Punishment In Kindergarten

Today the world is a little more my own.

No need to remember the pain

A blue-frocked woman caused, throwing

Words at me like pots and pans, to drain

That honey-coloured day of peace.

'Why don't you join the others, what

A peculiar child you are! '

On the lawn, in clusters, sat my

schoolmates sipping

Sugarcane, they turned and laughed;

Children are funny things, they laugh

In mirth at others' tears, I buried

My face in the sun-warmed hedge

And smelt the flowers and the pain.

The words are muffled now, the laughing

Faces only a blur. The years have

Sped along, stopping briefly

At beloved halts and moving

Sadly on. My mind has found

An adult peace. No need to remember

That picnic day when I lay hidden

By a hedge, watching the steel-white sun

Standing lonely in the sky.
 Kamala Das

the major theme of the poem is nostalgia and the sense of

moving on with life.

Punishment in Kindergarten" is a little autobiographical poem

by the famous Indo-Anglian poet Kamala Das. She recalls
one of her childhood experiences. When she was in the
kindergarten, one day the children were taken for a picnic. All
the children except her were playing and making merry. But
she alone kept away from the company of the children. Their
teacher, a blue-frocked woman, scolded her saying.
"Why don't you join the others, what
A peculiar child you are!"
This heard, all the other children who were sipping sugar cane
turned and laughed. The child felt it very much. She became
sad at the words of the teacher. But the laughter by the
children made her sadder. She thought that they should have
consoled her rather than laughing and insulting her. Filled with
sorrow and shame she did her face in a hedge and wept. This
was indeed a painful experience to a little child in the nursery
school.
Now after many years she has grown into an adult. She has
only a faint memory of the blue-frocked woman and the
laughing faces of the children. Now she has learned to have
an 'adult peace' and happiness in her present state as a
grown-up person. Now there is no need for her to be
perturbed about that bitter kindergarten experience. With her
long experience in life she has learned that life is a mixture of
joy and sorrow. She remembers how she has experienced
both the joy and sorrow of life. The long passage of time has
taught her many things. She is no more a lonely individual as
she used to feel when she was a child. The poet comes to a
conclusion that there is no need for her to remember that
picnic day, when she hid her face in the hedge, watching the
steel-white sun, that was standing lonely in the sky.
The poem is written in three stanzas, each having different
number of lines – the first with seven lines, the second with
six and the third with nine. The poem does not follow any
regular rhyme scheme. The subject matter of the poem has
two parts, the first of which being the description of the painful
experience of the kindergarten days and the second, the
adult's attitude to the incident at present when she is no more
a child.
The poet seems to be nostalgic about her childhood days.
There are certain expressions in the poem that are worth
remembering. The poet says that the child buried its face in
the hedge and "smelt the flowers and the pain". "Smelt the
flowers can be taken as an ordinary expression, but "smelt
the pain" is something very evocative and expressive. In the
first stanza of the poem, the poet describes the pain caused
to the child, "throwing words like pots and pans". This again is
beautiful. The phrase used by the poet to describe the child's
teacher, namely, "blue-frocked woman" can be justified from
the child's point of view. But to the poet who is an adult the
use of the phrase looks a little too awkward. On the whole, the
poem can be taken as the poet's interest in remembering her
childhood days.

In the poem Punishment in Kindergarten, Kamala Das

memorizes a childhood experience that was quite painful for
her. She was scolded by her teacher for being alone and her
schoolmates also laughed at her that made her weep.
The poem has been divided into three parts. In the first part,
the poet discusses how her teacher scolded her. In the second
part, she memorizes her schoolmates laughing her making her
weep and in the final part she says that being an adult there is
no need for her to memorize this experience. Now I will
discuss each stanza in detail.

Stanza 1: Encounter With her

Teacher
The poet begins with the line “Today the world is a little more
my own” that makes it clear that she is going to talk about
a past event that was not pleasant for her. Next, she begins by
narrating the day in her childhood (in Kindergarten) when she
went to a picnic along with other students.
The poet uses ample of symbols like a blue-frocked
woman for her teacher,  throwing words at me like pots and
pans, to make us feel the intensity of teacher’s
words, the honey-colored for the day which was ruined by the
harsh words of her teacher.

While other students were merrymaking and playing together,

Kamala Das was sitting alone that was not liked by her  blue-
frocked  teacher and she scolded her by calling her a  peculiar
child. The in the first part the poet narrates the day which was
quite pleasant and ultimately ruined by her teacher.

Stanza 2: Laughing of Students

In the second part, the poet says when the teacher scolded her,
other students who were sipping sugarcane started laughing at
her. The children, according to Kamala are funny creatures.
They laugh at others’ pains and they did the same when she
was scolded without realizing how much she was hurt.
Being hurt, she hid her face in the sun-warmed hedge and
smelt the flowers and the pain. The poet associates flowers
with pain. I think she has tried to compare her childhood with
the flower which is quite delicate. Hence she probably wants
to convey that this event shook her innocent childhood.

Stanza 3: Adulthood and Peace

In the final stanza, the poet says that now that she is grown up,
the memory of that event has faded away because there is
nothing in her childhood to cherish and desire for.

She has now found adult peace i.e. Ironically be saying again

and again “No need to remember” her helplessness in
forgetting it is quite visible. The memory has not faded away
but quite clear in her mind (as she remembers very well
everything of that day).
In her poem My Grandmother’s House she desires to
memorize everything while in this poem the situation is quite
the opposite. The same helpless can be found in her poem My
Mother at Sixty Six. 
 1. Explain the phrase “the world is
a little more my own” in the poem
Punishment in Kindergarten
The poem Punishment in Kindergarten  begins with the phrase
“today the world is a little more my own”. The lines are deep as they depict

that a past event might have occurred in which the poet would have felt all

alone and helpless.

The poet then narrates her story of childhood when she was scolded by her

teacher for remaining alone and separate from other students on a picnic.

The poet was a sensitive person and hence she was deeply hurt by the

harsh words of the teachers and the funny faces of students around her.

However, now she is grown up and is not alone as she was then.

2. Explain the phrase “sun-warmed

hedge”
Sun-warmed hedge means the fence of grass made for decoration
purposes. In this poem, when the teacher harshly abuses the poet and
children laugh at her, the poet hides her face in the sun-warmed hedge,
There she feel a little bit comfort and warmth.
3. Discuss the message conveyed to the teachers
by Kamala Das in the poem Punishment in
Kindergarten

The message of the poem Punishment in Kindergarten for the teachers is

that they should never scold them in the way poet’s teacher did. Not all

students are alike. They have different ways of living the life and also have

different personalities. Thus the teacher should not judge them based on

their personality.

The words of teacher can be dangerous for the students if they are harsh.

They may the words seriously and thus would be affected by them.
 4. What hurts more physical
punishment or harsh words?

After reading the poem Punishment in Kindergarten, we find that

harsh more hurt more than physical punishment because the wounds of

physical punishment heal up quickly. However the pain of harsh words do

not go easily.

In the poem, the poet is not punished physically. Instead, the teacher

harshly asks her to join other girls and not stand alone. However, these

words hurt the poet a lot and she remembers the incident throughout her

life.

5. Explain the meaning of phrase

“honey-coloured day of peace”.

“Honey-coloured day of peace” means a sweet day full of peace and prosperity. In the
poem, the poet remembers the day when she was a child and went on a picnic. A picnic is
always sweet, joyful and prosperous.
 6. Give an example of visual imagery
from the poem Punishment in
Kindergarten
Visual imagery is a type of imagery which appeals to the eyes of human. In the

poem, we find various examples of visual imagery. e.g.

1. blue-frocked woman
2. honey-coloured day
3. steel-white sun

7. Who has drained the peace of honey

coloured day
Poet’s teacher who was wearing blue frock drained the peace of poet’s honey

coloured day by throwing harsh words on her.

8. the poet in ” Punishment in
Kindergarten ” was very
……………………in her childhood.

In the poem Punishment in Kindergarten,  the poet is was

very shy and introvert during her childhood. This is why she was

standing alone on the picnic day.She went to Victoria

9. Who was the blue-frocked woman

why does the poet remember her?

The blue-frocked woman was teacher of the poet in her childhood days.
The poet remembers her because the latter ruined poet’s day on the picnic
by using harsh words against her.

10. How different is the world today to

the poet as described in the poem
Punishment in the Kindergarten
The world is different for the poet today as the harsh words of teacher
have faded away. She could hardly remember those facing who were
laughing at her at that time. Moreover, she has grown up and not the same
child. She has found the adult peace.
 11. What is the nostalgia experience in
the poem Punishment in kindergarten.
The word nostalgic means emotions of past. In the poem, the poet

remembers a day in her childhood when she was on a picnic. She was an

introvert and hence was standing alone. However her lovely day was ruined

when her teacher scolded her for not joining other girls. Her schoolmates also

started laughing at her. The poet was in deep pain. She hid her face in the

hedge to avoid humiliation.

12. What is the pen name of Kamala Das?

The pen name of Indian Poet Kamala Das is Madhavikutty.

13. Summarise the speaker’s experience

on a picnic day when she was in
kindergarten
The speaker, who was a child then, preferred to remain alone. However, soon the

came and harshly asked her why she is sitting alone and not joining other girls. She

further added that speaker is peculiar weird type of girl.

The speaker was a sensitive person and felt as if the words were being thrown upon

her like pots and pans (making huge noise). Meanwhile other students started

laughing at her. She buried her face in a grass hedge as she was feeling pain.

While watching the steel-white sun, alone in the sky, she felt as if she is also alone.

14. Why did the poet hide her face in sun-

warmed edge?
The school-mates of the speaker started laughing at her when the teacher harshly
asked her to join other students instead of standing alone. Being a sensitive person,
she could not bear the humiliation and thus hid her face in sun-warmed hedge.

15. “Standing lonely in the sky”. What

has the speaker got in common with
this?
This phrase is the last line of the poem Punishment in the
Kindergarten  written by Kamala Das. Here, the poet remembers an incident
when she was scolded by her teacher for remaining alone.

The poet says that she hid herself behind a hedge and watched the sun which was

standing lonely in the sky. Here, the poet feels that she is also like that sun because

she was too alone and was pale like the sun because of the insult.
 16. Summarise the speaker’s experience
on a picnic day when she was in
kindergarten
The speaker, who was a child then, preferred to remain alone. However, soon the

came and harshly asked her why she is sitting alone and not joining other girls. She

further added that speaker is peculiar weird type of girl.

The speaker was a sensitive person and felt as if the words were being thrown upon

her like pots and pans (making huge noise). Meanwhile other students started

laughing at her. She buried her face in a grass hedge as she was feeling pain.

While watching the steel-white sun, alone in the sky, she felt as if she is also alone.

17. Explain figures of speech in

Punishment in Kindergarten poem.
Following are the figures of speech used in the poem Punishment in Kindergarten.

 Word-Image – The poet creates images by hyphenating between words like

blue-frocked, steel-white, sun-warmed, honey-coloured
 Personification – The passing years are personified as something passing.
 18. Why did the Blue frocked woman get
angry with the poet in Punishment in
Kindergarten?
She was angry at the poet because she was not joining others so she
shouted her for her peculiarity.

19. How does Kamala Das describe

Punishment in Kindergarten?
Kamala Das was a very sensitive child. So this particular memory from childhood is

the pain which she felt while listening to the cruel words which a blue-frocked

woman said to her.

The peace of the day was gone due to that and she cried while other friends of her

were laughing. Even then, she was sensitive towards beauty so the punishment

ended up in a mixture of the smells of flower and pain which she felt.

20. What is the central idea of the poem

Punishment in Kindergarten?
The central idea of the poem is the growth which happens to all of us
beyond the naivety of childhood when our life depended upon the
decisions of elders. Here, the poet deals with the punishing part of
childhood and feels better because now she is in control of her own life.