4. Why did the woman crouch on the floor? (line 24)

5. Why do you think the woman bent her back a little more when her husband came home? Was her husband helpful? Support your answer quoting from the poem.

6. What does the phrase 'as usual' suggest?

7. The last line of the first stanza talks about the woman shielding her face from heat whereas the last line of the poem talks about people shielding their face from the heat. How are they different?

8. "So when the kerosene was thrown…" Who threw the kerosene? Why? Support your answer quoting from the poem.

9. What does the title suggest?

10. Words do not have wings, but the author used them as if they had wings (…the usual words came and beat their wings against…). This is a literary device called personification. Find out the other instances of personification in the poem.

11. In the story 'The Journey', the author used the journey as a symbol of life. You will find such symbols in this poem too. Pick them out and talk about them.

12. Write a critical appreciation of the poem, ‘Another woman’ highlighting the social issue it deals with.

About The Author

Ms.Imtiaz Dharker was born in Lahore in Pakistan in 1954 and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland. She is ranked on par with some of the famous women poets of India such as Kamala Das, Sujatha Bhatt and Tara Patel. She is not only a poet but also a painter and an accomplished documentary film maker. Her collections of poetry include Purdah,Postcards from God, and I Speak for the Devil, The Terrorist at My Table and Leaving Fingerprints.