Derek Walcott’s use of Poetic Devices

Imagery plays a large part in developing the theme for the poem. The narrator’s words produce images in the reader’s mind that shows the harshness of colonialism. For example, the narrator says, “Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt. / Corpses are scattered through a paradise.” (Lines 3 & 4) This creates the image of a beautiful country ruined from the brutality of the colonialists. Dead bodies are seen across the land because no compassion is shown toward them. The narrator then says that statistics and scholars say that colonialism is good for those being taken over. (Line 7) He questions this statement by stating, “What is that to the white child hacked in bed?” (Lin

e 9) The image created from his question is that of a young child killed in his sleep one night. This child is of the colonialist’s own kind, yet he is still killed; stressing the point that no one is safe form colonialism. In relation to the theme, these images show that colonialism uses the pressure of violence in order to make an entire country conform to their ideas and beliefs.

The symbols used in the poem have to do with colonialism. The narrator states, “Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes break/ In a white dust of ibises whose cries/ Have wheeled since civilizations dawn/ From the parched river or beast-teeming plain.” (Lines 11-14) The ibises that cry because of the “white dust” choking them are symbolic of the helpless people that cry because they are being taken over by the white man of colonialism. The narrator makes an important symbolic statement when he says, “Again brutish necessity wipes its hands/ Upon the napkin of a dirty cause…” (Lines 22 & 23) This statement is a symbol of the colonialists. They feel that

Some topics in this essay:
Derek Walcott, theme poem, Cry Africa”, , view symbolism, imagery view symbolism, imagery view, derek walcott, colonialism narrator,