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 βCreating 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
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I'll read anything Anne Carson writes, anything J. M. Coetzee writes, and anything Cormac McCarthy writes. I'll drop whatever I'm doing to read a new Mary Ruefle essay.
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He didn't want to please his readers. He wanted to stretch them until they twanged.
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