Derek Walcott was a Caribbean poet whose work spanned more than half a century. Throughout his career, his poetry centered the beauty of the islands where he was born, and where he lived for much of his life. His work often considers themes of colonialism, especially the difficulty of finding an identity as someone from a formerly colonized country. His most famous work, Omeros, was a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey as a Caribbean folk tale. That transformation of the Western canon is another hallmark of his work.
The poems considered in this guide are some of Walcott’s best and most famous works, drawn from the many collections of poetry he published in his lifetime. They touch on the decay of empire, the violence and beauty of the Western canon, and the beauty of St. Lucia, as well as the importance of self-discovery and the power of love.
