I don't feel I've arrived home until I get on the beach. All my life, the theater of the sea has been a very strong thing.
Derek WalcottRead
When I went to college - when I read Shakespeare or Dickens or Scott - I just felt that, as a citizen of England, a British citizen, this was as much my heritage as any schoolboy's. That is one of the things the Empire taught, that apart from citizenship, the synonymous inheritance of the citizenship was the literature.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the shared cultural heritage that literature provides to citizens, transcending social class.
Derek Walcott reflects on the profound connection between literature and national identity, asserting that literary figures like Shakespeare, Dickens, and Scott belong to all British citizens, regardless of their background. He suggests that the British Empire instilled a sense of shared cultural inheritance, where literature serves not only as a form of artistic expression but also as a unifying treasure that defines citizenship and belonging in a society.
Themes
LiteratureHeritageCitizenshipCultureIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about cultural education, one might quote this to reinforce the importance of literature in shaping identities.
More from Derek Walcott
All quotes →Creating a poem is a continual process of re-creating your ignorance, in the sense of not knowing what's coming next.
Derek WalcottRead
A long time ago, I thought, as a writer in the Caribbean, 'I don't ever want to have to write 'It was great in Paris.'' Because I don't think, proportionately speaking, that one's experience in a city as opposed to, say, a village in St. Lucia, is superior to the other.
Derek WalcottRead
My mother was a schoolteacher and very, very encouraging. She understood what it meant when I said I wanted to be a writer; both me and my brother wrote.
Derek WalcottRead
The truest writers are those who see language not as a linguistic process but as a living element.
Derek WalcottRead
The poet complains or points out the discontent that lies at the heart of man, the individual man, and how can that be redeemed?
Derek WalcottRead
Similar quotes
Race is the true protagonist of the American novel. Our most popular classic fictions have known this, from 'Moby Dick' to 'Beloved;' all these books take on race or talk it out, often in other forms; they are less 'horror stories for boys' than ghost stories from a haunted conscience.
Kevin YoungRead
You hear all this whining going on, "Where are our great writers?" The thing I might feel doleful about is: Where are the readers?
Gore VidalRead
Literature is dangerous: it awakens a rebellious attitude in us.
Mario Vargas LlosaRead
With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his. . . . It would positively be a relief to me to dig him up and throw stones at him.
George Bernard ShawRead
Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.
Samuel JohnsonRead
I don't know where people got the idea that characters in books are supposed to be likable. Books are not in the business of creating merely likeable characters with whom you can have some simple identification with. Books are in the business of creating great stories that make you're brain go ahhbdgbdmerhbergurhbudgerbudbaaarr.
John GreenRead