Midterm Essay

Midterm Essay The Poem “XIV” from Midsummer by Derek Walcott, tells the story of a significant trip taken by the narrator. He Travels down an old and winding road that takes him deep into a Caribbean forest. Once arriving at his destination the narrator is told a mesmerising tale by an old story teller. The way that the author presents this story to us is unique in what it reveals about the narrator's recollection. Within this poem walcott uses poetic devices such as metaphors and mood in order to convey the significance of the event. The way that this story is presented creates an eerie and almost creepy mood, which serves to put the reader on edge and therefore force him or her to read more intently. This all stems from the way that the author recalls the entire experience. Walcott begins the recollective poem with the sentence, “With the frenzy of an old snake shedding its skin, the speckled road… twisted on itself…”(1-3). This metaphor compares the twists and turns in the old, winding, jungle road to an old serpent struggling to remove itself from its own dead skin. This comparison continues to set the dark and eerie tone for the rest of the poem in two

Walcott’s many uses of comparisons such as analogies, similes, and of course metaphors serve to make the reader dig deeper into the meaning of the poem. This forces the reader to analyze the lines more thoroughly and emphasises the significance of the story. A great example of this is toward the end of the poem when Walcott writes, “she was the lamplight stare of two mesmerized boys…”(20). This metaphor makes the reader think deeper about the way one can get so enchanted and mesmerized by the light of a fire, in this case, specifically from a lamp. Walcott compares this mesmerized state from a flame to that of the old story teller, giving her the same magical, enchanting