Research Paper on:
Analysis of Walcott's The Light of the World

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Derek Walcott has succeeded through his poetry, playwriting and novel writing by basically taking bits and pieces of himself and his culture, as well as the ambivalence that he feels  about his own position in life, and molding them into a visual panacea that enhances the imagination. Although the topics he touches on are different, the same theme runs rampant  throughout his writings. One such poem that does this, although it has not been written about or reviewed much, is "The Light of the World," which describes a poets journey  to the poor land of his birth and upbringing. "The Light of the World" is definitely autobiographical, as is most of Walcotts  poetry and other writings. Walcott, himself, is of mixed ancestry, African, Dutch and English (Gray 65). Born on the Windward Island of St. Lucia in what was then the British  West Indies (Gray 65). Both of Walcotts parents were schoolteachers, although father died when he was only one (Gray 65). Even though life was hard for Walcott, his brother and  his sister, his mother always made sure that their small house was filled with books (Gray 65). The Walcott children grew up around words and fell in love with them  (Walcotts brother Roderick is a playwright). While young Derek was growing up and dipping into these books time and again, he found himself drawn to the beauty of the English  language - while being repelled by the exclusion and prejudice that the English themselves showed to their West Indies colonies and its inhabitants (Gray 65).  With his love of literature and language, Walcott continued his education at St. Marys College, Castries, and received a scholarship to the University College of the