📖 An Introduction – Poem with Full Explanation in Easy Language By Kamala Das

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📝 Introduction to the Poem

Kamala Das's An Introduction is a bold and personal poem in which she talks about her life as a woman, a writer, and a human being in a male-dominated world. She bravely discusses topics like identity, language, love, body, and freedom. The poem is confessional—she shares her own life honestly to show how society controls women and tells them who they should be. Through this poem, Kamala Das questions gender roles and demands the right to be herself.

📜 Poem with Line-by-Line Explanation

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.

Explanation:
The poet says she doesn’t understand politics, but she knows the names of political leaders like children learn days of the week or months. It shows how even if women don't get involved in public life, they are still expected to know the basics. She mentions Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

I am Indian, very brown, born in
Malabar, I speak three languages, write in
Two, dream in one.

Explanation:
She introduces herself: She is an Indian woman from Malabar, with brown skin. She speaks three languages, writes in two, and dreams in one language—probably Malayalam, her mother tongue. This shows her multilingual identity, but also how emotionally connected she is to her roots.

Don’t write in English, they said,
English is not your mother-tongue. Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Everyone of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.

Explanation:
People tell her not to write in English because it’s not her mother tongue. But she asks, why can't they leave her alone and let her speak in whatever language she likes? She says that even if her English is imperfect, it is still hers. She defends her right to choose her own voice.

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.

Explanation:
Her language may sound funny—a mix of Indian and English styles—but it is honest and real, just like she is. It expresses her feelings and hopes. Language, she says, is natural to humans, like cawing for crows or roaring for lions. It's the voice of her conscious mind, aware of everything around her.

(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.

Explanation:
She remembers growing up. People noticed her body changing, but when she asked for love—perhaps emotional or romantic love—she was given only physical love. A man took her into a room, and even though he didn’t hurt her physically, her "woman-body felt beaten"—she felt used and misunderstood.

The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank
Pitifully.

Explanation:
Her female body became a burden to her. Instead of feeling powerful or proud, she felt crushed and small, like her womanhood made her helpless in a male-controlled world.

Then... I wore a shirt and my
Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored
My womanliness. Dressed in sarees, be
Girl or wife, they cried. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers.

Explanation:
To escape society’s labels, she tried to look like a man by wearing a shirt and trousers and cutting her hair. But people around her kept telling her to be a “proper woman”—to wear sarees, cook, argue with servants, and behave like a wife or girl. Society wanted her to fit into expected roles.

I don’t know what I am, I don’t know what to say
Of my desires.

Explanation:
She feels confused about her identity and cannot clearly express her desires or feelings because the world doesn’t allow her to explore them freely.

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

Explanation:
These repeated lines show that the trauma of physical love without emotional understanding is still haunting her. Her womanhood, instead of being empowering, feels like a punishment.

I met a man, loved him. Call
Him not by any name, he is every man
Who wants a woman, just as I am every
Woman who seeks love. In him...the hungry haste
Of rivers, in me...the ocean’s tireless
Waiting.

Explanation:
She says she loved a man—but he is not one man, he is “every man” who desires a woman. And she, too, is “every woman” who longs for love. She compares the man’s passion to a rushing river and her own feelings to an endless ocean—he is in a hurry, she is waiting forever.

I am sinner, I am saint. I am the beloved and the
Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no
Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I.

Explanation:
She ends the poem by claiming all parts of herself. She is both sinner and saint, both loved and betrayed. She says her feelings—joys and pains—are like anyone else’s. She finally asserts her identity by saying: “I too call myself I”—meaning she is a complete human being, just like a man.

🌈 Summary in Simple Words

In An Introduction, Kamala Das speaks openly about her life and identity. She talks about her language, body, desires, pain, and voice. People try to control her—what she should say, wear, feel, or be, but she refuses to follow those rules. She wants to be free to speak in any language, to love, to be herself. The poem is about a woman finding her voice in a society that wants her to stay silent.

💡 Themes of the Poem

  • Female Identity
  • Freedom of Expression
  • Language and Voice
  • Social Pressure on Women
  • Physical and Emotional Pain
  • Gender Roles and Rebellion

🎨 Poetic Devices

  • Repetition: To show emotional pain and memory.
  • Imagery: Powerful pictures of physical and emotional struggle.
  • Metaphor: River and ocean to show man and woman’s emotional differences.
  • Confessional Tone: The poet shares her personal life honestly.

✅ Conclusion

An Introduction by Kamala Das is a fearless and emotional poem about being a woman in a society that tries to control everything about you. She breaks every barrier—talks about love, body, identity, and language—with honesty and courage. This poem gives a voice to every woman who has ever felt judged, silenced, or unwanted. Through this poem, Kamala Das tells the world: “I too have the right to be myself.” 

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