a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment
and that all makes perfect sense. He was obviously astoundingly well-read in English poetry from an early age and, perhaps more importantly, had the drive and determination to pursue his career outside what I imagine must have been a very limited cultural scene in his homeland. His poems show that he learned from his contemporaries, particularly in USA and alongside the somewhat stiff diction, there's the influence of more conversational, even confessional poets. They are, I suppose, key works for anyone considering post-colonial literature and the way writers negotiate the use of an imperial language to resist imperialism.
Here's an extract from "The Schooner Flight" from the 1980 collection, The Star-Apple Kingdom which is Walcott at, for me, his best.
Unlike with Seamus Heaney, I haven't attempted to read this book straight through. It's particularly inappropriate because Walcott wrote lots of very long works (eg Homeros) which are only extracted here. Those are the books that should be read like novels. And perhaps that experience would be better. I wasn't often entranced by the shorter poems, despite the enormous craft in them. Maybe in reading the longer works, the flow is more seductive - Bruckner rather than Mendelssohn, let's say. But I didn't get the simple, irrational pleasure that poetry can give to encourage me to read more.
The selection I have been reading is an ex-library book from Northern Ireland, and has the beautiful soft plastic covering that librarians love. It was only borrowed four times and is almost pristine. Every time I pick it up I get that old familiar feeling of wondering if it's overdue for return yet.
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