Critically analyse the autobiographical
elements in Kamala Das’s “An Introduction”.
Answer: Kamala Das is one of the members of the
poetic trinity of Indo-Anglican poets. The other two beings are Nissim Ezekiel
and Ramanujan. She has been called a poet in the autobiographical or
confessional mode. The autobiographical or confessional poets deal in their
poetry with personal emotional experiences which are generally taboo. There is
ruthless self-analysis and a tone of utter sincerity. The facts are not always
true but there is no dedication at all from emotional truth. Confessional or
autobiographical poetry is a struggle to relate the private experience with the
outer world as it is. Such a struggle is in evidence in the poems of Kamala Das
from a very early stage.
‘An Introduction’ is included in her first collection of poems ‘summer
in Calcutta’. In the poem, she speaks in the voice of a girl, rebelling against
the norms and dictates of a patriarchal society which ask her to fit in and
belong against her own wishes. ‘Malabar’ is a south Indian location, covering a
large part of Kerala. It is also extends to part of Karnataka. Her rebellion
against patriarchy is to secure an identity for herself in a male-dominated
world. The poem is beginnings with the assertion, ‘I don’t know politics, but I
know the names of those in power. It shows her dictates for politics is
considered a domain for men. Next come her defiant language she likes. Her
reply to her critics is a reiteration of the appropriation of a colonial
language to serve native needs. ‘Categorizers’ is an allusion to those who see
and group other people in different structures or brackets. This term suggests
the tendency to stereotype people. From the issue of the politics of language,
the poem moves on the subject of several politics. The poet is in utter
bewilderment during her pubescent years. Her sudden marriage and her first
sexual encounter all level her traumatized.