All 34 entries tagged History

pharos

pharos (5.XXXVIII.i).

The Pharos of Alexandria is the lighthouse in Alexandria, Egypt. For a long time it was one of the largest man-made structures in the world and it was declared by Antipater of Sidion to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its links with the themes of empires and slavery are clear. Its construction began under the rule of Alexander the Great but finished under Ptolemy's rule. Its designer, Sostrates of Knidos, was forbidden to put his name on it and instead was told to inscribe Ptolemy's name. However, he put the king's name on a layer of plaster, underneath which he inscribed his own name, so that over time the plaster was eroded revealing the designer's self-identifying inscription (Bib:26). The legend surrounding the lighthouse, that its beams could set fire to enemy ships before they got anywhere near the shore, emphasises the Narrator’s role as a defender of his island.

Amanda Hopkins : 06 Jun 2008 15:53 |  Tags: Alexandria Colonialism Context Europe Glossary History Identity & Naming Mytholody Pharos Places Walcott The Narrator |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

totem

totem (2.XXXI.ii).

A natural object assumed as the emblem for a family, clan &c., especially within Indian tribes. Here its discovery by Achille mirrors his journey of discovery into his own past and the reader’s accumulating knowledge of the island’s history. Totems were sometimes painted on a grave, but here the 'disturbed grave' is probably metaphorical. The fact that 'A thousand archaeologists started screaming/as Achille wrenched out the totem…' illustrates not only the tensions between the island’s inhabitants and the impositions of Westernised tourism, but also links in with the theme of being uprooted.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 13:28 |  Tags: Achille Aruac Colonialism Dispossession Glossary History Peoples Religion Totem Tourism |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Plunkett place history

So Plunkett decided that what the place needed/was its true place in history (1.XI.i).

Plunkett here is quite ambivalent because he wants to give Helen (the island) a real place in History, without giving her his wife’s role and place (the colonizers’ role),  where the maid turns into the mistress and destroys her own possibilities. The following section continues to reflect Plunkett's ambivalence: he is building a fleet and he is proud of the midshipman who had his name in the Eighteenth Century, but he also criticises the Empire as being dirty (cf. Empires were swinish, 1.XI.i). Where does he stand? No clear answer.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:38 |  Tags: Characters Colonialism Context Dennis Plunkett Helen History Maud Plunkett Plunkett Place History |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

History was Circe

History was Circe (1.XI.i).

Circe is for Penelope what is History for Maud: they detain their husbands from them, either in reality or in the mind.

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:16 |  Tags: Characters Context Dennis Plunkett History History Was Circe Maud Plunkett Odyssey Penelope |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

She had never felt more alone

She had never felt more alone (1.XI.i–iii).

Here Maud is very similar to Penelope: she is sewing, and above all she passes her time waiting for her husband to get back to her, to the real world in current history. Her husband is leaving the Great Wanderings in his imagination (cf 'wandering heart', 1.XI.iii, last line).

Amanda Hopkins : 05 Jun 2008 06:06 |  Tags: Characters Dennis Plunkett History Maud Plunkett Odyssey Penelope She Had Never Felt More Alone |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Choctaw

Choctaw (7.LXIII.i).

A Muskogean North American Indian people, originally living in Mississippi and Alabama (Bib:OED). Like the Cherokee and Sioux, the Choctaw tribe was evicted from their homeland by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 15:57 |  Tags: Cherokee Choctaw Colonialism Context Dispossession Glossary History North America Peoples Sioux Usa |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Cherokee

Cherokee (7.LXIII.i).

A member of an Iroquoian North American Indian people, formerly inhabiting much of the southern USA (Bib:OED). The Cherokees were evicted from their homeland by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a resettlement known as the Trail of Tears, to which Walcott refers in 4.XXV.i. Cf. Sioux (3.XXXI.iii) and Choctaw (7.LXIII.i).

Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 15:55 |  Tags: Cherokee Choctaw Colonialism Context Dispossession Glossary History North America Peoples Sioux Usa |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Comte de Grasse

Comte de Grasse (7.LVII.iii).

French admiral who joined the fleet for Count d'Estaing in the Caribbean and distinguished himself in the battle for St Lucia in 1780.

Amanda Hopkins : 09 Jul 2007 13:31 |  Tags: Battle Of The Saints Colonialism Comte De Grasse Context History St Lucia |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Buffalo Soldier

"Buffalo Soldier." […] the black soldier […] it was Achille's (3.XXXI.i). Lines from Buffalo Soldier, a song by reggae artist Bob Marley from the album Legend (1984). Extract from the lyrics:

Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta:
There was a buffalo soldier in the heart of america,
Stolen from africa, brought to america,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

I mean it, when I analyze the stench –
To me it makes a lot of sense:
How the dreadlock rasta was the buffalo soldier,
And he was taken from africa, brought to america,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.

Said he was a buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta -
Buffalo soldier in the heart of america.

If you know your history,
Then you would know where you coming from,
Then you wouldnt have to ask me,
Who the eck do I think I am.

Im just a buffalo soldier in the heart of america,
Stolen from africa, brought to america,
Said he was fighting on arrival, fighting for survival;
Said he was a buffalo soldier win the war for america.

Walcott uses the lyrics of the song to illustrate the situation and history of most blacks in the Carribean: where they came from, what they were brought for, &c. This fits with the theme of displacement and searching for home and history which is a common thread through the entire poem.

Amanda Hopkins : 06 Jul 2007 15:17 |  Tags: Africa Buffalo Soldier Colonialism Context History Identity & Naming Poetics Usa |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Kings Fatel Rozack

Kings lost their minds […] Fatel Rozack (3.XXIX.iii).

Walcott is using various historical events here to make a timeline:

• 'Kings lost their minds': (too many to choose from; don't know which mad king to include!)

• 'Jesuit […] Veracruz': a Jesuit convent in Veracruz, Mexico, burned down in 1606

• 'Sephardic merchant […] Lima Curacao': reference to Jews escaping from the Spanish Inquisition (1470s–mid-16th century)

• 'Wilberforce': William Wilberforce (1759-1833), British Member of Parliament influential in abolishing slavery

• 'Darwin […] sea': Charles Darwin (1809 -1882), British naturalist. His early research on evolution published in the 1840s and 1850s.

• 'Madrasi […] Fatel Rozack' (1845): the first immigrant ship to the Caribbean (1845). It brought indentured Indian workers. 'Madrasi' refers both to the region of India where the workers were from and the colourful traditional cotton fabric for which the area is famous. The region is now known as Chennai.

Amanda Hopkins : 06 Jul 2007 14:27 |  Tags: Asia Caribbean Colonialism Context Europe History Kings Fatel Rozack South America |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem