Q115
Who is the narrator in the poem ?
- (1) The poet
- (2) A villager
- (3) A common man
- (4) The reader
CTET 1 Mar 2026 Paper 1 English, Question 115
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow (Q. Nos. 115 to 120) by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.
My mother twisted through and through
groaning on a mat
My father, sceptic, rationalist,
trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.
He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother
I watched the holy man perform the rites
to tame the poison with an incantation.
After twenty hours
it lost its sting.
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
and spared my children.
Solution.
CBSE answer: (1)
Answer: (1) The poet
- The poem is told in the first person: 'My mother', 'My father', 'I watched'.
- The speaker is the child who watched the mother suffer and recover, recalling the event.
- The poem presents this as the poet's own memory, so the narrator is the poet.
Trap: a villager or a common man would not say 'my mother' and 'my children' about this family.