Day 3: Caribbean Poetry
English II: World Literature
Island
By Derek Walcott
Warm-Up
[for Margaret]
Merely to name them is the prose
Of diarists, to make you a name
For readers who like travellers
praise
Directions: Annotate the poem and answer the
questions below.
Their beds and beaches as the
same;
1. What strikes you about this poem?
But island can only exist
2. How would you describe the diction? List the
most important words below.
3. How would you categorize the diction?
Language of __________.
4. What is the poem about?
5. How is it different from other poetry of the
Caribbean that we’ve read so far?
If we have loved in them. I seek,
As climate seeks its style, to write
Verse crisp as sand, clear as
sunlight,
Cold as the curled wave, ordinary
As a tumbler of island water;
Yet, like a diarist, thereafter
I savour their salt-haunted rooms
(Your body stirring the creased sea
Of crumpled sheets), whose
mirrors lose
Our huddled, sleeping images,
Like words which love had hoped
to use
So, like a diarist in sand,
I mark the peace with which you
graced
Particular islands, descending
A narrow stair to light the lamps
Against the night’s surf’s noises,
shielding
A leaping mantle with one hand,
Or simply scaling fish for supper,
Onions, jack0fish, bread, red snapper;
And on each kiss the harsh sea-taste,
And how by moonlight you were
made
To study most the surf’ unyielding
Patience though it seems a waste.
Agenda
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warm-up
literary terms/history
quiz
Seminar Prep: Small
group discussion
Seminar: Caribbean
poetry
Writing response
Seminar Expectations
1. All students speak at least once.
2. When someone is speaking, you listen.
3. When you speak, have textual evidence or
specific examples to support your point.