ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Common themes in Derek Walcott’s works include a focus on Caribbean culture and history, the effects of colonialism, and one’s relationship to language. He sometimes includes a mix of languages, from English to Caribbean patois to French.

Detailed explanation-2: -Walcott’s major breakthrough came with the collection In a Green Night: Poems 1948-1960 (1962), a book which celebrates the Caribbean and its history as well as investigates the scars of colonialism. Throughout a long and distinguished career, Walcott returned to those same themes of language, power, and place.

Detailed explanation-3: -As a pure composer of verse, Mr. Walcott had few equals in his time. He wrote in a smooth, carefully polished style, usually adhering to the traditional forms of English poetry, such as iambic pentameter, heroic couplets and rhyme.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the first part of “Names, ” Walcott describes how his race began with no nouns, no horizon, no memory, and no future. The shift from “my race” and “I began” to “our souls” and “our names” is significant as it marks the growth from an individual to a collective sensibility.