Introduction of the Poem:
In the present poem, the poetess expresses her personal emotional experiences, disillusionment and frustrations. She exhibits with remarkable frankness the wrongs, injustice, humiliation and exploitation that she suffers in the male oriented world. She also presents her struggles she has to undergo.
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| Kamala Das’ Poem Man Is A Season: Summary and Critical Analysis |
Some Critical Points of the Poem:
1. The poetess craves for union with man for the fulfilment of love but she is disillusioned and frustrated.
2. Poetess’ failure of marriage forces her to enter into extra - marital sexual relationships in search of the kind of love which her husband fails to give her.
3. The poetess has belief in marriage as an emotional and spiritual bond.
4. Being dissatisfied with her husband, the poetess enters in her extra marital affairs.
5. She slides into a life of sexual anarchy.
Summary of the Poem:
Stanza:
A man is a season,
You are eternity
To teach me this you let me toss my youth
Like coins
Into various hands, you let me mate with
Shadows
You let me sing in empty shrines, you let your
Wife
Seek ecstasy in others’ arms. But I saw each
Shadow cast sour blurred seemed familiar. Yes,
I sang solo, my songs were lonely, but they did
Echo beyond the world's unlighted edge, there
Was
Then no sleep left undisturbed, the ancient
Hungers
Wore all awake. Perhaps I lost my way, perhaps
I went astray. How would a blind wife trace
Her lost
Husband, how would a deaf wife hear her
Husband call?
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. A man ... season = man's nature is not static. It is changing. 2. You ... eternity= man's ideal love lies in sex. 3. To teach me this= poetess husband was a believer sex, hence the poetess was deprived from true and spiritual love. Her husband always desired her body to satisfy the lust of his body. 4. You let me ... hands = the poetess is never ashamed of admitting that her husband never objected to sleep with other men, but he willingly consented to do so. 5. You ... shadows= it was her disgust with her husband which drove the poetess to have extra - marital love - affairs. 6. You let ... shrines = her husband made her life desolated. She felt herself incomplete without spiritual love. 7. You let ... arms = her husband wanted her to seek ecstasy in other men's arms. 8. But I saw ... familiar = the poetess was extremely hunger of true love, but she could get it nowhere. Everyone was hungry of her body. The other men with whom she slept proved to be more disappointing. 9. I sang ... unlighted edge= her search of true love was in vain. She tried to arouse the genuine feelings in them who clinged with her body, but it was meaningless. No true feeling was in their hearts. 10. Then ... undisturbed= she was not even able to enjoy any sound sleep because of her disappointment with those lovers. 11. Wore all awake = she kept herself busy in sexual gratification every night. 12. Perhaps ... astray= in this way, she kept on changing her lovers in seeking of true feelings and she went very far. Now she has lost the meaning of her life. 13. How would ... husband= the poetess had lost her morality completely, now she had no option to call her husband. She was so fascinated after true love that she had crossed all the limits of sexual gratification.
Paraphrase:
The poetess was married at the early age of fifteen. Her marriage proved an absolute failure. It was the failure of her marriage that compelled her to enter into extra - marital sexual relationships in search of the kind of love which her husband had failed to give her. Her husband was a believer in sex as a matter of routine and his wife was by no means starved of the pleasure of sex. She, on the contrary, believed in marriage as an emotional and spiritual bond. Her husband's coldness in this respect led her to feel acutely dissatisfied and not finding real love even in her extra marital affairs, she slid into a life of sexual anarchy, with one lover following another. Her discontent became deeper and deeper and it assumed the form of utter despair. She was not able to enjoy sound sleep because of her disappointment with the lovers.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
Introduction:
In the poem entitled "Man Is A Season", the poetess presents her sexual experiences with her husband and with other men. She expresses her feeling of complete disillusionment with all her sexual partners. She tells us that, though she had originally loved her husband in the hope that he would love her too, she no longer loved him because he proved to be a selfish man and a coward. Her husband did not love her at all and did not even make use of her as a sexual partner in the right manner. The poetess expresses with remarkable frankness the wrongs, injustice, humiliation and exploitation that she suffers in the male oriented world. She also presents her struggles she has to undergo in order to maintain her identity.
Thought - Content:
It was the failure of the poetess marriage that forced her to enter into extra - marital sexual relationships in search of the kind of love which her husband had failed to give her. Her husband was a believer in sex as a matter of routine and his wife was by no means starved of the pleasure of sex. She, on the contrary, believed in marriage as an emotional and spiritual bond . Her husband's coldness in this respect led her to feel acutely dissatisfied and not finding real love even in her extra - marital affairs, she slid into a life of sexual anarchy, with one lover following another. Her discontent became deeper and it assumed the form of utter despair.
Theme of the Poem:
Love and sex form the main theme in this poem. There is an all pervasive sense of hurt throughout. She craves for union with man for the fulfilment of love but she is disillusioned and frustrated. She deals with unfulfilled love and the celebration of sex. She has deftly created a sterile, arid, dehumanised and exploitative world which is conspicuous by the sheer absence of love and the predominance of sexual exploitation of woman by man.
Language and Style:
The poetess shows remarkable command and ease over the use of English and has cultivated a style that is characterised by a colloquial simplicity and clarity. Words effortlessly come to her and she spontaneously begins to write when emotions come to her. She naturally and skilfully uses English to express her emotions, her feelings, her reminiscences, her love and sexual experiences, her frustration and disillusionment.