The Great House Walcott Analysis

The persona uses imagery, so we get a clear view of how the society may have been like from his perspective “Grown in the silt that clogs the river’s skirt” this is an image of decay and loss of energy or validity; the word clogs means its lost its pieces or gone to pieces. Walcott describes the splendour of the house and its eventual dilapidation. The Great House alludes to the social constructs of British domination and desertion. We also see this in the second stanza when he uses dead limes and the leprosy of the Empire. With this he is explaining the fall of the British Empire which once stood strong. This is another section of the poem in which he refers to death or decaying and smells of such. The references to Lime, (a play on the fruit, the use of lime in building old world concrete, and the use of lime for decomposing large amounts of bodies quickly) depict Walcott’s many meanings. Lime is used to reference the replacement of the old world jungles with key lime plantations, but it also drums up another old use of quicklime, namely the rapid decomposition of piles of dead bodies to avoid plagues. This references the massive death that occurred during the colonization of the West Indies. Another internal reference is the use of lime in Roman era and then rediscovered concrete by the British

He experiences a racially mixed identity, a conflict which seems difficult to resolve. Though it expresses his repulsion towards the imperial practices he is not opposing them rather he is showing objectively their tradition. Ruins of a Great House ponder over the conflicting aspects of colonial legacy. The persona is caught between conflicting emotions which seem difficult to resolve. .In the poem the persona moves from a state of anger, resentment and bitterness to a compassionate understanding of the British Colonizers who themselves were once colonized by the Romans. The poem reinforces the tension of merged identities and mixed feelings. Though contradiction and paradox are characteristics of Walcott’s persona, here is an attempt to reconcile the differences and harmonize the