Derek Walcott: The Divided Child, Chapter 5

Allusion to Classical figure Ulysses/Odysseus, Penelope and her suitors

Relationship to Classical text Walcott deliberately indicates the motto’s Vergilian root (with its contrary meaning) by referring to it as ‘Vergil’s tag’. The motto is therefore portrayed as colonial, classicising and furthermore, deceptive. The didactic setting underscores the sense of European/British culture as an oppressive force.

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts ‘a safe anchorage for sheeps’ (i.e. ‘ships’, pronounced in the local accent) is a schoolboy’s translation of St Lucia’s former motto ‘Statio haud malefida carinis’. The latter is a modification of Vergils’ description of the harbour at Tenedos (where the Greek navy hides, waiting for the Trojans to take the wooden horse into the city) as ‘statio male fida carinis’, i.e. ‘an untrustworthy harbour for ships’ (Aeneid II, 23).

Further Comment Walcott coins the verb ‘to ulyssee’ to describe the ‘Captain’ who travels away from home, leaving his wife behind.