Derek Walcott and the apple of his island

An overview of Derek Walcott’s poetry and drama is provided in two parts, with Shakespeare’s Tempest providing epigraphs for each chapter and the theme of the whole. The argument is that, like Gonzalo’s vision of commonwealth which is likened to an apple to be taken home in the pocket, Walcott offers his art to the world as the fruit of a distinctively Caribbean vision, in the faith that language can help to bring into being that of which it speaks. The Rastafarian pronoun ‘I-an-I’ is used to figure a fresh approach to identity, recognizing both difference and similitude. Particular use is made of Walcott’s own exposition of his thinking in his essays, public appearances and interviews, including broadcasts and unpublished interviews with the author, included as appendices. The first part focuses on ideology, the second on craft. In the first, four chapters investigate themes of identity, place and history, and culminate in a reading of Walcott as a mythopoeic writer engaged in a more political aesthetic project of counter-discourse than is often recognized. In the second part, an initial chapter on language is followed by a series of more detailed analyses of the crafting of particular works. His use of mythopoeic imagery and of intertextuality in his poetry is discussed. Other chapters evaluate several plays, drawing on drafts, revisions, and some unpublished scripts, as well as on published texts. Overall, poems and plays are discussed on an equal basis, as a counter to the tendency for them to be considered as radically distinct areas of endeavour, when in fact they have been synchronic, mutually involved and reciprocally reinforcing throughout a long career. The picture of Walcott which emerges is of an epic poet of remarkable gifts, applied simultaneously to the current political and cultural project and to the celebration of his heritage of place, people and language