Critical Analysis of Kamala Das' Poetry
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Notes & Analysis
Kamala Das, as a confessional poetess opens a new arena where the feelings of a female, her dreams, hopes and sufferings are openly depicted in her poetry. Confessional poetry deals with private experience of human beings. Hemanta Singh in “Kamala Das a Confessional Poet: A Quest for Identity/Self” argues that, “In such a poetry, the self is a primary concern which is treated with utmost frankness and lack of restraint, written in ordinary speech and using open forms.” (141). The confessionalism is one kind of techniques for the writers for searching the “Self” of human being. According to Hamanta Singh:
Her
poetry is the acknowledgement and celebration of the beauty and courage of
being a woman … asserting the need to establish her voice and identity. Finally,
she is successful in her venture of searching the ultimate self and identity
through the art of confession. (144)
Since
Kamala Das has observed how her beloved plays tricks to make her a slave like a
dwarf, in “The Looking Glass” she suggests the women to reconstruct the concept
of masculine identity. Women are always considered as the object of gaze which
Kamala Das wants to reverse by her poetry. In “(Re)locating (I)dentity With(in)
Politicized (Re)presentation of Fe/Male Body in Kamala Das’ Poetry” According
to Sultana Sarmin and Nadia Sarwar:
Apparently,
it seems that the sensitive female psyche is vulnerable under the power and
behavior of a male body, but a close reading of the images of represented
bodies subvert the underlying power struggle between two gendered bodies. By
putting the male on display and making it an object of exposure, this poem
attempts to re-construct the masculine identity in a different way. (87)
The
women in the society day by day loss their individuality by the hegemonial
masculine identity. While interpreting “The Old Playhouse” Arya P A in her
“Quest for Self in Kamala Das’ ‘The Old Playhouse’” states that, “Kamala Das
portrays the ideal Indian household scene where male controls female in the
name of love” (165). She argues that her husband tries to “tame her life
according to his desire and in that process, she loses her own self and
identity” (165).
As
a result, quest for love and identity has become a major theme of Kamala Das’
poetry. Shubha Prakash and Sujata in their article “A Desperate Craving for
Identity in the Major Works of Kamala Das” tell that “women are not just sexual
objects but as a human as men and have their own sentiments and aspirations”
(62). They opine that in her poetry Kamal Das “presents them [the women] as
true lovers, mothers, sisters and saints. She always tries to search the true
dignity of women” (62). Regarding the poem “The Freaks” both of them believe
that, “Das also highlights the inborn passivity of the female and yet ends with
the assertion “I am Freak.” This reveals the identity crisis of every Indian
woman who flaunts ‘a grand, flamboyant lust’” (63). Again, Anupama in her
“Quest for Self in Kamala Das’s My Story” tells that, “Her [Kamala Das] sexual
escapades can also be regarded as part of her quest for identity. She indulged
in extra-marital relationships as a rebellion against her uncompassionate
husband and conventional society” (63). Similar kind of statement has also been
given by R.K.J. Kurup:
In
her [Kamala Das] autobiography she makes it clear that beyond the body there is
a realm of freedom which is so important that it is all encompassing. Viewed in
this light one comes to the conclusion that even her sexual adventures are
experiments of her search for her true self” (116).
C.R.
Nambiar shares his observation about the essence of Kamala Das poetry, “She
becomes a feminist writer by making her women conscious and providing them
wings to rise and flutter… The essence of her poems is struggle about her own
self and… is a cry for freedom” (122). Thus, this cry for freedom works as a
stimulator to awaken the readers. It is her journey from physical to the spiritual
world by which Kamala Das has tried to show her readers the way to get back
their identity. Tarun D. Rawal in “Quest for Female Identity in Kamala Das”
points that, Kamala Das “is not really recommending adultery, but merely
searching for a relationship which gives both love and identity and accepting
as a woman and it is her right” (2). He argues, “A study of her psychic
geography traces her journey from the physical to the spiritual. She struggles
to free herself from the lure of the body and seeks redemption in Lord Krishna,
a bodiless form” (2).
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