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
His books were the closest thing he had to furniture and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs.
Laura HillenbrandRead
Great books write themselves, only bad books have to be written.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
As it unfolded, the structure of the story began to remind me of one of those Russian dolls that contain innumerable ever-smaller dolls within. Step by step the narrative split into a thousand stories, as if it had entered a gallery of mirrors, its identity fragmented into endless reflections.
Carlos Ruiz ZafonRead
Most crime fiction, no matter how 'hard-boiled' or bloodily forensic, is essentially sentimental, for most crime writers are disappointed romantics.
John BanvilleRead
Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brave. I never get over being thankful for that - for the courage of my readers.
Barbara KingsolverRead
What I can say is that it was clear to many of us that an indigenous African literary renaissance was overdue. A major objective was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent, and to recast them through stories- prose, poetry, essays, and books for our children. That was my overall goal.
Chinua AchebeRead