LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:7 July 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Empowerment through Language in the Tradition of
the Confessional Poetry of Kamala Das

Ankita Manuja, M.A. English, NET


Abstract

The empowerment of women is a multi-dimensional concept. Women's empowerment can be explained as a process where women have a larger share over resources like knowledge, information and wealth. The term 'women empowerment' has come to be associated with women's struggle for social justice and equality. More than a hundred years ago, the empowerment revolution was led by the suffragettes when women got the right to vote. This revolution was led by brave women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Emmeline Pankhurst and Susan B. Antony. Then came the second revolution which was led by Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem who wanted women to be given a fundamental role in decision making. During the twentieth century, many Indian women poets have tried to voice their opinions through their writings. Some of these poets have been Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Das. This paper aims to explore the various aspects of Confessional poetry which I consider, as a way of realizing the empowerment of women with special reference to Kamala Das' poetical works.

Keywords: Women’s empowerment, confessional poetry, sexuality, Kamala Das.

Introduction

Kamala Das was born at Punnayurkulum and was married at the age of fifteen. Her dissatisfaction with her marital life made her write poems filled deeply with pain and anguish. Her husband was a gay and was thirty-years old when she was merely fifteen. However, as a wife she was not someone who suffered throughout, and she was indeed a very lively woman. She took to writing at an early age after being influenced by her uncle, Nalapat Menon. Her poems were written both in English and Malayalam. Her poetry was not of a regular kind. When the readers were tired of reading the Victorian morality, which focused on suppression of sexuality and maintaining strong moral principles, the poetry of Kamala Das became a poetry of retaliation. She was respected for showing her feminine sensibility. She unburdened her heart through her poems. Her poems reflected a constant yearning for love and a non-fulfilment of sexuality. Her voice and thoughts in her poems became a voice of retaliation and thoughts of empowerment.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ankita Manuja, M.A. English, NET
Assistant Professor
Dev Samaj College for Women
Ferozpur 152002
Punjab
India
ankitamanuja@gmail.com
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