Imagery and Symbols in Kamala Das Poetry
Kamala Das's poetry reveals her personal thoughts and anguish of her failed married life. She employs various imageries and symbols in her poetry which usually depicts confessional subjects. The symbols used in the poetry are common things meant to describe the personal meaning she attached to them.
In her poem "The Sunshine Cat", her mental and physical breakdown is depicted with her words "they let her slide from pegs of sanity" which describes their insensitive attitude towards her. The imagery of building "walls with tears" shows the defensive mechanism and her distrust of men. The depiction of the male body is shown in the lines :
She has described her warm relationship with her grandmother in the poem "My Grandmother's House" and after her death, Das devastated and her "blood turned cold like the moon". She feels suffocated in her present scenario, misses her grandmother's house and even the "armful of darkness" of that house is all she needs to live with her deplorable present.
SYMBOLS
malabar - Nostalgic past
a streak of sunshine - a companion to her
puddles of desire - lust
cistern - heart
windows - a view to look at good past
brooding dog - guard
grandmother - only true lover
snakes - vacuum, silence
In her poem "The Sunshine Cat", her mental and physical breakdown is depicted with her words "they let her slide from pegs of sanity" which describes their insensitive attitude towards her. The imagery of building "walls with tears" shows the defensive mechanism and her distrust of men. The depiction of the male body is shown in the lines :
"clinging to their chests whereThe poem "The Freaks" too depicts the image of the lustful male body which regards as an agent of corruption. Her husband is hungry for carnal thirst and this excessive desire makes his cheek red and his mouth is described as a cave with stalactites in it, not a cheerful description.
New hair sprouted like great-winged moths, burrowing her
face into their smells"
"a sun-stained/ Cheek to me, his mouth, a darkHer heart is empty with nothing but "coiling snakes of silence". It is waiting to filled with love but to no success. They have lived long together but he failed her in love.
Cavern, where stalactites of
Uneven teeth gleam"
She has described her warm relationship with her grandmother in the poem "My Grandmother's House" and after her death, Das devastated and her "blood turned cold like the moon". She feels suffocated in her present scenario, misses her grandmother's house and even the "armful of darkness" of that house is all she needs to live with her deplorable present.
SYMBOLS
malabar - Nostalgic past
a streak of sunshine - a companion to her
puddles of desire - lust
cistern - heart
windows - a view to look at good past
brooding dog - guard
grandmother - only true lover
snakes - vacuum, silence