Poem: Middle Age

By,

Kamla Das

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Presented by,

Dr. K. D. Bompilwar

Head

Department of English

Introduction to the poet

• Kamla Das (1934-2009)

Also known as Kamla Surraiyya.

Was an Indian writer cum poet of great importance.

She is best known for her frank and fearless descriptions of women’s lives and her relations with others.

Introduction to the poem

• Kamala Das’s ‘Middle Age’ is a deeply touching poem about the agonies of a mother.
• It reveals how shockingly painful it can be when you are neglected by your own children.
• The poem conveys all the loneliness, pain and agony of middle age.
• It also sheds some light into the lack of love in human relationships. In this selfish world she proves as a representative of all mothers

Poem

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Stanza I

“Middle age is when your children are no linger

Friends but critics, stern of face and severe with their

tongue.

Vocabulary

• Middle age = A period between age 40 to 60
• Critics = people who disapprove of one’s ways of thinking and acting
• Stern = strict and unsympathetic
• Severe = harsh

Stanza II

It is the time when , like pupae, they burst their cocoons and

Emerge in harsh adult glory, and they no longer

Need you except for serving tea and pressing clothes.

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Vocabulary

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• Pupae = A stage just before a caterpillar turns into a butterfly
• Cucoons = A case of fine silk spun by larva around it.

Stanza III

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But you need them all the same, and badly too,

So that when left alone , you touch their books and things

And weep a little secretly.

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Stanza IV

Middle age is when your son to whom you had sent

Once upon a time, the squirrel’s invitation to their jungle feast

Writing in golden ink and posting it a night, turns around in

Disgust

Crying,

“ you have lived in a dream world all your life,

Its time to wake up, mother you are no longer so young, you know!”

Theme of the poem

• The poem is narrating the feelings of a middle aged mother who feels left out in her middle age.
• The poet has beautifully used the imagery of the butterfly cocoon to present the child’s evolution from infanthood to adulthood
• They transform into critics of the mother who has helped them emerge into the harsh adult glory.
• The role of mother changes from nurturing to that of a servant who is wanted only to press the clothes and serve tea.

Conti…

• The child no longer enjoys the moments shared by the mother about the stories she said and the fantasy world she created in order to amuse the child.
• All that disgusts the child who would not like to look back at childhood but celebrate the glory of adulthood where they try to put on a serious look to establish that they are grown up and no longer needs to be treated as a child.
• This change in the attitude of the children leaves the mother shocked and depressed in their middle age where they require the company of their children the most.

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