But now the snakes are moving in those books. But the memories of her ancestral home make her sad. How often I think of going There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or Just listen to the frozen air, Often indicates that this is not the first time she is reminiscing about that place. She badly misses her grandmother, the ancestral house and her secure and loved childhood: You cannot believe, darling can you, that I lived in such a house and was proud and loved That early stage is in painful contrast with her present state sans love and sans pride. Also, note that or is used between these expressions, which implies that the poet considers these acts as various options for solace in her loneliness.
She the poetess was very young at that time and did not know how to read the books which lay in the house. Hence the poet ends with hope and despair. Kamala Das reveals a commendable mastery of phrase and control over rhythm. There are very few sentences breaks between the lines. She needs to get back to it. This wistfully nostalgic poem thus ends on a tragic note. So, the speaker often wished to go to that house.
Her memories was associated with that house. In the twelfth line of the poem, there is again a change in the note of the poem — from introspection to conversational. The poet wishes to transport some of this comforting darkness and memories of this house to her new house. Overall, the poem is a structure of six sentences. Conclusion This is a poignant poem where the poet is reminiscent of the old happy days of her childhood days. She liked the company of her grandmother. She was one of the first Indian writers to overtly discuss the sexuality of women in her works, which was a rather bold representation of feminism.
She is now without any life and warmth. This is a clear suggestion that Das was not content with her marriage. She lacks of love in her life. When she was young in the house she was very beautiful. It suggests that because of the lack of care and cleanliness of the house, the windows have become dusty. The poet now addresses a second person, one whom she calls darling. That woman refers to her grandmother, who had died long before she had moved out.
The poem moves through the happy past and sad present. We learn from this that the poet admires her grandmother as a close friend. Everything around that very house was good. For some time, the poet is unable to continue with his thoughts, as shown by the ellipses dots. There is a continuous flow in the poem, like a casual conversation.
Her blood was cold like the moon because there was no one to love her the way she wanted to. Enjambment : The lines in the poem are in fact continuous six sentences. But since she confesses in later lines that she has embraced extra-marital relationships, we interpret that she is married and anyone responsible for not giving her enough love could be her husband. With them, her own life of innocence and beloved ideals crumbles. It is her birthplace where she truly felt at home, and reminisces about it while she is suffering, as an act of solace.
Her autobiography published in 1976, created quite a stir. Kamala Das is one of the three most popular Indian poets writing in English today, the other being Nissim Ezekiel and Ramanujan. The use of language represents the strangeness and unhealthy relationship between people and this woman. It was an atmosphere of allround mourning and desolation. Two more sentences make the rest of the poem, both of which are questions she is asking her husband. The poem moves through the happy past and sad present.
That woman died, The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved Among books, I was then too young To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon How often I think of going There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or Just listen to the frozen air, Or in wild despair, pick an armful of Darkness to bring it here to lie Behind my bedroom door like a brooding Dog…you cannot believe, darling, Can you, that I lived in such a house and Was proud, and loved…. This poem deals with the poetess's nostalgic yearning for her family home in Malabar, where she had spent some of the most memorable and happy days of her life. She wrote it while she had left her home and moved with her husband to a city after marriage. A strong feeling caught her mind. On the other hand, her grandmother always sends someone to take her from the school to the ancestral home so that she can stay and be free from the hard and fast rules of the boarding school for a weekend.