Idea of Self in Kamal Das' Poetry

Tags: Kamala Das , Notes & Analysis

Idea of Self in Kamal Das Poetry

Kamala Das (1934-2009) writes the biography of her own with the language of poetry where in most of her writings she tries to express her hunger for love that ultimately echoes the extreme solitude of women. Though her choice of words, phrases, idioms, tone and syntactical construction portray the Indian English poetry, her search for love and identity connect the readers all over the world. Because of its subjective and autobiographical nature, like other confessional poets Kamala Das has got the chance to pour her into the poetry which enables her to associate the readers with her personal feelings. In her poetry she projects herself as a feminist poetic voice who is always seen to uphold her dignity and individuality against the patriarchy.

Idea of self in Kamala Das

Kamala Das’ poetry tends to explore the man-woman relationship where she tries to uncover and subvert the politicized patriarchal representation of gendered identity. She openly revolts against the traditionally accepted womanhood concepts in the Indian society and urges the women not to pretend like a nympho that makes them a puppet of the masculine world. She raises her voice against the norms of society which want female to fit into the traditional framework. The frankness with which Kamala Das depicts her personal relationship about love, sex, loneliness as well as about her disillusionment actually shows her intention to make the women free from the taboos and awakens their muted “Self”. In confessional poetry the readers sense a psychological equivalent with the writers. By sharing her own identity crisis, Kamala Das properly uses this technique of psychological equivalent for driving her readers to feel the real essence of “Self.”

In her poetry Kamala Das boldly tells about the female sexuality, their longing for love, sex and extreme loneliness. The male characters depicted in her poetry are always unable to feel the muted desire of women rather they love to imprison the women’s passion within the four walls. Kamala Das’ poems symbolize the confused condition of the women who are actually expected to free their souls sexually and domestically from the male chauvinism. In her poetry Kamala Das simultaneously embodies the agonies of women emerging from the state of suffocation as well as encourages them to battle against the barriers from their counterparts so that they can rejoice for their existence in this world.