Grandmother’s House – Kamala Das
The Poem-
There is a house now far away where once
There is a house now far away where once
I
received love……. That woman died,
The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved
Among books, I was then too young
To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon
How often I think of going
There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or
Just listen to the frozen air,
Or in wild despair, pick an armful of
Darkness to bring it here to lie
Behind my bedroom door like a brooding
Dog…you cannot believe, darling,
Can you, that I lived in such a house and
Was proud, and loved…. I who have lost
My way and beg now at strangers' doors to
Receive love, at least in small change?
Summary-
The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved
Among books, I was then too young
To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon
How often I think of going
There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or
Just listen to the frozen air,
Or in wild despair, pick an armful of
Darkness to bring it here to lie
Behind my bedroom door like a brooding
Dog…you cannot believe, darling,
Can you, that I lived in such a house and
Was proud, and loved…. I who have lost
My way and beg now at strangers' doors to
Receive love, at least in small change?
Summary-
“My
Grandmother’s House” is a constituent poem of Kamala Das’s maiden publication Summer
in Calcutta. Though short, the poem wraps within itself an intriguing sense
of nostalgia and uprootedness. In her eternal quest for love in such a
‘loveless’ world, the poet remembers her grandmother which surfaces some
emotions long forgotten and buried within her-- an ironical expression of her
past which is a tragic contrast to her present situation. It is a forcefully moving poem fraught with nostalgia
and anguish.
The poet says that there is a
house, her grandmother’s home, far away from where she currently resides, where
she “received love”. Her grandmother’s home was a place she felt
secure and was loved by all. After the death of her grandmother, the poet says
that even the House was filled with grief, and accepted the seclusion with
resignation. Only dead silence haunted over the House, feeling of desolation
wandering throughout. She recollects though she couldn’t read books at that
time, yet she had a feeling of snakes moving among them-- a feeling of
deadness, horror and repulsion, and this feeling made her blood go cold and
turn her face pale like the moon. She often thinks of going back to that Old
House, just to peek through the “blind eyes of the windows” which have
been dead-shut for years, or just to listen to the “frozen” air.
The poet also shows the ironical
contrast between her past and present and says that her present has been so
tormenting that even the Darkness of the House that is bathed in Death does not
horrify her anymore and it is a rather comforting companion for her in the
present state of trials. The poets says that she would gladly (“in wild despair”) pick up a handful of Darkness from the House and
bring it back to her home to “lie behind my bedroom door” so that
the memories of the Old House and its comforting darkness, a rather ironical
expression, might fill assurance and happiness in her present life.
She wraps up the poem saying that
it is hard for one to believe that she once lived in such a house and was so loved
by all and lived her life with pride. That her world was once filled with
happiness is a sharp contrast to her present situation where she is completely
devoid of love and pride. She says that in her desperate quest for love, she
has lost her way; since she didn’t receive any feelings of love from the people
whom she called her own, she now has to knock “at strangers' doors” and beg them for love, if not in substantial
amounts, then atleast in small change i.e. in little measure atleast.
The poet has intensified the
emotions of nostalgia and anguish by presenting a contrast between her
childhood and her grown-up stages. The fullness of the distant and absence and
the emptiness of the near and the present give the poem its poignancy. The
images of “snakes moving among books”, blood turning “cold like the
moon”, “blind eyes of window”, “frozen air”’ evoke a sense of
death and despair. The house itself becomes a symbol - an Ednic world, a cradle
of love and joy. The escape, the poetic retreat, is in fact, the poet’s own
manner of suggesting the hopelessness of her present situation. Her yearning
for the house is a symbolic retreat to a world of innocence, purity and simplicity.
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