Analyzing 'XXIII' by Derek Walcott

This assignment will guide you through a detailed analysis of Derek Walcott's poem 'XXIII.' You will explore the poem's imagery, historical references, and literary allusions to understand its themes and significance.

With the stampeding hiss and scurry of green lemmings, midsummer's leaves race to extinction like the roar of a Brixton riot tunneled by water hoses: they seethe towards autumn's fire—its in their nature, being men as well as leaves, to die for the sun. The leaf stems tug at their chains, the branches bending like Boer cattle under Tory whips that drag every wagon nearer to apartheid. And, for me, that closes the child's fairy tale of an antic England—fairy rings, thatched cottages fenced with dog roses, a green gale lifting the hair of Warwickshire. I was there to add some color to the British theater. "But the blacks can't do Shakespeare, they have no experience." This was true. Their thick skulls bled with rancor when the riot police and the skinheads exchanged quips you could trace to the Sonnets, or the Moor's eclipse. Praise had bled my lines white of any more anger. and snow had inducted me into white fellowships. while Calibans howled down the barred streets of an empire that began with Caedmon's raceless dew, and is ending In the alleys of Brixton, burning like Turner's ships.

'Midsummer' from The Poetry of Derek Walcott, 1948–2013 by Derek Walcott

Group 1

Read the poem 'XXIII' by Derek Walcott. Answer the following questions to analyze the poem with increasing depth.

Question 1a

Short answer

What imagery does Walcott use to describe the midsummer leaves in the poem? Provide examples from the text.

Question 1b

Multiple choice

What historical event is referenced in the poem?

  • The Boer War

  • The Brixton riots

  • The American Civil War

  • The French Revolution

Question 1c

Short answer

Explain the significance of the reference to 'Turner's ships' in the context of the poem.

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