Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Derek Walcott’s "Midsummer: XXXI" vividly evokes the contrasts between the New England landscape and the poet's own Caribbean heritage. The poem, set along the coast of Cape Cod, is steeped in imagery that juxtaposes the stark, whitewashed tradition of New England with hints of Mediterranean and Caribbean influences, creating a meditation on displacement, cultural memory, and the passage of time.

The poem opens with a series of images that establish the quintessential New England coastal scene: "salt crannies of white harbors, white spires, white filling stations." The repetition of "white" invokes purity and austerity, aligning with the region's Puritan roots. This whiteness, though, also suggests a sense of sterility or lifelessness, reinforced by the comparison to "clam-and-oyster bars, like drying barnacles." The day is "ebbing," symbolizing the waning vitality of these establishments and, by extension, the traditional way of life they represent. The image of barnacles clinging harder as their day fades speaks to the persistence of old customs even as their relevance diminishes in the face of time and change.

Walcott introduces a contrasting element with the "colonies of dark seamen," whose ancestors hailed from the Mediterranean. These seamen represent a more ancient, diverse, and cosmopolitan culture, far removed from the rigidity of New England. Their "ears were tuned to their earringed ancestors' hymn / of the Mediterranean's ground bass," an image that evokes a rich musical tradition, one deeply rooted in history and far more fluid than the stark Puritan landscape of Cape Cod. However, these seamen, like the endangered species to which they are compared, are "thinning out," suggesting the fading presence of multicultural influences in this region, much like the Mediterranean music that once played in their memories. Their "gutturals, like a parched seal's," emphasize the harshness and isolation they experience in this alien environment.

The poem shifts to a description of the landscape, where "the crosstrees of pines endure the Sabbath with the nerves of aspens." The pines, traditional symbols of endurance, seem to be holding their breath in the quiet stillness of the Sabbath, a day marked by religious observance. The comparison to the "nerves of aspens" implies a sense of tension, as though the landscape itself is on edge, strained by the weight of the region's religious history. This tension reflects the poem’s broader theme of cultural conflict—the enduring presence of the Pilgrim's rigid worldview versus the more fluid, multicultural influences represented by the seamen.

Walcott introduces the figure of the Pilgrim in vivid, almost mythical terms: "the Pilgrim's howl changed from the sibyl's, / that there are many nations but one God." The Pilgrim’s stern, unyielding faith is set against the sibyl’s more ancient, polytheistic traditions, suggesting that the Puritanical view of a singular, all-powerful God has supplanted older, more diverse forms of spiritual belief. The Pilgrim, dressed in "black hat, black-suited with his silver buckle," is a figure of authority and repression, striking the landscape with his "priapic rod"—a symbol of both masculine dominance and the harsh, punitive nature of his faith. His condemnation of the "naiad's chuckle" in the rock pool speaks to the Puritan suspicion of pleasure, nature, and anything that disrupts their rigid moral order. The presence of the naiad, a water nymph from classical mythology, represents a connection to an older, more sensuous relationship with the natural world, one that the Pilgrim seeks to repress.

As the poem progresses, Walcott’s reflections become more personal. The "chilling wind" from his "Methodist childhood" suggests that the poet himself was raised in a similarly strict religious environment, one that left a lasting impression on his sense of self and worldview. The Methodist tradition, like that of the Pilgrims, is marked by its focus on discipline, morality, and the concept of sin. This chilling wind carries with it echoes of sermons about "hellfire" and judgment, as the poet observes that "The Fall is all around us." This line serves a dual purpose: it refers to the literal autumn season in New England, with its dying leaves and cold winds, but it also suggests the biblical Fall, the original sin that casts humanity out of paradise.

The poem’s final lines introduce a sense of disorientation and distance. The poet’s voice "grows hoarse in the fog," as if struggling to speak against the oppressive weight of this landscape and its history. The foghorn, "the sea siren’s," alludes to myth once again, evoking the ancient Greek sirens who lured sailors to their doom. Here, the foghorn becomes a symbol of the dangers of nostalgia and longing, as the poet finds himself caught between the harsh New England present and the distant memory of his Caribbean homeland. The image of a "trawler groping from the Port of Boston" emphasizes this sense of searching, of trying to find a way through the fog of memory and history. The final image of "snow, mixed with steam, blurring the thought of islands" encapsulates the poem’s central tension: the cold, rigid environment of New England, with its Puritanical past, stands in stark contrast to the warmth and vibrancy of the islands, which remain distant, blurred, and unreachable in the poet's mind.

"Midsummer: XXXI" is a meditation on the contrasts between cultures, landscapes, and histories. Walcott contrasts the cold, puritanical world of New England with the warmth and sensuality of the Mediterranean and Caribbean traditions. The poem’s exploration of displacement, cultural memory, and the passage of time reflects Walcott’s own experience as a Caribbean poet engaging with both his colonial heritage and the broader, often conflicting, forces of history and identity. Ultimately, the poem captures the sense of dislocation and longing that comes from living between worlds, caught between the past and the present, the familiar and the foreign.

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