Dual inheritance in Derek Walcott's poetry

Derek Walcott's poetry is shaped by dual inheritance. This dual inheritance comprises of African-derived Caribbean cultural memory and European linguistic, literary, and aesthetic traditions. Walcott uses colonial language English in his works. English language is both a gift and wound at the same time. Walcott uses English for creative possibility. The inheritance is in the form of language, ethical, psychological and linguistic. This paper illustrates how Walcott does negotiations in his works. His poetry neither resolves nor transcends the caribbean and colonial issues. He depicts the tension prevalent in the present Caribbean creatively. The close readings of A Far Cry from Africa, Ruins of a Great House, The Schooner Flight, and selected lyric poems demonstrate how Walcott use English and creole for Caribbean expression. His poetics does not prefer linguistic purism. He uses the broken fragments and memory to express his inheritance. As a postcolonial poet, he expresses contradiction rather than speaking from negotiated ground.