Kamala Das Dance Of The Eunuchs Analysis

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Abstract.
The topic of the research paper is on KAMALA DAS as a Confessional poet with special reference to her Poem DANCE OF THE EUNUCHS & An INTRODUCTION. Kamala Das is perhaps the most interesting and controversial figure in post-colonial Indian English poetry. She writes with outspokenness and frankness unusual in Indian context. Her private experiences and observations are portrayed in her poetry but those experiences and observations seem to become universal. Her voice also symbolizes the modern women’s voice who wants to free her from the religious orthodoxy (dos and don’ts). Being a confessional poet, Kamala Das takes the reader into the world of her private life and unveils the delicate
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The poet vividly conjures up the atmosphere of a hot, tortured, corrupt, sterile and barren world through vivid symbols and images. The dance of the eunuchs whose joyless life reflects the poet‘s fractured personality is a noticeable piece of autobiographical poetry. Kamala Das has vividly visualized the world of ―vacant ecstasy‖ and sterility through numerous functional images and symbols in her poetry. In fact Eunuchs try to eke out a livelihood by dancing. Their dancing is mechanical and painful. The conditions and the climate are forbidding. The spectators are merciless. Even God seems to add their woes. The eunuchs ‘voices are harsh and their songs are full of melancholy. The themes of the songs are those of lovers dying and children left unborn. Some beat their drums while others beat their flat breasts and wept. The joy on their faces is only a mask as they writhe in pain and their faces are really vacant. The atmosphere of heat and sterility is, first of all, expressed through ―fiery gulmohur and ―the jasmines in, their hair‖ could not provide them with a soothing effect. The image of ―Their sour breasts‖ again suggests their sterility and barrenness because they belong to neither sex. They are destined to remain

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