Selected Poems- An Introduction by Kamala Das

This blogpost is a response to a task that Yesha Bhatt ma'am gave us based on Kamala Das' poem "An Introduction." The task is to choose one line, word, phrase, notion, or idea from the poem and write our own interpretation of it as poetry, an excerpt, a paragraph (prose), a narrative, or any other literary work.

About Kamala Das:

Kamala Das is a well-known Indian English poet. She is also known by the name Madhavikutty. She was born in Kerala, India in 1934. Her poetry is deeply influenced by her personal life and deals with themes such as love, lust, infidelity, marriage and women's sexuality. Her work is frank and often considered scandalous.

Das first gained prominence in the 1960s with the publication of her poem "An Introduction", which dealt with topics such as love and sexual longing in a very frank and open manner. The poem caused a great deal of controversy and was banned in India. Despite the ban, the poem remains one of her most popular and widely-anthologised works.

Das continued to write throughout her life, and her work was widely published both in India and abroad. She received several awards and honorary doctorates. In 1996, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, one of India's highest literary honors. She passed away in 2009.

About the poem:

"An Introduction" is a poem about love and sexual longing. The speaker is a woman who is addressing a man whom she desires. She is very frank in her expressions of love and longing, and makes it clear that she wants to have a physical relationship with him.

The poem is divided into three stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker talks about how she has always been attracted to the man, even when they were children. She remembers how she would watch him from afar and feel a longing for him.

In the second stanza, the speaker talks about how she has tried to hide her feelings for the man, but they always come out. She says that she has even pretended to be indifferent to him, but her love always shows itself.

In the third stanza, the speaker finally addresses the man directly. She tells him that she loves him and wants to be with him. She says that she is not afraid to show her love for him, and she asks him to not be afraid to love her back.

The poem is written in free verse, and there is no set meter or rhyme scheme. However, the poem does have a musical quality to it, due to the repetition of certain words and phrases.

"An Introduction" is one of Kamala Das's most famous and controversial poems. It is a frank and open expression of love and desire, and it caused a great deal of controversy when it was first published. Despite the controversy, the poem remains one of her most popular and widely-anthologised works.

Kamala Das was a prolific writer, and her work deals with many different themes. However, she is best known for her frank and open expressions of love, desire, and sexuality. Her work is deeply influenced by her personal life, and she often writes about topics that are considered taboo. Das was a groundbreaking writer, and her work paved the way for many other Indian women writers who deal with similar themes in their work.

Now let's see my own writeup which was created from this poem. I started my stanza (one cannot not call it a poem because it is only a stanza) by "It is time to" from the original poem.

It is time to

Choose a name, a role. Don't play pretending games.

Am I Pretending

the slaughtered one cannot have a role

the one inside me know only 'Ghoul'

bewitching to become one said,

"We will have a name from the dead" 

I only presented this stanza in classroom presentation/discussion but later I completed this poem and here is the complete version of this poem.

It is time to

Choose a name, a role. 

Don't play pretending games.

Am I Pretending

the slaughtered one cannot have a role

the one inside me know only 'Ghoul'

bewitching to become one said,

"We will have a name from the dead" 

I will be the reaper of souls

the forgotten one who takes life

I will be the one they fear

the one they run from in the night

I will be the monster they think I am

the one who is loved by death

I will be the one who ends it all

the one who brings peace to the dead.

My Explanation:

I am not used to write poems so might have made many mistakes in writing this but I am trying to explain that how this led me to write such a bizarre poem which is totally different from Kamala Das's An Introduction.

There are many possibilities and interpretations to this poems such as,

Ghoul- is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid/ a legendary evil being that robs graves and feeds on corpses.

In this poem 'Ghoul' term is inspired by Japanese Animation show, generally referd as anime called 'Tokyo Ghoul'

The poem is about someone who is struggling to choose their own path in life. The speaker says that they are forced to become what others want them to be, instead of what they want to be. The poem could be interpreted as a metaphor for anyone who feels like they are stuck in a life that they don't want.

The poem is about someone who has decided to become a "monster" or a "ghoul" in order to end the lives of others and bring peace to the dead. The speaker says that they will be the one who is feared and hated by others, but that they will be loved by death.

The poem could be interpreted as a statement about how sometimes the only way to end suffering is to become the thing that causes it. The speaker is willing to become a monster in order to end the cycle of death and violence.

The poem could also be interpreted more literally, as someone who has decided to become a serial killer or a necromancer in order to end the lives of others.

The poem could also be interpreted as a metaphor for someone who has decided to become an assassin or a hitman. The speaker is willing to become a cold-blooded killer in order to end the lives of others and bring peace to the world.

[words: 1099]