The title of the poem, The Old Playhouse, constitutes its central image, and the speaker finally discovers that love-making has made her mind an Old Playhouse with all its lights put out'. This 1995 poem from the author of the bestselling feminist novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) takes a figure from mythology, like H. D.’s ‘Eurydice’ above, and gives her a voice through the dramatic monologue form. Kamala Das has often been compared to well-known confessional poets of the West, like Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton and this poem reminding us as it does of Plath’s ‘The Applicant”, almost out-Sextons Sexton in conveying the strong feeling that the egocentric and egotistical hus­band has made the marriage union one of serfdom and meek submission to exercises of lust. (…) The Old Playhouse – Poem by Kamala Das The strong man’s technique is Always the same, he serves his love in lethal doses, For, love is Narcissus at the water’s edge, haunted By othee own lonely face, and yet it must seek at last An end, a pure, total freedom, it must will the mirrors To shatter and the kind night to erase the water. TOS4. English, Selected Poems of Kamala Das: An Introduction and The Old Playhouse -- Domination of Patriarchy and the Struggles Faced by Women 128 She explored like that she was a child, and some says like her limbs swelled and one or Kamala Das is essentially known for her bold and frank expression. No more singing, no more dance, my mind is an old Playhouse with all its lights put out. Share Your Essays.com is the home of thousands of essays published by experts like you! As a wife under control she always mumbled his questions with unclear replies. Only a bold woman would thus express her disgust with ahusband who seeks only the gratification of his lust. Always the same, he serves his love in lethal doses, She was educated in Kerala. The Old Playhouse is one of the poems which are permeated by her feminine sensibility. She was considered as a mere toy for him to quench his sensual thirst. Kamala Das exposes her husband’s wild sexual nature through these lines – “You dribbled spittle into my mouth, you poured yourself into every nook and cranny,” – Husband treated her in a wild nature and tried to embalm her poor lust by dribbling spittle to her mouth and every nook and cranny. According to the poet, her husband has planned to domesticate a bird the poet by holding it in the fake love so that she may forget the seasons spring, summer, autumn or in other words the joys of her life and her home which she left behind her for him. 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This is a list of feminist poets.Historically, literature has been a male-dominated sphere, and any poetry written by a woman could be seen as feminist.Often, feminist poetry refers to that which was composed after the 1960s and the second-wave of the feminist movement. Other articles where The Old Playhouse, and Other Poems is discussed: Kamala Das: … (1965), The Descendants (1967), and The Old Playhouse, and Other Poems (1973). Our mission is to provide an online platform to help students to discuss anything and everything about Essay. The similarity between being his domain, the room, where there is no freedom, and like playhouse, lights are artificial. But alas! A. Anusuya, II M.A. This website includes study notes, research papers, essays, articles and other allied information submitted by visitors like YOU. The poem “The Old Playhouse” was written by Kamala Das. The prominent features of Kamala Das’ poetry is use of the confessional mode and acute obsession with love. The strong man’s technique is No more singing, no more dance, my mind is an old Playhouse with all its lights put out. Note the irony: love is supposed to be the spirit of life but is here, the killer. Tracing the fight for equality and women’s rights through poetry. Of yet another man that I came to you but to learn A bilingual writer, she prefers to write in English and fiction in Malayalam. Your room is She has met only with disappointment. The network of concrete and evocative  imagery and imaginative symbols transcends an individual’s suffering and makes it a generic experience. Summer in Calcutta., SearchWorks It is through advertising that we are able to contribute to charity. (..) I remember the rudder breezes Poetry has long been a medium for artistic feminist expression, from the poems that give voice to the real experiences of women, to others that act as … Das had three sons and did her writing at night. For feminism, then, politics and theory are interdependent.But feminist politics have operated in the spheres of knowledge and culture as well as through campaigns for social and economic change. (The Old Playhouse 1) The plight of a married woman, chained to her husband [s house is depicted in the opening lines of the poem The Old Play House _: You planned to tame a swallow, to hold her In the long summer of your love so that she would forget Not the raw seasons alone, and the homes left behind, but She was forced to live in the summer of his love and she forgot about other beautiful seasons and suppressed to forget her urge to fly into the endless pathways of her sky of ambitions. "Pretty" by Katie Makkai It is autobiographical, marked by a wistful nostalgia, a wistful yearning for the happy past. Pathways of the sky. As a result, it largely ignored the socioeconomic discrimination and racism still being suffered especially by Black women despite the … Her all urge were put down before her self-centered husband. Her husband put full-stop to her dreams, caged life a tamed swallow bird. It evokes the poet‟s love of her old house and of her grandmother who is now dead. Her writing is intensely lyrical--sometimes soft and musical, sometimes with a bitter edge to it. : The Old Playhouse poem by Kamala Das. The Old Playhouse is also without any rhyme scheme. 3 Different Levels of Organisational Advisory Bodies–Explained! The Poetess laments over the crushing of her ego in the' all pervasive' male scented environment. It’s easier to discover new feminist poetry and strong woman poems. (…) Old letters unanswered, piled together, papers and pills stuffed deep in a drawer. In these poems Das presents a contrast of her past with her present. Here are 14 of our favorite feminist spoken word poems that remind us why we're feminists: 1. The Old Playhouse Poem by Kamala Das.You planned to tame a swallow, to hold her In the long summer of your love so that she would forget Not the raw seasons alone, and the homes left behind, but Home Poems The strong man’s technique is Always the same, he serves his love in lethal doses, For, love is Narcissus at the water’s edge, haunted By its own lonely face, and yet it must seek at … The poem “The Old Playhouse” was written by Kamala Das. She left her desires behind. The ‘lethal’ love between the husband and the woman is sure to lead too destructive end. Something went wrong. The literary awards she has won includes the Asian Poetry Award (1963) and the Sahitya Akademi Award (1965). It is an attack on the social exploitation of female by the male for the gratification of his sensual appetites. What I was, shallow Convulsions. ... 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