Kamala Das was a natural poet who could write naturally and beautifully. She had the soul of a real poet - passionate, deep and sensitive. She looked at the universe in her own way and it was different from others'. She was unacademic but transparent in every way. She had exposed her feelings and experiences regarding man, life and this world in a very candid manner. In fact, her poetry contains unmatched frankness and unequalled courage. She is always honest, sincere and bold. She hides nothing and exposes everything - her passion, love, sensuality. Her soul was deep and spirit undaunted. Her poems express a genuine zest for life, unalloyed thirst for love and unreserved contempt for loveless lust. Such honesty is rare in the world of poetry. She admits her own fault, confesses a lot and finally expresses her desire for life which is beautiful as well as meaningful. Her language has been unambiguous and uncomplicated but adequately rich to express a genuine poetical soul. Professor Dinabandhu Ghosh appreciates her poems in an unprejudiced way. He tries to remain original and fresh in his way of appreciation.
Professor Dinabandhu Ghosh teaches English literature as an Associate Professor at Bankura Sammilani College. He has written a number of critical books that reveal his deep insight into literature. He does not believe in vague criticism. He writes in a transparent and an unambiguous way expressing his thought and judgment. In this book, he has tried to read and evaluate Kamala Das in delightful way. Kamala Das fascinates him by her vitality of feelings, honesty of thought and unmatched clarity of expression. The students and scholars may appreciate his effort.
Kamals Das fascinates me in many ways. She had the true poctical soul and it reacted to the huge universe in its own way. As a poet, she is really remarkable as her emotions and passions are genuine and she shows her courage to express them in a language which is basically alien to her. Basically, she is a poet of love and sensuality. She insists on both to enjoy life and comprehend it perfectly. Her courage seems to be unmatched and her honesty appears to be unprecedented. Her poetry is simple, sensuous and passionate and John Milton had pointed out these features as the hallmarks of great poetry. Her name was nominated for the Nobel prize, unfortunately she could not win it. Perhaps, she deserved it.
If Kamala Das had the soul of a poet, she also had the soul of a woman. That woman is always live and vigorous, hungry and aspiring. intense and primitive. That woman has been always deep in her desire. She wants the man to overpower her by his love and reciprocate her feelings. She desires freedom, but that is not shallow or mechanical and it is not at the cost of her woman self. In modern days, a woman destroys her basic womanliness to search for freedom. She is often full of contempt and gradually and inevitably grows confined to her own ego. But in Kamala Das the woman is rooted in desire for life and expresses deep anger for people who are lifeless and devitalised. Search for love often drives her life and moulds her poetry. She hates to compromise in this regard.
Kamala Das is not a stero-type woman poet who is confined to the theme of revolt and freedom. Her sense of freedom is deeper and her thirst for life has been deeper. Primarily, she is the poet of love. But as she does not receive love, she finally appears as a poet of frustrated love. She revolts primarily because she is unloved and unreciprocated, She is not one dimensional poet as she is thought to be. As a poet she had wide interests in diverse aspects of life. Indeed, she stands out as the poet of sensuality but she is more than that. According to Srinivas lyengar, she is the natural poet who writes naturally and a poet with an excellent feeling for sound, rhythm, phrasing, image, symbol, word play and drama. But she is remarkable for her humanism. She deeply loves and appreciates life and revolts as she is injured and insulted. She is really courageous as she shows her courage and honesty to reveal what she feels. A true poet must rely on genuine feelings, artificial emotion cannot beget true poetry. Kamala Das has been always true to her feelings and emotions. She does not write for the sake of poetry, she writes for the sake of her feelings and thoughts. Sometimes, her honesty appears to be devastating and her courage is exposed in a candid way.
As a poet Kamala does not believe in ambiguity. Her poetry has splendid clarity and she writes in a precise way. Her language carries the transparent thought, clear message and unambiguous arguments. She believes that words are meant for communication and she always tries to communicate her feelings and emotions and thoughts. She hides nothing, exposes everything. The soul of a woman comes out in full force. A true woman is passionate, earnest and has great zest for life. She does not believe in hollow romance or bestial instinct. A true woman loves and loves completely. She has a body as well as a soul. She believes in both. Her heaven is not skyey but it exists on the very earth. She offers herself to the altar of true love. She is different from a coarse man who often seeks pleasure and is less refined, less sensitive. A woman perceives the world in a different way. Her universe is qualitatively different from that of a man. The inner rhythm of a woman comes out in the poetry of Kamala Das. Her passions, her sensitivity. her dreams and aspirations are moulded in her poetry.
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