Thinking Activity; Selected Poem

 Hello friends! 

I am Bhavna Sosa,  student of department of English MK Bhavnagar University.  This blog Kamala Das's poem 'An Introduction' given by our Yesha Bhatt maam. 

About Kamala Das :-

Kamala Das (1934 – 2009), the renowned Indian writer, wrote poetry and prose both in her mother tongue, Malayalam, and in English. Here, we’ll explore a sampling of poems by Kamala Das, who became known as a confessional poet.

Born Kamala Surayya, she was also known by her pen name, Madhavikutty, though her widest recognition was achieved as Kamala Das, her married name. She was known in her home state of Kerala for her short stories and autobiography, and in the rest of India, for her English poetry.

Her controversial autobiography, My Story, originally written in Malayalam, gained her much fame and notoriety. Later, it was translated into English. PoemHunter.org observes of her work: “Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation.”

Professor Santanu Saha of Saltora Netaji Centenary College, West Bengal, summarizes the poetic work of Kamala Das as follows:

“Kamala Das has neither written innumerable numbers of poems nor are these poems varied in themes … She has not applied any complex poetic technique and the mode of expression is very colloquial in manner. Her English is the ultimate form of ‘Indianization of English Language.’

And consciously she is never worried for experimentation in the poems. In spite of these limitations she is very much popular in the Indian subcontinent as well as in abroad. And this is due to her ‘honest’ declaration of self which establishes her as a ‘confessional’ poet. Among her contemporaries she is much debated, disputed and criticized poet. But undoubtedly Kamala Das is accepted as a universal poet whose lived experiences are beautifully portrayed in her poems.”

About  'An Introduction ' :- 

This poem "An Introduction" is highly anthologised poem . This poem is also known as autobiographical confessional poem. Every confessional poem must be autobiography but every autobiography should not be confessional.

The poem An Introduction is an autobiographical verse of Kamala Das that throws light on the life of a woman in the patriarchal society. This is a confessional poem. I have divided the poem into five parts for better understanding.

I have tried to first give a brief explanation of the lines and then provide a comprehensive analysis. I hope you will get through the poem and understand its central idea.

Image of The Poem "An Introduction"

Kamala Das's poetry is characterized by the presence of Stark images that challenge many conventions generally considered to be part of "Indian life".Then she contrasts the speech with the deaf and blind speech of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the incoherent mutterings of the blazing funeral pyre here she gives a number of images and they are all incoherent. The images are also taken from nature .To Kamala Das that much of nature is incoherent but hard language is not like that Her language is coherent.

 One of our few significant poets writing in English today, kamala das made and instant appeal with her very first collection Summer in Calcutta (1965 ). Kamala Das's poem An Introduction is highly anthologised poem and taken from the collection called Summer in Calcutta (1965).