Confessional Mode in Poetry of Kamala Das
CONFESSIONAL MODE IN POETRY OF KAMALA DAS
Confessional mode of writing has its virtual origin in the mid50s in America. It is hybrid mode of poetry which means objective, analytical or even clinical observation of incidents from one’s own life. Confessional poems are intensely personal and highly subjective. There is no ‘persona’ in the poems. ‘I’ in the poems is the poet and nobody else. The themes are nakedly embarrassing and focus too exclusively upon the pain, anguish and ugliness of life at the expense of its pleasure and beauty. Confessional poets did not follow any tradition nor respected any conventions. They wanted to be unique and not a part of the conventional social set up. This conflict with society leads them to introspection. In the course, comes a breaking point when they could not compromise with themselves. They lose themselves helplessly in the battle and start searching for the lost self. This conflict has given birth to a number of beautiful poems. The sensitive poem cannot take failure for granted. At this juncture, life becomes unbearable and the call of death becomes irresistible. They are more than convinced that death can offer them more solace than life. Born on March 31, 1934 Kamala Das was major Indian English poet and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. At the age of 15 she got married to bank officer Madhava Das, who encouraged her writing interests, and she started writing and publishing both in English and Malayalam. She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair family having royal ancestry but she embraced Islam in 1999 at age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. On 31 May 2009, aged75, she died at a hospital in Pune, but has earned considerable respect in recent years. The ‘confessional’ poet does not accept restrictions on subject matter, though they are usually personal. He may write as freely about his hernia as about his sweet heart. Anything within his private
Confessional mode of writing has its virtual origin in the mid50s in America. It is hybrid mode of poetry which means objective, analytical or even clinical observation of incidents from one’s own life. Confessional poems are intensely personal and highly subjective. There is no ‘persona’ in the poems. ‘I’ in the poems is the poet and nobody else. The themes are nakedly embarrassing and focus too exclusively upon the pain, anguish and ugliness of life at the expense of its pleasure and beauty. Confessional poets did not follow any tradition nor respected any conventions. They wanted to be unique and not a part of the conventional social set up. This conflict with society leads them to introspection. In the course, comes a breaking point when they could not compromise with themselves. They lose themselves helplessly in the battle and start searching for the lost self. This conflict has given birth to a number of beautiful poems. The sensitive poem cannot take failure for granted. At this juncture, life becomes unbearable and the call of death becomes irresistible. They are more than convinced that death can offer them more solace than life. Born on March 31, 1934 Kamala Das was major Indian English poet and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. At the age of 15 she got married to bank officer Madhava Das, who encouraged her writing interests, and she started writing and publishing both in English and Malayalam. She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair family having royal ancestry but she embraced Islam in 1999 at age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. On 31 May 2009, aged75, she died at a hospital in Pune, but has earned considerable respect in recent years. The ‘confessional’ poet does not accept restrictions on subject matter, though they are usually personal. He may write as freely about his hernia as about his sweet heart. Anything within his private
Cited: Das, B.K. Comparative Literature: Essays in Honour of M Q Khan. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2000. Print. Das, Kamala. My Story. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2009. Print. Das, Kamala. Convicts Das, Kamala. An Introduction Das, Kamala. The Freaks Das, Kamala. Glass Das, Kamala. My Grandmother’s House Das, Kamala. Suicide Dwivedi, A.N. Kamala Das and Her Poetry. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2006. Print.