Introduction of the Poem:
“Glass” appeared in The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973). The word “glass” has here been used metaphorically for a woman who is fragile and thus easily broken and shattered. In this poem, Kamala Das gives vent to her frustration, verging on despair, because of the unfulfilled sex acts she has had so far - a frustration which most women in a similar predicament keep to themselves.
Critical Summary:
Here the poet speaks of a man who wanted to have sex with her. He drew her rudely and hastily to himself, treating her as “an armful of splinters”. His uncouth behaviour had hurt the poet and she had felt like broken glass.
Subsequently, the same kind of rough treatment was meted out to her by her other lovers from time to time. As a result, she developed a dislike for all of them. She then sought only sexual gratification from men, without offering or expecting any real love in the process. But she really missed the love which she had sought, beginning with her husband. She felt that the only real love she had received in life was from her father.
The two remarkable metaphors employed by the poet in this poem are: “fragile glass” and “an armful of splinters” to describe herself. She has been like a musical instrument on which her lovers could play the tunes that pleased them.
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