I resemble everyone but myself, and sometimes see in shop-windows despite the well known laws of optics the portrait of a stranger, date unknown,

The poem “Self-Portrait” by A.K. Ramanujan is an introspective poem. By looking at window- shop, the poet looks at himself and feels the loss of identity as to who he is. It is significant to note that what this poem from the Striders (1966) conveys is the usual theme of modernist poetry in general.

The poem is not as simple and direct as its title suggests. When you read the poem the first question that will arise in your mind is as to whose self-portrait does the poem refers to. The question complicates further when we learn that the portrait is of unknown date having only its creator’s sign below in the corner. This may refer to the fact that ancestral root or biological factors are merely partial source of human identity. Similarly the self-portrait’s unknown date may refer to inexplicable nature of the human existence.

“I resemble everyone/but myself” is the thesis statement of the poem which though seems contradictory in itself is a fact of life. Before we analyse this statement, you may be curious to know as to who the speaker of the poem is.

A look into the poet’s biographical detail may give us some clue. In this context it is important to note that the poet had been living in the USA for more than five years when he wrote this poem in 1966. Since he was becoming Americanized, he perhaps felt he was no longer an Indian except his ancestral roots in India. Here taking reference from his personal experience, the poet seems to have universalized the concept of ‘Self-Portrait’. This self-portrait refers to every sensitive individual who often suffer from lack of tune within himself. Coming back to the thesis statement, you may note that it refers to universal oneness of the human beings. This means externally the human beings are one and the same; their thought-pattern, hopes, fear and anxiety shows universal oneness. But the problem is individual’s own inner contradictions. An individual is not a true reflection of his own self.

The poem, therefore, talks of personal reconciliation in this world of contradictions. The poet believes poetry has transformational power and can change people’s day-to-day philosophy of life. If an individual would become his true-self, he would be able to live his life with better insight and fulfillment.

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