Rabindranath Tagore and

UNIT 37 NISSIM EZEKIEL AND Sarojini Naidu

KAMALA DAS
Structure
37.0 Objectives
37.1 Introduction
37.2 Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004)
37.3 Ganga
37.3.1 Introduction
37.3.2 The Text
37.3.3 Analysis
37.4 A Poem of Dedication
37.4.1 Introduction
37.4.2 The Text
37.4.3 Analysis
37.5 Kamala Das (March 31, 1934- May 30, 2009)
37.6 An Introduction (1965)
37.6.1 Introduction
37.6.2 The Text
37.6.3 Analysis
37.7 The Dance of the Eunuchs (1965)
37.7.1 Introduction
37.7.2 The Text
37.7.3 Analysis
37.8 A Hot Noon in Malabar
37.8.1 Introduction
37.8.2 The Text
37.8.3 Critical Appreciation
37.9 Let Us Sum Up
37.10 Answer to Self-check Exercises

37.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we shall study two poets, Nissim Ezekiel and Kamala Das. After
reading this unit we shall be able to:
• write about lives and works of these poets;
• discuss Ezekiel’s poems (i) Ganga and (ii) A Poem of Dedication;
• discuss Kamala Das’s poems (i) An Introduction (ii) The Dance of the
Eunuchs and (iii) A Hot Noon in Malabar.

37.1 INTRODUCTION
Nissim Ezekiel is one of the pioneers of Modern English poetry in India. He not
only guided other poets and set new standard for them; he also made poetry
central to his life. However, his significance lies more in his personal
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Indian English Poets contribution as a poet. Bruce King rightly said, “Other wrote poems, he wrote
poetry”. He is a poet who is morally and spiritually concerned with living in the
modern world and made poetry out of his personal experience. Such modern
characteristics as irony, multiplicity of tones and artistic distancing of emotions
through a persona are among his contributions to Indian English poetry. Frequent
use of dramatic mode in his poetry is perhaps due to his interest in theatre.

In the present unit we are going to discuss two poems by Nissim Ezekiel and
three poems by Kamala Das. The two poems by Ezekiel are different from each
other in theme and technique. This will give you a glimpse of the variety of his
poems.

His first poem Ganga is written in an open form with no definite pattern of line-
length, rhyme and metre. The second poem A Poem of Dedication will show you
how the poet has used a definite rhyming scheme and how it expresses the poet’s
quest for a happy, peaceful and integrated life. There is one marked similarity in
the poetry of Nissim Ezekiel and in that of Kamala Das. Poetry, for both,
becomes a media to come to terms with life.

Kamala Das is one of the foremost women poets of India writing in English. She
was a revolutionary poet who started the trends towards frankness and candour in
the treatment of a subject which was almost taboo and which women poets
hesitated to deal with. Her poems are about adulterous love, loneliness and quest
for fulfillment in love. Her poetry is different from those of the other Indian
women poets not merely by the choice of her themes but also by her bold
treatment of those themes. She used English in her poems without the concern
for correctness and precision. She is an excellent poet with an excellent feeling
for sound, rhythm, imagery, symbol, word-play and drama. Like Nissim Ezekiel
her poetry too gradually became freer and looser in sense of form and
versification. She is among the few women writers who have handled many
literary genres with success in two distinct languages, English and Malayalam.

In this unit we are going to read her three poems. The first poem is An
Introduction. In this poem we shall see how this poem is the poet’s self-portrait
written in a condensed style.

37.2 NISSIM EZEKIEL (1924-2004)

Nissim Ezekiel belongs to a Bene-Israel family which generations ago had
migrated and settled down in Bombay in India. Both of his parents were teacher.
His father Moses Ezekiel was a Professor of Botany at Wilson College, Bombay
and his mother principal of a school. Born a Jew and raised as a secular
rationalist by his scientific father made him outsider to dominant Hindu-Muslim
culture. It is his very outsiderness and marginality which made him a
representative voice of the urbanized western educated India.

Nissim Ezekiel was born in 1924 in Bombay and was educated at Antonia
D’Souza High school and Wilson College, Bombay. He topped the list of MA
English Examination of Bombay University in 1947 and from 1947 to 48 worked
as a lecturer of English at Khalsa College, Bombay. It was during this period that
some of his literary articles were published in various magazines and journals.

Next stage of his life came when he departed in November 1948 to England for
his higher studies where he stayed for three and half years and studied
24
Philosophy and Psychology at Birbeck College, London under professor Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
C.E.M.Joad. However, he showed greater inclination towards literature. It was
during his stay in London that Fortune Press, London published his first poetic
collection A Time to Change in 1952. The year 1952 is a remarkable date for him
also because the same year he returned from London and married a Jewish girl
Daisy Jacob. Similarly the year 1953 too was an important year in Ezekiel’s life
because the same year his second poetic collection Sixty Poems was published
and he joined the well- known periodical The Illustrated Weekly of India as an
assistant editor. For the next ten years, he broadcast articles on art and literature
for All India Radio. From 1954 to 59 he worked as an advertising copywriter and
general manager of Shilping advertising company.

His third collection of poems The Third was published in 1959 and the forth The
Unfinished Man, a year after. From 1961 to 1972, he headed the department of
English of Mithibai College, Bombay. During this period his sixth poetic
collection The Exact Name was published in 1965. He also worked as an art
critic of The Times of India from 1966 to 67. For short period he also served as
visiting professor at the University of Leeds (1964) and the university of Chicago
(1964).

In 1976 he wrote Hymns of Darkness and also translated Marathi poems into
English. His Latter-Day Psalms (1982) was selected for the Sahitya Akademi
Award of 1983.He was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1988. He edited Indian
P.E.N, Quest, Imprint and Poetry India.

Ezekiel has also written plays, art criticism and reviews. His play Don’t Call it
Suicide (1993) was published more than two decades after his Three Plays
(1969). His selected prose edited by Adil Jussawalla in 1992 shows that he was
not only a poet but also one of the best literary critics India has ever produced.
Ezekiel’s prose is a model of clarity and lucidity enlivened by touches of wit.

After a prolonged battle with a serious disease Alzheimer, Nissim Ezekiel finally
passed away in Mumbai in January 9, 2004 at the age of seventy- nine.

Now find out for yourself how well you have read the biographical note on
Nissim Ezekiel with the help of an exercise. In case you failed to locate the
answers in the text read the whole text carefully again.

Self-check Exercise I
Answer the following questions in the space provided. Read the answers
(37.9.1) after doing the exercise.
1) In what sense was Nissim Ezekiel an Indian English poet?
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Indian English Poets
2) Who was the Nissim Ezekiel’s father and what did he do?
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3) What made the poet a representative voice of the western educated India?
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4) Name the magazines and periodicals he edited?
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5) Was Ezekiel only a poet?
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6) Name his important Collections of Poems?
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7) What was the apparent cause of his death?
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 Nissim Ezekiel and
37.3 GANGA Kamala Das

37.3.1 Introduction
Ganga, the poem your are going to read about, is a simple but pathetic story of a
maidservant in every Indian household. The poem assumes significance also
because it raises centuries old problem of master-servant relationship which has
hardly been ever an issue. Through this poem, the poet tries to sensitise his
readers towards this grave social problem. Through ironical mode of treatment,
the poet brings to the fore the hypocrisy and indifference of the masters towards
their servants. The poem snows how the trivial offerings like stale chapati and
tea by the masters to their servants is considered by them a mark of generosity.

Though simple in theme, the poem is remarkable for its techniques. In the poem,
the poet very beautifully turns the words into metaphor, images and symbols as
the situation demands. The poem is satirical in tone and free from any rhyming
scheme.

37.3.2 The Text

We pride ourselves
on generosity
to servants. The woman
who washes up, suspected
of prostitution ,
is not dismissed.

she always gets

a cup of tea
preserved for her
from the previous evening,
and a chapati, stale
but in good condition.

Once a year, an old

Sari, and a blouse
for which we could
easily exchange a plate
or a cup and saucer.
Besides, she borrows
small coins for paan
or a sweet for her child,
she brings a smell with her
and leaves it behind her,
but we are used to it.
These people never learn.
Glossary
Chapati : a type of flat round Indian bread.
Paan : Astringent mixture of areca-nut, lime etc. wrapped in betel leaf
for chewing.
Sari : Traditional dress of Indian women, long cloth to be wrapped over
entire body.
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Indian English Poets 37.3.3 Analysis
What strikes us first in the poem is its title Ganga. A cursory view of the poem
reveals that the poem is about insensitive master-servant relationship in Indian
households illustrated with reference to a maidservant. Then the question arises
in our mind as to why the poem has been titled as Ganga. Whether or not Ganga
is a name of the maidservant is not clear. In fact the interpretation of the poem
hinges on the meaning of “Ganga”. This word has a vast symbolic potential. It
may refer to the timeless river Ganges which has been a symbol of purification, a
source of spiritual values and regeneration which unfortunately over the years
have shown a trend of degeneration. The fate of maidservants is likened to the
river Ganges in which the latter serves as an objective correlative for the former.
Both the maidservants and the holy river have existed from the earliest ages of
our civilization and are integral to it. Both of them have ironical fate of being
ill-treated by those for whose cleanliness they exist.

The poem holds a faithful mirror to India that is shameless, hypocritical and
merciless in her attitude to the poor. This is vented ironically in the very opening
lines of the poem:
we pride ourselves
on generosity
to servants.

The Indian masters and mistresses falsely believe themselves to be generous

towards their servants. The following lines better elaborate the theme of the
poem: “women suspected of prostitution is not dismissed/she always gets a cup
of tea/preserved for her/ from the previous evening/ and a chapati, stale/but in
good condition”. The theme is developed in a series of such phrases which go on
reinforcing the meaning further and further to make the issue more intense and
pronounced. The everyday words are chosen to suit the theme of the poem.
Furthermore, the words like tea, chapati, paan and sari create visual images
along with those of taste and smell. The inverted use of adjectives chapati,
‘stale’, sari ‘old’, tea, ‘from previous evening’, creates a taste image which
explodes the false pride of the masters. Besides, the poet is capable of turning
words into metaphors, images and symbols as the situation demands. No
character is named not even the maidservant because she is nameless woman
working in every Indian household.

The mood of the poem is provocative and tone satiric. The poet’s choice of open
form or no definite pattern of line, length and metre is suitable for the theme of
the poem. Since the life of the maidservants is very precarious and scattered
therefore no hope or rhythm. Though lighter in tone, the poem is no less effective
than Gieve Patel’s ‘Servants’. Ezekiel’s poems are not merely a poem of pity but
of anger as well. Ezekiel’s ‘Ganga’ and ‘Servant’ are two poems expressing two
versions of the same theme. The situation of the girl of fourteen in ‘servant’ is no
better than that of the woman who washes up in “Ganga”:

“At twelve or fourteen, married off

to the usual brute,
she has a child,
and tells my mother everytime
her husband beats her,
for the fun of it.”
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The speaker’s negative remark in the last line of the poem ‘these people new Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
learn’ leaves a very lasting impression on the reader’s mind. You may also note
that this comment which ostensibly seems to be on servant is actually on their
employers. From generations to generations, the relationship between the masters
and the servants has continued to be one of the exploiters and the exploited and
yet immune from any sensitivity.

Self-check Exercise II
1) Comment on the symbolic significance of the title of the poem Ganga.
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2) Comment on the phrase ‘these people never learn’.
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37.4 A POEM OF DEDICATION

37.4.1 Introduction
A poem of dedication is from Ezekiel’s Sixty Poems. Ezekiel published this
poetic collection at the age of twenty nine. What he says about this collection
also holds true for the poem you are going to read. Ezekiel said, “The only reason
for publishing the book was he lacked courage to destroy it”. His following
explanation throws further light on each poem:
“There is in each poem a line or phrase, an idea or image which helps me to
maintain some sort of continuity in my life”.
“A Poem of Dedication” is one of the finest poems written by Ezekiel. He wrote
this poem when he lived with one of his friends in a basement house in London.
Broadly speaking the poem represents poet’s search for the self and his struggles
to come to terms with life. When for the poet, a thing becomes its symbol and
‘facts’ become suspect, this poem comes to console him: “I close my eyes to see
with better sight”. The poet becomes empowered to see the purpose of life: “I
want a human balance humanly/Acquired”.
Now Go through the poem 29
Indian English Poets 37.4.2 The Text
The view from basement rooms is rather small.
A patch or two of green, a bit of sky,
Children heard but never seen, an old wall,
Two trees, a washing line between, windows
With high curtains to block the outer eyes;
It seems that nothing changes, nothing grows,
But suddenly the mind is loosed of chains
And purifies itself before the warm
Mediterranean, which fills the veins,
To make the body beautiful and light-
Heaviness of limbs or soul can mimic calm-
I closed the eyes to see with better sight.

There is a landscape certainly, the sea

Among its broad realities, attracts,
Because it is a symbol of the free
Demoniac life within,
Hardly suggested by the surface facts,
And rivers what a man can hope to win
By simple flowing, learning how to flow,
And trees imply on obvious need of roots,
Besides that all organic growth is slow.
Both poetry and living illustrate:
Each season brings its own peculiar fruits,
A time to act, a time to contemplate.

The image is created; try to change.

Not to seek release but resolution,
Not to hanker for a wide, god-like range
Of thought, nor the matador’s dexterity.
I do not want the yogi’s concentration,
I do not want the perfect charity,
Of saints nor the tyrants endless power.
I want a human balance humanly
Acquired, fruitful in the common hour,
This Elizabeth is my creation,
Stated in the terms of poetry
I offer it to you in dedication.

Glossary
Mediterranean : short for the Mediterranean Sea.
Demoniac : suggests inner possession or inspiration: the demoniac
fire of genius .
Matador : the principal bullfighter appointed to kill the bull.
Elizabeth : suggests the achievements or empire of Elizabeth I (1553
to 1603 A.D), the queen of England. Her reign was
notable for commercial growth, maritime expansion and
the flourishing of literature, music and architecture.
Yogi : a person who practises yoga, a process of an individual to
unify itself with the ultimate.
30
37.4.3 Analysis Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
A poem of dedication has many layers of meaning. At one level it is an account of
the poet’s personal experience, sort of a self-introspection while he stayed in a
basement house in Landon. Thus, it is the poet’s account of his self-exploration
and self-formation.

On another level, the poem may be seen as the poet’s quest for the state of
harmony between his inner and outer landscapes to arrive at equanimous
adjustment between life and art. The poem is a revelation of the fact that life
operates on two levels. Below the surface reality of monotonous routine life lies
the deep ocean of broad reality hidden in the unconscions domain of the human
mind. Even a brief spell into this inner realms brings to us a soothing calm and
empowers our eyes with better sight. The poet realizes that we can not afford to
ignore the mundane reality. Therefore, through this poem he strives to attain a
human balance between the poised duality of life.

When you look at the very first line of the poem ‘the view from basement rooms
is rather small’, you will be amazed to know that this seemingly general remark
is pregnant with meanings. It may refer to narrow and flawed kind of living;
confined and artificial kind of living besides many other things. The basement
rooms may also refer to modern time life styles which create so many walls and
confinements for the human beings. The five lines that follow the opening line is
written in dramatic mode and create vivid image one can have from basement
rooms. The phrase ‘children heard but never seen’ instantly creates a visual
image before the reader’s eyes. This also speaks of the problems of modern
artificial life. The poet’s static living in apartment room attains a sudden
dynamism: “But suddenly the mind is loosed of chains, and purifies itself…”

The sudden escape of mind purifies itself because it dives deep into oceanic
mind. Moreover, the peace and purification our mind attains is not like a ‘mimic
calm’ caused by the Mediterranean rains which brings to human limbs or soul’
just a little relief. Above all, this escape of mind empowers the human beings
‘with better sight’. This better sight makes our ability to see realities with broader
perspectives.
Let us observe the second stanza:
“There is a landscape certainly, the sea
Among its broad realities, attracts
Because it is a symbol of the free
Demoniac life within,
Hardly suggested by surface facts,
And rivers what a man can hope to win
By simple flowing, learning how to flow…..”

Here the image of the sea is contrasted with that of the river. The sea represents
the broad realities of life and symbolizes the deep demoniac power within while
the river represents the surface facts of routine daily life. In the latter realm of
living, there is nothing substantive to be gained. In such a kind of living, “what a
man can hope to win”. After deliberating upon both the dimensions of life, the
poet strikes a balance:

“Each season brings its own peculiar fruits,

A time to act, a time to contemplate”.

31
Indian English Poets In the third stanza the poem turns didactic in tone. The narrator explains that the
impressions of life the human beings gather are their own construct. Therefore
they should try to change them. The narrator suggests people “Not to seek
release but resolution”. He instructs this because he has seen that since centuries
Indian religions have taught people to seek release – freedom from the cycle of
birth and death and therefore from the sufferings that the very life brings. The
narrator also forbids people from taking improbable tasks and suffering on
account of the same. He, therefore, wants the people to take strong resolution for:
“Not to hanker for a wide, god-like range/ Of thoughts, nor the matador’s
dexterity”. With triple negative lines the poet , who also seems to be the narrator,
makes his message more forceful:

“I do not want yogi’s concentration,

I do not want perfect charity
Of saints nor the tyrants endless power”.

Similarly, by repeating again and again what the narrator does not want, the poet
makes what he wants emphatic:

“I want a human balance humanly

Acquired, fruitful in the common hour”.

The poet here in the guise of narrator wants to suggest that life lies in balance.
But even this balance should also be acquired humanly i.e. with love, peace and
understanding. Such a human balance will be a common property for the mutual
benefits of the societies , the nations and the world. Thus the use of the phrase
“common hour” is notable for its meaning. In the concluding lines the poet feels
proud to dedicate this philosophy of life in terms of poetry to the readers for their
benefit.

Now you may note the rhyming scheme. The poem has three stanzas of twelve
lines each. The first line rhymes with the third, the second with the fifth and the
fourth with the sixth and this pattern is repeated throughout the poem. The
dictions chosen are simple but their usage makes them profound. The adjectives
which follow the nouns make their meaning very effective. For example, when
the poet talks of windows, its usual meaning should be an outlet to our eyes. But
when this word is qualified by an adjective phrase “With high curtains to block
the eyes,” its meaning becomes very powerful. Particularly the selection of the
word ‘block’ is very effective. The ‘curtain’ too is used metaphorically as a
global symbol of artificial separation. When our outward view is ‘blocked’,
turning inward becomes its a natural outcome.

Self-check Exercise III

1) Explain how the poet illustrates ‘the view from basement rooms’.
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 Nissim Ezekiel and
2) Show how the meaning of the second stanza hinges on two images ‘the Kamala Das
sea’ and ‘river’.
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3) What do the phrase ‘human balance’ mean?
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4) Explain the phrases “humanly acquired” and “the common hour”.
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37.5 KAMALA DAS (MARCH 31, 1934 – MAY 30,

2009)
Kamala Das (Madhavikuti) was born in Malabar in 1934. She was educated
privately at home and at schools in Bengal and Kerala and belonged to a writers
family. Her mother Padma bhushan Nalapat Balamani Amma was an outstanding
Malayalam poet and winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Saraswati
Samman and her father the editor and Managing Director of Mathrabhumi, a
leading Malayalam language newspaper. She was only fifteen when she was
married to K. Madhava Das, who rose to become an R.B.I. Officer.

Kamala Das began writing poetry at the age of six. She was only fourteen when
P.E.N. India, edited by Sophia Wadia, published her first poem. But her poetry
got recognition when she was awarded the Asian Poetry Prize instituted by P.E.N.
Phillipines in 1963. From 1971 to 72 and again from 1978 to 79, she was the
poetry editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India. Her poems were published in
Opinion, New Writing in India (penguin Books, 1974), and Young
Commonwealth Poets (Heinemann, 1965).

Kamala Das was a writer of versatile genius. She handled essays, fictions, short
stories, criticism and journalistic features very successfully in both the languages,
Malayalam and English. Her writings in English is as varied as in Malayalam.
She published seven volumes of poetry, two novels, Manas (1975) and The 33
Indian English Poets Alphabet of Lust (1976), a collection of short fictions (A Doll for the Child
Prostitute) and an autobiography called My Story. Her well-known books
included Summer in Calcutta (1965) and The Descendants (1967), The Old
Playhouse and Other Stories (1973). When the first volume of her Collected
Poems was published in 1984, it won her Sahitya Akademi Award for 1985. Her
other collection The Soul Knows How to Sing: Selections From Kamala Das was
published in 1997.
She made a new experiment in Indian English poetry. She succeeded in exploring
those labyrinths which inhibit many a brave poets even today. In her poetry she
points to certain biological matters so bluntly and openly that readers frequently
feel scandalized and shocked. It appears Kamala Das allowed the poetic impulse
to flow into poetry before the social conventions came to arrest the flow. Rajeev
S. Patke remarks:
“It would be mistake to suppose that Das is obsessed with sex and marriage and
social roles. What she is intent on is honesty of impulse and a sense of direction
to the flow of her wants and feelings”.
Talking about her contribution C.D. Narasimhaiah once remarked: “Kamala Das
is perhaps the only Indian poet who owes little to Yeats or Eliot and trusted her
own resources and culture”. She not only believed in her own personal
experience in Kerala and her personality as fit resource for her poetry, what is
creditworthy she very successfully transformed those personal experiences into
poetic art. Often she depicts about women’s plight in a society dominated by
men. Her poetry like most confessional poetry, written by Nissim Ezekiel, Anne
Sexton and Sylvia Plath has therapeutic and cathartic effect on the poet as well as
on the readers.
The poet is noted also for her direct public commitments. She involved herself in
a number of public responsibilities. She was not only a great votary of
vegetarianism but she also initiated the Bodhiyatra Movement for environmental
protection. She played active roles as a Chairman in the Forestry Board of Kerala
and as the President in the Film Society of Kerala besides entering into politics in
order to help the poor and teaching deaf and dumb in a school. Suffering from
pneumonia on 30th May, 2009 she breathed her last at Jahangir Hospital, Pune.
Now find out yourself how well you have read the biographical note on Kamala
Das above with the help of same exercises. In case you fail to locate the answers
in the text, read the whole text carefully again.

Self-check Exercise IV
1) Who were Kamala Das’s parents? What did they do?
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 Nissim Ezekiel and
2) How did Kamala Das’s poetic career begin? Kamala Das
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3) Mention some of the important books Kamala Das wrote?
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4) On what grounds her poetry is compared with those of other poets. Also
mention the names of the poets.
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5) Mention some of the public responsibilities Kamala Das assumed in her
life.
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37.6 AN INTRODUCTION (1965)

37.6.1 Introduction
An Introduction is obviously an autobiographical poem written by Kamala Das
which first appeared in her Summer in Calcutta (1965). The poem is a brilliant
example of her confessionalism wherein she unfold her entire self with extreme
frankness and candour. In this poem the poet expresses her experiences which
were strictly private and personal. The poem is a revolt against conventionalism
and restraints put against Indian women. In this poem the question whether or not
Indians should write in English is put to rest. The poem is also remarkable for its
daring innovativeness. 35
Indian English Poets The poem you are going to read is written in free verse in a colloquial style
which appropriately allows the free flow of writer’s thoughts and feelings. The
poem is highly revealing of the poet, of her political knowledge, of her linguistic
acquirements, of her physical growth, of the sad experience of her marriage and
of her quest for fulfilling love. What M.K. Naik says of her poetry in general also
applies for this poem: “Kamala Das’s persona is no nymphomaniac; she is simply
every woman who seeks love and she is the beloved and betrayed; expressing her
female hunger”.

39.6.2 The Text

I don’t know politics but I know the names
Of those in power, and can repeat them like
Days of week, or names of months, beginning with
Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in
Malabar, I 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
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queerness
All mine, mine alone. 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. I was child, and later they
Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs
Swelled 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 me
But my sad woman-body felt so beaten.
The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank
Pitifully. Then … I wore a shirt and my
Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored
My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl
Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreler with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit
On wall or peep in through our lace-drapped windows,
Be Amy, or be Kamla, or better
Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to
Choose a name, a role. Don’t play pretending games.
Don’t play at schizpprenia or be a
Nympho. Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when
Jilted in love… I met a man, loved him. Call
36
 Him not by any name, he is every man, Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
Who wants a woman, just as I am every
Woman who seeks love. In him…the hungry taste
Of river in me… the oceans’ tireless
Waiting. Who are you, I ask each and everyone,
The answer is; it is I. Anywhere and
Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself
If in this world, he is tightly-packed like the
Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely
Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of stranger 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.
Glossary
Know the three languages : Malayalam, Kannad and English.
Write in two : Malayalam and English.
Dream in one : Malayalam. It is the mother-tongue in which
one usually dreams.
Why not leave me alone : a glimpse of the poet’s spirit instinctively
rebelling against all forms of restraints.
It is as human as I am human : just as human is liable to make mistakes, so
Kamala’s language is not without errors.
The speech of the mind : language through which feelings such as
Joys, desires, aspirations etc. of man’s mind
is expressed.
Here and not there : to the point and not irrelevant.
Incoherent Mutterings : speech in a low voice not meant to be heard
by others.
Blazing : burning strongly.
Asked for love : expresses the biwiderment of the innocent
young girl who sought love but experienced
raw lust which left her feeling assaulted and
defiled.
A quarreler with servants : People advised Kamala to be a quarreler with
servants as otherwise the latter will get the
upper hand.
Belong : to feel comfortable and happy with the
situation one is placed in.
Categorisers : the people with traditional thinking who
consider men and women as a distinct
category having specific dress and roles.
Schizophrenia : a mental illness in which a person becomes
unable to link thought, emotion and
behaviour leading to withdrawal from reality
and relationship. 37
Indian English Poets Nympho : a woman who has sex and wants to have sex
very often.
Jilted in Love : abandoned by a lover.
The hungry haste of rivers : an image through which lover’s strong sexual
passion is reflected. As river rushes towards
oceans for union with the latter, so the lover
moves towards the beloved for the fulfillment
of his sexual desires.
The Ocean’s tireless waiting : an image through which the beloved’s infinite
patience for a proper sexual union with her
lover is expressed. Ocean here is an objective
correlative for beloved’s psychic state.
I am sinner…. I too … : the poet sums up her introduction by
identifying herself with countless others
around, all of whom represent a bundle of
contrary features.

37.6.3 Analysis
An Introduction is a self-protrait and the anatomy of kamala Das’s mind. The
poem recounts the major incidents of her life which have affected her experience.
The poem is remarkable for its structure even though it encompasses a diversity
of facts and circumstances. The rules of punctuation have been fully observed.
The lines are almost of the same length. The words used and the use of
phraseology show Das’s talent of choosing right words and putting them in the
most effective order. The poem contains many felicities of word and phrase.
Written in free verse the poem has neither any rhyming scheme nor any metrical
arrangement. The natural speech rhythm, pauses and punctuation make the poem
conversational in style.

When you read the poem the first thing that may strike your mind is the title An
Introduction. Whose introduction does it talk about? A little thought reveals the
poem is an introduction of the poet herself. But a deeper thought reveals that it is
an introduction of ‘every woman’ The opening line of the poem ‘I don’t know
politics but I know the names of those in power beginning with Nehru’ makes it
obvious that she does not want to assume any political identity. She rather prefers
a national identity. Mark the following line: “I am Indian, very brown in colour,
born in Malabar, here the poet uses the words which are identity markers –
‘Indian’, ‘brown in colour’ and ‘born in Malabar’. The narrator boasts of her
linguistic proficiency “I speak three languages, write in two, dream in one”, to
prove that she is a capable writer and fully aware of her role and responsibilities
as a writer. Her Indian identity and linguistic ability is emphasized to reinforce
her claim of writing in English. The following illustrations advance her claim
further:

“The language I speak

Becomes mine, its distortions, its queerness, All mine,mine alone. It is half
English, half, Indian.funny perhaps, but it is honest, It is as human as I am
human, don’t
you see? ”

The narrator assets that the language with all its distortions of grammar, structure
38 or pronunciation belongs to the users, no matter what nationality they may
belong to. The narrator explains that the language is ‘as human (liable to error) as Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
the narrator is human. She makes her case to use English very strong by claiming
that ‘it is useful to her as cawing/Is to crows or roaring to the lions’. English
comes so naturally to her that in it she can voice her ‘joys’, her longings’ and her
‘Hopes’.

The narrator is so much vexed with the suggestions that she further illustrates her
point with a series of images to clarify what the writing English is not like. She
says that English “is not deaf, blind speech”/ “Of trees in storms or of monsoon
clouds or of rain or the/ Incoherent mutterings of the blazing funeral pyre”. The
last line here may refer to the decadent legacy of the British Culture.

The poem shifts to another story which talks of the narrator’s early marriage and
her consequent psychological hurt:

“He drew a youth of sixteen into the/ Bedroom and closed the door.
He did not beat me/ But my sad woman-body felt so beaten./The
weight of my breast and womb crushed me/ I shank pitifully”.

The above lines are remarkable for showing the poet’s talent in choosing and
putting the best words in the most effective combinations. The whole picture of
the misuse of sex becomes vivid. The last two lines create true picture of its
consequence. As a mark of protest the poet takes resort to western dress:

Then… I wore a shirt and my

Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored
My womanliness”.

This open revolt created strong resentment amongst her relatives and well-
wishers. Their sharpness of reactions is reflected very effectively by the poet
through the appropriate selection and arrangement of words and the speaker’s
tone:
“Fit in, oh
Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit/On walls or peep
through our lace-draped window.
Be Amy or Kamla, or better
Still be Madhavikutti. It is time to
Choose a name, a role”.

Can you see that the phrase ‘Fit in’ and the word ‘belong’ are simple words but
their arrangement in the poetic scheme makes their meanings very expressive,
deep and varied. Similarly the words like ‘cry’ and ‘categorisers’ too are equally
simple but very suggestive in meanings. For example, word ‘cry’ carries with it a
sense of anxiety and force and categorizer refers to people with traditional
thinking who understand things in terms of category and class only. The later
suggestion that the narrator must never pretend to be a split-personality suffering
from psychological disorder or tend to act as a nympho shows further griping
clout on her. This was not all; the narrator is further instructed:
“Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when/jilted in love”.
The poem now moves to another story in which Kamala Das’s ideal of Man-
woman relationship is indicated:
“….He is everyman/’Who wants a woman, Just
39
Indian English Poets as I am every/ Woman who seeks love. In/ him… the hungry haste/Of rivers in
me…the ocean’s tireless/waiting”. Here the words ‘want’ and ‘seek’ is notable.
‘Want’ refers here to every man who needs woman for his service as a
subordinate. ‘Seek’ means every woman who badly miss love, so they keep on
looking for what they want their whole life. The last two lines through the use of
beautiful images which serve as objective correlative very successfully explain
the sexual behaviours of men and women. ‘The hungry haste /of rivers and the
ocean’s tireless/waiting’ represent the psychological states of men and women
respectively. You may note here that the word ‘I’ is repeated at a number of
times to emphasize the women’s quest of identity. Explaining the nature and
position of women the narrator says ‘I am sinner, /I am saint. I am the beloved
and the Betrayed’. The point she is trying to make is that be it man or woman,
none is wholly a sinner or wholly a saint. We all are a balance of both. In that
case there is no point in viewing the women as the other. Finally, Kamala Das’s
idea of fulfilled love is neatly presented in “I have no joys which are not yours,
no aches which are not yours”.

Self-check Exercise V
1) What could be implied meaning of the opening lines of the poem: “I
don’t know politics but I know the names of those in power, …beginning
with Nehru.”
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.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
2) Talking about English language the narrator says, “It is as useful to me as
cawing is to crows or roaring to the lions…” What is the literary device
used in this line?
.....................................................................................................................
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3) What do the images of ‘rivers’ and ‘oceans’ imply?
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40
 Nissim Ezekiel and
4) “In Kamala Das the poet is the poetry”. Comment maximum in 50 Kamala Das
words.
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5) “I have no joys which are not yours, no Aches which are not yours. I too
call myself I”. In this statement who represents ‘I’? What is so special
about the statement “I too call myself I”?
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37.7 THE DANCE OF THE EUNUCHS (1965)

37.7.1 Introduction
The Dance of the Eunuchs is considered one of the finest poems of Kamala Das.
Like the earlier one this poem too appeared in summer in Calcutta. This is the
first poem of the volume and sets the tone and temper for all the poems. The
poem is very powerful and very effectively expresses Kamala Das’s state of mind
in well-chosen words. The repetition of words in some of the lines reinforces the
intended meaning. There is abundance of imagery in the poem. The whole poem
is enveloped in gloom and despondency.

The poem is a linguistic manifestation of poet’s experience. In the poem the poet
sympathizes with eunuchs. The costumes, the makeup, the passion with which
the eunuchs dance suggest the female delicacies. Their outward appearance is
contrasted with their inner sadness which finds outlet in their ‘harsh’ songs about
‘dying lovers’ and ‘children left unborn’. There is no joy in their hearts. With
their fractured personality, the eunuchs can not even dream of happiness. The
background of thundering clouds, flashes of lightning and meager rainfall suggest
their outward sparkle and inner vacuity. The dance of the eunuchs is an objective
correlative for Kamala Das’s unfulfilled love.

37.7.2 The Text

It was hot, so hot, before the eunuchs came/ To dance, wide skirts going round
and round, cymbals/ Richly clashing and anklets Jingling, Jingling Jingling….
Beneath the fiery gulmohar, with Long breads flying, dark eyes flashing, they
danced and/ They danced, oh, they danced till they bled… There were green/
Tatoos on their checks, Jasmine in their hair some /Were dark and some were
fair. Their voices
41
Indian English Poets Were harsh, their songs melancholy; they sang of
Lovers dying and of children left unborn…
Some beat their drums; other beat their sorry breasts
And wailed, and writhed in vacant ecstasy. They
Were thin in limbs and dry, like half-burnt longs
From funeral pyres a drought and rottenness
Were in each of them. Even the crows were so
Silent on trees, and the children, wide eyed still;
All were watching these poor creature’s convulsions
The sky crackled then, thunder came, and lightning
And rain, a meagre rain that smelt of dust in
Attics and the urines of lizards and mice…

Glossary
Eunuchs : a section of people who belong to neither of the sexes.
Cymbals : a musical instrument in the shape of a round metal plate.
Anklets : a piece of Jewellers around the ankle usually made of
silver.
Fiery : looking like fire, showing strong emotions.
Gulmuhar : a tree with orange colour bunches of flowers.
Tatoos : a picture, a design that is marked permanently on a
person’s skin by making small holes in the skin and filling
them with coloured ink.
Wailed : wept loudly.
Writhed : twisted their bodies due to unbearable pain.
Vacant ecstasy : the exciting movements in dance are mere steps or
convulsions which express the joyless state of their hearts.
Convulsions : sudden uncontrollable shaking movements of a body.
Crackled : made short sharp sounds.

37.7.3 Analysis
In The Dance of the Eunuchs meaning operates at two levels. At surface level the
poet appears to be sympathizing with eunuchs who are forced to dance in the
scorching sun. They danced till they bled… reflects their compulsion. That their
voices were ‘harsh’ and songs ‘melancholy’ becomes obvious when we know the
themes of the eunuchs’s song: they sang of ‘lovers dying’ and ‘of children left
unborn’. By comparing eunuch’s ‘thin and dry body’ with half-burnt log from
funeral pyres, the poet arouses in the readers a sense of shock and pathos. The
poet, with a series of sound and sight images, creates a dramatic scene full of
convulsions but devoid of inner vitality.

On another level, written in confessional style the poem symbolically portrays

the poet’s melancholy in her life. The eunuchs are symbols of unproductiveness
and metaphor of barrenness. The poem becomes for Kamala Das an objective
correlative to represent her inner suffering within. The dance of the eunuchs with
their skirts going round and round, cymbols/Richly clashing and anklets jingling,
Jingling and Jingling… is contrasted with their ‘vacant ecstasy’, suggesting a
gulf between externally stimulated passion and their sexual drought and
42
rottenness within. The contrast is sustained throughout the poem. The dance of Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
the eunuchs is the dance of the sterile and therefore is compared with the
unfulfilled love of the women in the poet.

The poem shows an admirable sense of proportion in the use of image and
symbols. You may note how the poet creates the image of the summer season by
using the word ‘hot’. Addition of the prefix ‘so’ before the word hot heightens
the sense of weather. The use of the word ‘fiery’ before gulmohar suggests the
unbearable summer. The use of colour-green, jasmine, dark and fair very
effectively present colour image reflective of the external beauty of the eunuchs.
This beauty is contrasted with the internal vacuity reflected by the use of images
like ‘vacant ecstasy’, ‘thin and dry like half-burnt funeral pyres’ and ‘drought and
rottenness’. The phrase “writhed in vacant ecstasy” is very significant as a
devastating image of the barrenness of Kamala Das’s life.

The words ‘crackled’, ‘thunder’, ‘lightning’ and ‘rain’ create the atmosphere of
the rainy season which is the natural corollary of the hot summer season.
Besides, these words also create sound image of the rainy season which represent
sudden convulsion but trivial finish.

You may note that the meaning of the title of the poem is not so simple as it
appears to be. The dance which is so naturally associated with the eunuchs is not
a dance inspired by their internal pleasure but a source of livelihood and
therefore a compulsion which is devoid of inner joy. Thus the dance becomes an
antithesis because instead of happiness it reflects the dancer’s unhappiness.

Written in third person narrative through the description of eunuchs’ dress and
behaviour the poet creates in the poem the atmosphere of dance. Dance is the
dominant rhythm of the poem which goes on increasing as the poem progresses.
“..with long breads flying, dark eyes flashing, they danced”. They danced, or they
danced till they bled…” adds momentum to the dance and the following lines
further intensifies it:
“Some beat their drums, others beat their sorry ‘breasts”.
But the climax is reached in the following lines:
“The sky crackled then, thunder came, and lightning and rain”. Here the
word ‘then’ is so used to add momentum even to the sentence in which
it is used.
After the climax there is a sudden fall in the rhythm as is reflected in the last two
lines:
“And rain, meagre rain that smelt of dust in /Attics and the urins of
lizards and mice”. This fall in rhythm is suggestive of the depressed
and dejected mental state of the poet because these lines convey the
poet’s sense of futility of her sexual experience.

Self-check Exercise VI
1) Does the title truly represent the poem? Give reasons.
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43
Indian English Poets
2) Pick out the words and syntaxes which create sight images.
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3) What is the dominant rhythm of the poem? Does it increase as the poem
progresses?
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4) What does ‘Vacant ecstasy’ used in the poem imply?

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5) What words used in the poem symbolize convulsion in nature?

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37.8 A HOT NOON IN MALABAR

37.8.1 Introduction
In this poem the poet reminiscences about the landscape, the climate and the
vendors of Malabar in the summer season. In this intensely personal and
emotional poem Kamala Das traces her sweet childhood memories which still
remains so deeply etched in her heart. The poet chooses words carefully to create
and pour out the same feelings which had made her those days memorable. A Hot
Noon in Malabar celebrates and longs for the hot noon in Malabar because the
poet associates it with wild men, ‘wild thoughts and wild love’. The theme of this
44 poem is different from those of the other two poems you have read. Unlike them
the themes of this poem is the sweet memory of childhood and adolescence Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
which refreshes all human beings especially in moments of crisis.
Autobiographical in tone the poem is full of realistic imagery and marked by
verbal felicities. Written in condensed and compact style, the poem shows
Kamala Das’s talent in writing rhythmic lines though she does not use any
rhyme.
Now go though the poem.

37.8.2 The Text

This is a noon for beggars with whining
Voices, a noon for men who come from hills
With parrots in a cage and fortune-cards,
All stained with time, for kurava girls
With old eyes, who read palm in light singsong
Voices, for bangle-sellers who spread
On the cool black floor those red and green and blue
Bangles, all covered with dust of roads,
For all of them, whose feet devouring rough,
Miles, grow cracks on the heals, so that when they
Clambered up our porch, the noise was grating,
Strange. This is noon for strangers who part
The window-drapes and peer in, their hot eyes
Brimming with the sun, not seeing a thing in
Shadowy rooms and turn away and look
So yearningly at the brick-ledged well. This
Is a noon for strangers with mistrust in
Their eyes, dark, silent ones who rarely speak
At all, so that when they speak, their voices
Run wild, like jungle voices. Yes, this is
A noon for wild men, wild thoughts, wild love. To
Be here, far away, is torture. Wild feet
Stirring up the dust; this hot noon, at my
Home in Malabar, and I so far away…

Glossary
Whining : complaining, grumbling and long drawn-out.
Stained with time : turned yellow with dust and frequent use.
Kuruba : a tribe of bird-catchers, basket-makers and fortune
tellers.
Singsong : rising and falling, monotonous.
Clambered : climbed with difficulty .
Grating : harsh, jarring.
The Window-drapers : the window curtains.
Peer : peep
Brimming with the sun: filled with the sunlight
Yearningly : with great desire, longing.

45
Indian English Poets 37.8.3 Critical Appreciation
‘A Hot Noon in Malabar’ is an autobiographical poem in which Kamala Das
recalls some of her experiences in her home in Malabar. This is a nostalgic poem.
Kamala Das seems to be fascinated by time ‘at noon’ with which the poem shows
her obsession. The sun and its heat represent the glow and burning of passion for
the poet and thus the external nature is brought in close association with her
inner nature marked by a consuming carnal desire.

The title is not about what happens to the people, animals, plants and things
inanimate during a hot summer noon in Malabar. Its meaning becomes clear only
when we understand it in terms of the background of the poet’s past memories.

You make note that the word ‘noon’ is repeated six times in the poem to create
the atmosphere of noon. We can also say that noon is the dominant rhythm of the
poem. The memory tags associated with noon are noon for the beggars, ‘a noon
for men carrying parrots in cage and fortune-cards’, ‘a noon for strangers who
part the window-drapes and peer in’, ‘a noon for strangers who speak in’, wild
jungle-voice and above all, it was ‘a noon for wild men, wild thought and wild
love’. “The last use of noon is prefixed with hot and the poet regrets for its loss:
“this hot noon, at my home in Malabar and I so far away…”. You may note here
the phrase “Jungle-voices” which adequately conveys the poet’s emotion, enacts
a real drama and imparts to the poem its peculiar tone. Every epithet used in the
poem is effective and grows with emotion. There is a perfect fusion of sound and
sense. We can further illustrate this point when we observe in the poem the
speech habits of characters. The use of the words “whining voice, singsong,
grating noise and jungle-voices’ create beautiful sound imagery”.

You may also note that ‘A Hot Noon in Malabar’ is not about a temporary
experience of an hour or a day. It refers to the whole summer season recurring
year after year. The scene created of the past is realistic. The mood of the poem is
sad and tone somber. The theme of the poem is the loss of the poet’s sweet
experiences at Malabar home. The dominant rhythm of the poem meanders
around noon.

Kamala Das successfully creates the atmosphere of her Malabar home through
the imagery depicting the men and women who passed her home in the summer
noon. Those men and women included men from hills with parrots in cage and
fortune cards, kuuba girls who read palm in light singsong, bangle-sellers with
red and green and blue bangles and strangers who part the window drapes and
peer in for shelter and other things. It is to be noted that because the imagery is
realistic, they impart authenticity to the poem. The realism of the imagery is
enhanced by such details “as bangle-sellers’s feet covered with dust of roads and
growth of cracks on the heels and strangers deluded with the sparkle of sum not
seeing a thing in shadowy rooms, turn away.

Some of the phrases including a couple of similes show the verbal felicities
which Kamala Das is capable of devising in her poetry. The bangle-sellers’ feet
‘devouring rough miles’, the hot eyes of the bangle-sellers ‘brimming with the
sun’ and the strangers who rarely spoke so that when they did speak, their voice
ran ‘wild like jungle-voices’ are among the verbal felicities. You may note the
phrase devouring rough miles. The word devour has been used metaphorically to
convey the idea of the travellers covering miles and miles of dusty road.
‘Brimming with the sun’ is another expressive phrase. It meens filled with sun
46 light. In the hot sun the eyes of the travellers seem to have been filled to the brim
with the heat of the son. Similarly the poet was the most appropriate simile like Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
jungle-voices which means like the sounds which are heard in jungle.

Through these imagery poet creates quite a realistic scene and contrasts it with
her personal experience of loneliness which give rise to wild men, wild thoughts
and wild love experienced at the summer season in Malabar. The feeling of
home-sickness has effectively been expressed in the words; “to be here, far away,
is torture”. The effect is further enhanced by the lines which follow:

“…Wild feet
Stirring up the dust this hot noon, at my
Home in Malabar, and I so far away…”

Although this poem does not use any rhyming scheme, the poet used at places
some rhythmic lines. For example, beggars with ‘whining voices’, ‘stained with
time’ and ‘home in Malabar, and I so far away…’reflect some internal rhythms.
Kamala Das’s poetry does not have much music or any melodic quality. This
poem resembles prose more than it resembles poetry. Unlike other poems, this
poem, through proper use of comma and semi-colon, adds the quality of clarity
and lucidity. The language used in the poem is condensed. The poem is also
marked for its maximum possible economy in the use of words.

Self-check Exercise VII

1) Why the poet repeats the word ‘noon’ as many as six times in the poem?
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2) Name the words or phrases used in the poem which create the scene of a
hot summer.
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3) Give examples of verbal felicities in the poem.
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47
Indian English Poets
4) Does the poet use any rhythmic lines in the poem? Give example.
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37.9 LET US SUM UP

In this unit you read about two poets Nissim Ezekiel and Kamala Das. First you
read about their life and works and then their poems in detail.

You will note that unlike the poets you read in earlier units, these poets are
modernist in approach and their modern kind of poems formed part of the trend
Indian English poetry began to experiment after 1960. In them the difference
between the poetry and poem collapsed.

Nissim Ezekiel’s Ganga is an account of the perpetual suffering of maidservant

in every Indian household. His A Poem of Dedication is the an account of the
poet’s growth of mind; his own philosophy of life. The difference in theme and
technique illustrates the variety of his poems.

In this unit you read about Kamala Das’s three poems. An Introduction is sort of
her self-portrait, The Dance of the Eunuchs, an objective correlative for her state
of mind and the Hot Noon in Malabar, her childhood reminiscence. All the three
poems have been dealt differently but all are intensely personal and
autobiographical.

We hope after reading these poems you will be able to analyse other poems by
these poets.

37.10 ANSWERS TO SELF-CHECK EXERCISES

Self-check Exercise I
1) Nissim Ezekiel was born in Bombay in 1924 of Jewish (Bene-Jsrael) parents.
Because he was born Jew and was raised as a rationalist he remained an
outsider to the dominant Hindu-Muslim culture which made him a
representative voice of the urbanised western educated India.
2) Answer is obvious.
3) His outsiderness and marginality kept him alienated from the dominant India
Hindu-Muslim Culture. Since this is the case of a typical urbanised western
educated Indians, the poet became their representative voice.
4) Answer is obvious.
5) He was not only a poet but also a playwright, an art critic and a brilliant teacher.
6) Answer is obvious.
7) Though no one can explain the actual cause of birth and death of a person,
surely the apparent cause of death in case of Ezekiel was Alzheimer.
48
Self-check Exercise II Nissim Ezekiel and
Kamala Das
1) See the opening para of the analysis (37.3.3.).
2) This is an ironic statement. See the last para of 37.3.3.
Self-check Exercise III
1) From within basement rooms only partial view is possible. For example, the
poet sees just a patch or two of green, a bit of sky, an old wall, two trees, a
washing line between windows, children heard but never seen and windows
with high curtains to block the outer eyes. Symbolically the statement means
that the modern kind of artificial living has narrowed our overall vision.

2) See third para of 37.4.3.

3) The phrase ‘human balance’ means that the human beings should not aim for
the extremes. For example he should not aspire for good-like range of
thoughts, the Yogi’s concentration, perfect sacrifice of saints or the tyrant’s
endless power. He should aim at things which can make the human being
fulfilled.

4) The human balance or the moderate view or approach to life should be

acquired ‘humanly’. Here humanly may refer to an approach with love,
understanding and compassion. ‘The common hour’ may refer to time when
the human beings might be in crisis. In such a moment our values of love,
compassion and understanding help stay together and overcome the crisis.

Self-check Exercise IV
1) Answer is obvious.
2) See para 2 of 37.5.
3) See para 2 of 37.5.
4) See para 2 of 37.5.
5) See the concluding para of 37.5.
Self-check Exercise V
1) See para 2 of 37.6.3.
20 The literary device used in this line is simile.
3) These two images act as objective correlatives for the psychological states of
men and women respectively. In sexual desires men are in haste like rivers
while women are patient like ocean.

40 Most of Kamala Das’s poems are autobiographical in tone. Since she shares
much of her private experiences with readers by way of her poetry, she is
also called a confessional poet. She drew the subjects of her poetry mostly
from her our life, it is justified to say that in Kamala Das, the poet is the
poetry.

Self-check Exercise VI
1) Yes, the title represents the poems. But it should be clear that the title itself is
ironical in tone. The dance of the eunuchs is not born out of happiness but
out of compulsion. Dancing is their source of livelihood. The external beauty
or their convulsions are shown to contrast their inner vacuity. 49
Indian English Poets 2) Skirts going round and round, with long breads flying, dark eyes flashing,
they danced till they bled…, tattoos on their cheeks, Jasmine in their hair,
some were dark and some fair, some beat their drums, others beat their
breasts are some of the examples which create sight images.

3) See last para of 37.7.3.

4) See the concluding lines of the para three of 37.7.3.

5) The crackling of the sky, the coming of thunder, lightning and rain are
symbols of convulsions in nature.

Self-check Exercise VII

1) The poet repeats the word ‘noon’ in the poem to create the atmosphere of the
summer noon in Malabar.

2) The words or phrases used to create the scene of hot summer are ‘hot’, ‘so
hot’, ‘fiery gulmohar’, and ‘strangers’ hot eyes brimming with the sum’.

3) See para 4 of 37.8.3.

4) Whining voices, stained with time, old eyes, and my home in Malabar and I
so far away…create some of internal rhymes in the poem.

50