Derek Walcott: Origins

Length / Form A long poem in seven passages. Sections in italics echo the qualities of the Greek choral ode.

Allusion to Classical figure Hector, Achilles, Aeneas, Ulysses, Pleiades, Hermes, Arion, Sybil, Zeus, Penelope

Allusion to Classical place Cythera, Troy

Relationship to Classical text Seeking a ‘mythopoeic coast’, Walcott refers to a ‘Guinnean odyssey’, thereby foregrounding his epic poem Omeros (New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1990). Section I alludes to the great classical epics at the core of the poet’s colonial education, the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid, whilst Section VII refers to Odysseus’ return to Ithaca.

Classical/post-Classical intertexts Prefaced by a quotation from the French-Caribbean poet and politician Aimé Césaire, which refers to a ‘blur of fables’. Biblical references to the book of Exodus elide with references to the Odyssey. ‘Between the Greek and African pantheon’ the poet sees himself as a ‘Lost animist’.

Further Comment Lacking an ancient epic to recount the mythic origins of his native culture, Walcott seeks to ‘Harvest ancestral voices from its surf’.