Write the explanation of the poem entitled "An Introduction".

Write the explanation of the poem entitled “An Introduction”.

Ans.

EXPLANATIONS

1. I don’t know politics but I know the names

Of those in power, and can repeat them life

Days of week, or names of months, beginning with

Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in

Malabar speak three languages, write in

Two, dream in one. Don’t write in English they said,

English is not your mother-tongue. Why not leave

Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,

Every one of you? Why not let me speak in

Any language I like? The language I speak

Become mine, its distortions, its queernesses

All mine, mine alone.

Reference to the Context: These are the opening lines of the poem, ‘An Introduction’, composed Kamala Das. Context: This is an autobiographical poem. The poetess tells us about herself. She also aware us of the suggestions that people give her.

Explanation: The poetess says that she is not interested in politics, but she is as familiar with politicians as she is familiar with very common things. She can tell the names of politicians as easily as she can tell the names of days and months. She tells about herself that she is an Indian, she was born in Malabar and she is of brownish complexion. She can speak three languages, but she expresses herself in two languages-Malayalam and English. But she dreams only in English. She dreams in the language that she likes most. Critics. friends and cousins who visit her and who know her advise her not to write in English as English is not her mother tongue. She would like them not to advise her and let her use the language that she likes most. The language she speaks becomes her own language. It does not remain a foreign language to her. Its distortion and strangeness are all her own. English is not a strange language to her.

2. It is half English, half

Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest,

It is as human as I am human, don’t

You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my

Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing

is to crows or roaring to the lions, it

Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is

Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and

Is aware. Not the deaf; blind speech

Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the

Incoherent muttering of the blazing

Funeral pyre.

Reference to Context: These lines have been selected from the” poem, ‘An Introduction’ composed by Kamala Das. Context: The poetess expresses herself in English. It is not a foreign language to her. It has become her own language. Even its distortions and strangeness are her own.

Explanation: The poetess says that the English she uses is not a chaste English. It is an amalgamation of English and Indian language. It is funny but it is honest as it conveys the meaning clearly. It is the language of human beings. Her language is as human as she is. It expresses her joys, her desires and her hopes and it is as natural and useful to her as cawing (the voice of a crow) to a crow and roaring to a lion. The crow caws and the lion roars without any effort. In the same way she writes in English fluently and effortlessly. Hers is a human speech that fully brings out what there is in her mind. She is fully conscious of what is happening there around her and everything is preserved in her mind and she gives vent to it on proper occasions. Her language is not the speech of mute insensate things that can’t be understood. It is not illogical or unorganized like the sounds of trees, storms, clouds and mass of the flamming wood of a pyre.

3. I was child, and later they

Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs

Swollen and one or two places sprouted hair. When

I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask

For he drew a youth of sixteen into the

Bedroom and closed the door He did not beat met

But my sad woman-body felt so beaten.

The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully.

Reference to Context: These lines appear in the poem, “An Introduction, composed by Kamala Das. The poetess speaks of her language. She speaks and writes English mixed with Indian languages. But it conveys her meaning fully. It can be easily understood.

Explanation: In the beginning the poetess was a child, then she grew up and there appeared changes in her body. She became tall and her hands and feet and the other parts of the body grew in shape and size. There grew hair on one or two places of her body. These were the signs of her attaining maturity. She knew nothing of love. But when she asked for it, she was shut in a bedroom with a sixteen years old boy. He did not beat her, but made love to her in such a way as she felt that her sad woman body was beaten badly. Then she became pregnant and she felt crushed under the weight of her own breast and womb. She shrank pitifully.

4. wore a shirt and my

Brother’s trouser, cut my hair short and ignored

My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl

Be wife, they said. Be embroideries, be cook,

Be a quarreler with servants, Fit in. Oh,

Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit

On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.

Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better

Still be Madhavi kutty. It is time to

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

Don’t play a schizophrenia or be a

Nympho. Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when

Felted in love….

Reference to Context : These lines refer to the poem, ‘An Introduction, composed by Kamala Das Having made love, the poetess become pregnant and she felt crushed under the weight of her own breast and womb. She shrank pitifully.

Explanation: There approved a change in the poetess’ appearance after she became independent. Now she wore clothes of her choice though they looked awkward or outrageous to others. She wore a shirt and her brother’s trousers. She discarded her long hair and cut them short like that of a man. She ignored her womanliness-i.e., she did not care for people’s opinion about herself. Then people ag in began to advise her. They said that she should wear clothes likes that of a girl or a wife. She should dress herself in a saree. She should be a good embroiderer, or cook, or she should quarrel with servants.

She should fit herself in some category of conservative women. She should not do any such thing as is considered shameful in our society. She should not sit on walls or peeps through the curtained windows. She should be a modest and obedient girl or wife. She should follow the footsteps of the women in her family She should not Fein or assume roles and guises. She should neither behave like a mentally sick person, nor should she be obsessed with sex. If she is betrayed in love, she should not make her self felt awkward and shy. She should not cry over her betrayal in love.

5. I met a man, loved him. Call

Him not by any name, he is every man

Who wants a woman, just as I am every

Women who seeks love. In him.. the hungry haste

Of rivers, in me,.. the ocean’s tireless

Waiting: Who are you, I ask each and everyone,

The answer is, it is 1. Anywhere and,

Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself

If in this world, he is tightly packed like the

Sword in its sheath.

Reference to Context: These lines have been taken from the poem. ‘An Introduction’ composed by Kamala Das. When the poetess chose for herself a life style contrary to that of conservative women, she was given many pieces of advice. She was asked neither to behave like a mentally sick person nor like a woman obsessed with sex.

Explanation: Then the poetess met a man and fell in love with him. He was not a particular man. He was like all other common men who wants a woman as their partner or spouse. Similarly she was also in search of a man, a partner who might satisfy her sexually. Both were very eager to make love to each other. He was in a hurry to have sex with her and she had patience like that of an ocean that could not be easily made tire. Who are you, she asks each and every one and everyone answers, it is I. She is in search of some one who calls herself ‘l’ or alone she wants to know if he is as closely associated with someone as a sword is packed in its covering. It may mean that she is in search of someone devoted only to her.

6. It is I who drink lonely

Drinks as twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns,

It is I who laugh, it is I who make love

And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying

With a rattle in my throat, I am sinner,

I am saint. I am the beloved and the

Betrayed. I have no joys which are not yours,

No Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I.

Reference to Context: These are the concluding lines of the poems An Introduction’, composed by Kamala Das. The poetess fell in love with a man. He was a common man and was as eager for her as she was for him.

Explanation: The poetess tells about herself. She says that she enjoys her free life. She drinks lonely at midnight. She visits hotels in unknown cities and there she drinks wine. She laughs and makes love to the man she likes. Then she feels shy on what she has done. She feels that she is dying and uttering short quick sounds in her throat. She is both a sinner and saint. That is, she has the qualities of a good as well as bad man. She is the beloved and she has been deceived in love. She shares her joys with others and feels the pains of others. She is peculiar in herself.