant sky, he feels the stillness of his mother’s gaze spread across the whole sky. Her watchful love has become as vast, calm and constant as the heavens: the speaker feels surrounded by a sense of her care. This is symbolic, not a claim that a face or gaze is physically visible in the sky.

My earliest memories include: the smell of rain on the first day of monsoon when grandmother made pakoras; my father teaching me to ride a bicycle in the park; the lullaby my mother sang, which I still hum without thinking; my first day at school, holding my sister’s finger; and Diwali evenings when we lit diyas on the terrace.

A close relationship can connect memories with a voice, a familiar activity or a scent. Such reminders may bring warmth, longing or mixed feelings. Experiences vary across families, and no single emotional response is compulsory. Discuss only a memory you feel comfortable sharing; a trusted caregiver or another meaningful relationship can also inform a personal response.

1. hover — (v) linger or remain near a place  |  2. hum — (i) sing a tune with your lips closed  |  3. cradle — (vi) a small bed for a baby  |  4. shiuli — (ii) a type of flower (coral jasmine)  |  5. morning service — (iv) rituals conducted in a temple  |  6. gaze — (iii) look steadily for a long time

Stanza 1: 1. The poet remembers his mother while he plays (is in the midst of his play). 2. The poet remembers the tune (song) but not the mother. Setting: indoor is a possible classroom interpretation of play with toys, but the stanza does not explicitly locate the play indoors or outdoors.
Stanza 2: 1. The poet remembers his mother in the early autumn season. 2. The poet remembers his mother by the smell of the shiuli flowers (and the temple’s morning service). Setting: outdoor is the likely intended choice because of the autumn morning and flowers; the speaker’s exact position is not stated.
Stanza 3: 1. The poet feels that his mother gazes at him from the sky. Setting: indoor (he looks out from his bedroom window).

1. Two examples of alliteration: (i) my mother — repeated /m/; (ii) scent … service — repeated /s/. Alliteration concerns repeated initial sounds, not merely letters occurring anywhere inside a word.

2. An example of onomatopoeia: “hum” — the word imitates the very sound it describes.

3. The poem uses imagery extensively. Explain.
Each stanza is built around one sense. The first creates auditory imagery — a tune hovering over the toys; the second creates olfactory imagery — the fragrance of shiuli flowers and the temple’s morning worship floating in the autumn air; the third creates visual imagery — the still, blue expanse of the distant sky carrying the mother’s gaze. Through these sense-pictures the absent mother becomes vividly present.

4. Although the poem does not have a rhyme scheme, it is enjoyable because ______.
…its gentle rhythm, the haunting refrain, the vivid sensory imagery and the sincerity of its emotion give it a music deeper than rhyme — every line flows like soft speech from a child’s heart.

5. What is the tone of the poet? Why do you say so?
The tone is tender, nostalgic and serene. The poet speaks of a painful loss, yet without bitterness: the tune, fragrance and sky image can bring comfort alongside grief, so longing and peace blend in every stanza.

6. What impact does the title have on the overall mood of the poem?
The title strikes the first note of loss and prepares us for sorrow — yet the poem gently contradicts it, as each stanza conveys a felt connection despite incomplete recall. This tension between ‘cannot remember’ and unforgettable presence creates the poem’s bittersweet, deeply moving mood.

7. The poet uses ‘I cannot remember my mother’ as a refrain because ______.
…the repetition expresses the ache of his loss while binding the three memories together; and since each refrain is followed by a sensory impression that complicates it, the line deepens the irony that his mother is, in truth, present everywhere.

8. Identify the symbols used in the poem.
The tune/song symbolises the mother’s lullaby-love and tenderness; the shiuli fragrance and the temple’s morning service symbolise her purity, devotion and sacredness; the still, distant sky symbolises her eternal, watchful gaze — a love as vast and constant as the heavens.

(i) The poet is reminded of his mother during his ______.
playtime (play).

(ii) What is the primary emotion conveyed by the line ‘a tune seems to hover over my playthings’?
C. It activates memories of the mother.

(iii) What role does the hovering tune play during the speaker’s playtime?
It acts as a bridge between present and past: in the middle of carefree play, the tune quietly recreates the mother’s presence, carrying the child back to the cradle where she hummed that very song to him.

(iv) True or False: The poet experiences the tune lingering over playthings only occasionally during playtime.
True — he says it happens “only sometimes”.

(v) How could the poet feel his mother’s presence, even though she isn’t there?
Through his senses. Her hummed lullaby returns as a hovering tune, her scent returns in the shiuli flowers and temple fragrance, and her loving gaze seems spread across the sky — sense-memories keep her alive within him.

(i) What does the poet suggest about the stillness of his mother’s gaze spreading over the sky?
B. The sky is a symbolic extension of the mother’s presence.

(ii) What emotion does the poet associate with the ‘stillness’ of his mother’s gaze?
D. a sense of serenity

(iii) True or False: The poet suggests that the mother’s gaze has a tangible and visual effect on the sky.
False — the effect is felt in the poet’s heart and imagination, not physically visible.

(iv) What is the purpose of likening the mother’s gaze to the sky?
To show that her love is boundless, calm and ever-present. Like the sky, her gaze covers him wherever he goes — constant, protective and serene — turning all of nature into her embrace.

(v) The tone of the poet in the given extract is ______ because ______.
…serene and tender, because alongside longing, the speaker finds comfort in feeling his mother’s calm, loving gaze spread across the whole sky, watching over him.

1. What is the emotional impact of the refrain, ‘I cannot remember my mother’?
Each return of the line renews the ache of early loss — a child robbed even of memories. Yet because every refrain is followed by a vivid sense-memory of her, the line also builds a tender irony: the mother he ‘cannot remember’ is unforgettable. The refrain thus fills the poem with bittersweet longing — sorrow softened by the comfort of her felt presence.

2. Interpret the connection between the poet’s mother and (i) shiuli flowers (ii) humming tune.
(i) The shiuli blooms in early autumn and its fragrance fills the morning air during temple worship; that sacred, gentle scent has fused in the child’s memory with his mother’s own fragrance — her purity and devotion. (ii) The humming tune is the lullaby she sang while rocking his cradle; the associated tune evokes tenderness during play; the poem does not say that every melody has this effect.

3. What role does nature play in the poet’s description of the memory of his mother?
Nature is the keeper of his mother’s memory. The autumn season carries her scent in the shiuli flowers; the morning air carries her sacredness; the vast blue sky holds her gaze. Having lost her in person, the child finds her diffused throughout the natural world — nature becomes his mother’s living, lasting form.

4. What can be inferred about the poet’s perception of the mother–child relationship?
The poem presents it as a powerful emotional bond — one written not in conscious memory but in the very senses of the child. A mother’s love, received in infancy, outlives her presence and even the child’s ability to recall her face; it remains a lifelong source of comfort, security and serenity, as constant as the sky itself.

1. scarlet  2. scents  3. sweetness  4. shrill  5. perfumes  6. essence  7. flaming  (Extra words: sizzle, smooth)

Phrase 2 blends sound language with smell. Incense does not literally make a melody; this is a sensory metaphor.

During my childhood, my grandmother’s old harmonium sat in the corner of our living room. Its keys were yellowed like old ivory, it smelt of wood polish and incense, and when she pressed the bellows it breathed before it sang. I have a clear memory of winter evenings when she played bhajans while I pumped the bellows, feeling terribly important. She is gone now, but whenever I hear a harmonium anywhere — at a temple, on television — her voice returns to me exactly as the tune returns to the child in our poem. That harmonium taught me that music can hold people we have lost; that is why this memory is meaningful to me even now.

Model diary — fictional trip
Saturday, 14 March 2026
9:30 p.m.

I can still picture the garden I visited on my school trip today. I noticed pale green shoots beneath dark leaves, red flowers beside a narrow path and a blue sky reflected in a pond. I heard birds calling above the soft rustle of branches. The smell of damp earth reminded me of the first rain near my home.

I paused beside a sunlit bench and felt its warm wooden surface. I tasted the sweet orange I had brought in my lunchbox while I watched a butterfly settle on a flower. My happiest moment came when I stopped trying to photograph everything and simply noticed the changing light. I returned feeling calmer, with a new wish to pay attention to small details in familiar places too.

Use scientific names to avoid confusing different plants that share a common name. Here are three starting examples; separate botanical observations, cultural traditions and legends.

For your own additions, record location, flower shape and colour, observed or documented scent, source, and any clearly attributed cultural association. Do not treat a shared popular name as proof that two plants are the same species.

The excerpt recalls a childhood home, sunlight, flowers and a tree planted by the speaker’s brother. Its warm memories contrast with present unhappiness. Compare Hood’s clear recollections with the less definite sensory impressions in Tagore’s poem. Collect another suitable poem or song about memory, identify its author or source, and explain the connection in your own words.

Q1. Why can the speaker not remember the mother clearly?

Q2. When does the tune of his mother’s song return to the poet? (30–40 words)
It returns sometimes in the midst of his play, hovering over his playthings — the very tune his mother used to hum while rocking his cradle, bringing her presence back in his most carefree moments.

Q3. Which season and flower does the poet associate with his mother? (30–40 words)
Early autumn, when the fragrance of shiuli (coral jasmine) flowers floats in the morning air. That fragrance, mingled with the scent of the temple’s morning service, comes to him as the scent of his mother.

Q4. “The poem says ‘I cannot remember’ but proves ‘I can never forget’.” Discuss. (100–120 words)
This paradox is the soul of the poem. Three times the child states that he cannot remember his mother, and three times his own senses contradict him. A tune hovering over his toys restores her lullaby; the autumn fragrance of shiuli and temple worship restores her scent; the still blue sky restores her watching gaze. What he has lost is only surface memory — names, faces, dates; what he has kept is something deeper, an emotional connection evoked by sound, scent and sight. The refrain of forgetting thus becomes a litany of remembering, and the poem explores how emotional impressions may remain even when clear recollection is incomplete. This is a literary interpretation, not a scientific claim about how all memories work.