1. Home
  2. / Forum

User Forum

Ask Your Question
Ethel shiju from National Public School Indiranagar, Bangalore
Subject :IEO    Class : Class 8

Read the poem carefully and answer the questions that follow :
When I’m An Old Lady
When I’m an old lady, I’ll live with each kid, And bring so much happiness just as they did. I want to pay back all the joy they’ve provided. Returning each deed. Oh, they’ll be so excited! I’ll write on the walls with reds, whites and blues, And bounce on the furniture wearing my shoes, I’ll drink from the carton and then leave it out. I’ll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they’ll shout. When they’re on the phone and just out of reach, I’ll get into things like sugar and bleach. Oh, they’ll snap their fingers and then shake their head, And when that is done, I’ll hide under the bed. When they cook dinner and call me to eat, I’ll not eat my green beans and salad or meat. I’ll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table, And when they get angry I’ll run if I’m able. I’ll sit close to the T.V., through the channels I’ll click I’ll cross both eyes just to see if they stick I’ll take off my socks and throw one away, And play in the mud till the end of the day. And later in bed, I’ll lay back and sigh, I’ll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes. My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping. And say with a groan, “She’s so sweet when she’s sleeping!”
–Barbara Hall
Who is the narrator of the poem?

A A young girl
B An old lady
C The grandmother
D None of these


I wrote option d but they say its option c...but the Pom starts by aging when I’m an old lady...so its a mother who is thinking and thus she is the narrator

Ans 1:

Shreyas Gupta from CHIREC International, Hyderabad
Class : Class 8
ya YOUNG GIRL

Ans 2:

Sara Gandhi from Rustomjee Cambridge International school, Mumbai
Class : Class 8
The answer is young girl because the title says 'when I am an old lady' which means that the narrator is not yet an old lady and the poetry is in future tense.

Ans 3:

Dhairya Vinayak from Loyola High School, Patna
Class : Class 8

Ans 4:

Venya from CHIREC International, Hyderabad
Class : Class 9
The answer must be D. She can't have been a young girl as not only would she not have kids but also in the first lines of the poems she says she will 'return the deeds'. She also says that she will live with her kids, hence indicating that whatever her kids did to her, she will do it to them WHEN she becomes an old lady. Again, all of this is in future tense so we cannot determine whether she is actually an old lady or if she is literally using future tense. The most apt option will be that we cannot determine her age and it is safe to say that she is a frustrated mother imagining all the things she would do when she becomes an old lady. HENCE OPTION D IS JUSTIFIED AND OPTION B IS NOT CORRECT

Ans 5:

Rishith Sunil from BVM Global BHS, Chennai
Class : Class 8
If the narrator was a young girl,she wouldn’t have children.The title of the poem is,When I am an old lady.So,she can’t ™t eat an old lady/grandmother either.So,the answers none of the above(The narrator is probably a mother....)

Ans 6:

Anusha Gupta from St. Kabir, Gandhinagar
Class : Class 10
Guys The answer should be A a young girl because the title says that WHEN I AM AN OLD LADY so she is saying that she would do all this nuisance when she is a old lady and then of course it is obvious that right now she is a young girl and all this is just her imagination .But the answer key says that the answer is B an old lady So guys how can an old lady say that when i am an old lady when she IS an old lady?please clear my doubts friends

Ans 7: (Master Answer)

Admin from revisewise, Noida
Class : Class 1
The correct answer is B.

Ans 8:

Ashmi Narkar from The Shishukunj International School, Jhalaria Campus, Indore
Class : Class 8
confusing question

Ans 9:

samik from Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mndir, Mumbai
Class : Class 8

Ans 10:

Chada Lakshmi Chaitra from Timpany School, Visakhapatnam
Class : Class 8
The answer must be NONE OF THE ABOVE. The title of the poem "When I'm An Old Lady" clearly states that the narrator cannot be an old lady yet as she says 'when'. She cannot be an young girl because then she wouldn't be having kids.Therefore, she must be an mother with kids.So, the answer is NONE OF THE ABOVE

Ans 11:

Anora from , Indore
Class : Class 9
it is a young girl because of the creative imagination and because the poem is in the future tense, the narrator cannot be an old lady

Ans 12:

Safiyyah Chinnur from DMIS, DOHA
Class : Class 8
EXACTLYYY!!!!! I was gonna tell that too guys!! answer is b ...totalllyyy agree guyyzz.. @Anora, @Master

Ans 13:

Dhairya Vinayak from Loyola High School, Patna
Class : Class 8

Ans 14:

Anora from , Indore
Class : Class 9
it should be a young girl because of the creative imagination and because it is in the future tense,the person is not an old lady

Ans 15:

Shivapriyaa from Delhi Public School, Chennai
Class : Class 9
The name of the poem itself is “When I am an old lady”. So according to that and the first line, the answer is clearly young girl

Ans 16:

Bhumi Chheda from SVKM J V Parekh International School, Mumbai
Class : Class 9
it should be a frustrated mother because a young girl does not say these thinks because she might be doing it herself

Ans 17:

ARAVINDAN MANIKANDAN from NPS INternational, Singapore
Class : Class 8
ima confused

Ans 18:

Ashwin Shridhar from Vidyashilp Academy, Bangalore
Class : Class 9
Option a

Ans 19:

Rishith Sunil from BVM Global BHS, Chennai
Class : Class 8
If the narrator was a young girl,she wouldn’t have children.The title of the poem is,’When I am an old lady’.So,she can’t eat an old lady/grandmother either.So,the answers none of the above(The narrator is probably a mother....)

Ans 20:

Abhinav from BVM Global Bollineni Hillside, Chennai
Class : Class 8
No, the answer is D. This poem came in the ASSET exam and what they said the right answer was it was by a frustrated mother whom her kids kept annoying and that makes the most sense in context.

Ans 21:

Dhruti Kedilaya from Podar International School Powai, Mumbai
Class : Class 8
It should be a young girl1)cause of the imagination and creativity2)because of the line”when I’m an old lady”

Post Your Answer