“Sea Grapes” by Derek Walcott
That sail which leans on light,
tired of islands,
a schooner beating up the Caribbean
for home, could be Odysseus,
home-bound on the Aegean;
that father and husband’s
longing, under gnarled sour grapes, is like
the adulterer hearing Nausicaa’s name in
every gull’s outcry.
This brings nobody peace. The ancient war
between obsession and responsibility will
never finish and has been the same
for the sea-wanderer or the one on shore now
wriggling on his sandals to walk home, since
Troy sighed its last flame,
and the blind giant’s boulder heaved the trough from
whose groundswell the great hexameters come to the
conclusions of exhausted surf.
The classics can console. But not enough.
The poem “Sea Grapes,” by Derek Walcott, has frequent references and allegory to the Greek mythology. However, it is not a poem about the Greeks. Rather, it is about the people and their concerns between obsessions and responsibilities. The title of this poem, Sea Grapes–a fruit known for being tart than most–is the object of desire within the poem. Being tart, however, it is not all that sweet once you reach your obsessions, for you have abandoned your responsibilities. The speaker of this poem portrays that the conflicts between obsession and responsibility has to come to an end–for it “brings nobody peace”.
The beginning of the poem, the first stanza, describes the scene of the peaceful Caribbean being disturbed by the “tired” schooner. In the first line, the sail that “leans on light” is tired for it is relying on light–or hope–to stand still. The use of euphony in “leans on light” gives a bright tone which supports the meaning of the first line that the lights mean hope for the war to end. In the second line, “tired of islands,” also supports this idea. The last line, “a schooner beating up the Caribbean,” however, breaks the somewhat peaceful scene of the Caribbean. The schooner is “breaking up” the Caribbean which means that it breaks the peace for some reason that will be further elaborated in the other stanzas. Furthermore, this second line of the first stanza is an allegory to Homer’s Odyssey which is a story of Odysseus’s journey to return home after the end of the Trojan War. The reference to Homer’s Odyssey in the first stanza signals that the rest of the story will have a relationship with the story of Odysseus.
The semicolon in the second stanza separates it into a part relating to the allegory to the Odyssey, and another part relating to the next stanza. The first two lines, which is before the semicolon, seems suggests that the schooner is carrying Odysseus. It says that it “could be” Odysseus, that is headed for home on the Aegean. However, the important part is that the speaker leaves a possible doubt by saying that it “could be” instead of saying “it is”. In the Odyssey, Odysseus continues his long journey home struggling against giants and the lure of comfort in other islands. Eventually, though, Odysseus returns home against all the challenges. The responsibility for his family and country seen through the character Odysseus is a important factor in relating this poem with the Odyssey. However, the fact that the schooner is Odysseus’s, is given a possible doubt by the speaker. This hints the theme of the poem by leaving a possibility that the schooner might not be a figure of responsibility. Compared to this, the “father and husband’s” in the third line are representations of figures of responsibility. Moreover, because the husband is in the possessive form, the line, “father and husband’s” also relates to the next stanza.
Unlike the second stanza which talks about responsibilities, the third is about obsessions. Even the father and husbands, who are figures representing responsibilities, long to achieve their obsessions in the third stanza. This suggests that even such figures like husbands and fathers have a longing for their desires, which relates to the theme of the poem–the conflicts between responsibility and obsession–by implying that this war is fought by everyone. The “gnarled sour grapes,” the object of desire, however, is described with the adjective “sour”. The speaker here is inferring that the cost of reaching their obsessions is not so sweet for responsibility is sacrificed for their desire. Furthermore, through the use of a simile, the speaker compares the longing of the father and husband’s to an adulterer feeling guilty at Nausicaa’s name in every gull’s outcry. Nausicaa mentioned in this line is a beautiful princess in the Odyssey who is often related to the image of adultery. Adultery, in this poem, is an example that the speaker used to refer to possible desires that costs the person’s responsibility. In other words, the speaker is saying that these figures of responsibility can also be guilty of chasing their obsessions.
The speakers voice on the conflict between responsibility and obsessions is shown in the fourth stanza. By stating that “this brings nobody peace,” the speaker criticizes the irresponsible people who are obsessed with their “grapes”. Also the first three stanzas and the next three stanzas are each one sentence. However, the one in between–“This brings nobody peace”–is one short sentence. Through this concise statement, the speaker stresses that the “ancient war between obsession and responsibility,” has to end. The speaker continues on to say that this war will never end if the “one on the shore now,” continues to sacrifice their responsibilities for their obsessions. Furthermore, instead of saying that the “ancient war…has been the same and will never finish,” the speaker says that it “will never end and has been the same.” The line itself is saying that we need a change in order to end this war. The reason for organizing the sentence this way is to make it consistant with the phrase “since Troy sighted its last flame”.
The sea wanderer and the one on the shore now are each the representatives of responsibility and obsession. The speaker describes the person as a sea wanderer which refers to Odysseus who is the responsible one. In the same line, the speaker uses “or” to mention the possibility that the person could be just “wandering on the shore now”, in other words a person guilty of abandoning their responsibility for their obsessions. The”wriggling” on his sandals also gives the sense of nervousness, possibly caused by the guilt of adultery or abandoning their responsibility. Furthermore, the war between obsession and responsibility has been the same since “Troy sighted its last flame,” which explains why the sail was tired in the first stanza.
The war between obsession and responsibility comes to an end in the sixth stanza. The boulder thrown by the blind giant in Homer’s Odyssey, causes the groundswell, which means that the long war between obsession and responsibility started since the days of Odysseus. The “great hexameters” in the second line of this stanza refers to this poem itself. The last meter of each stanza ends in a spondee–“outcry”, “the same” and “last flame”. Furthermore, the fifth meter is a dactylic meter in many cases–“name in every”, “and has been” and “Troy sighted its”. From this we can find that this poem is in the form of a hexameter. The significance of this phrase is that the speaker referred to this poem itself with the adjective “great”. By describing it as great, it implies that this poem, or hexameter, has a significance. The significance that can’t be found at the superficial level. The speaker is forcing the readers to consider the true meaning of this hexameter and relate it to their lives. The last line of this stanza concludes all the conflicts into an exhausted surf. The conflicts between obsession and responsibility shown in the Greek mythology and this poem eventually is solved. However, the deeper meaning of this resolution is furthered in the last and final line of this poem.
“But not enough,” the last sentence of this poem, signifies that the resolution of these conflicts in the classics is not enough. The theme spoken here is that the ancient war between responsibility and obsession has to console in our lives. Unlike the six stanzas above, the last stanza is a single line, consisted of two concise sentences which emphasizes the importance. The use of “but” in this stanza puts emphasis on the difference between the conflicts in the classics and what the speaker considers to be more important–our lives.
Derek Walcott, a poet known for his frequent references to the Caribbean and Greek mythology, expressed the bitter conflict between responsibility and obsession effectively through the use of allegory ot Homer’s Odyssey. He spoke in volumed that the war between resopnsibility and obsession has to console, not only in the classics, but also in reality. The sail leaning on light, is truly leaning on the hope for reality to console–like the ballad of Odysseus and like the poem “Sea Grapes”.
Works Cited Citation : “Derek Walcott – Poetry”. Nobelprize.org. 17 Jun 2011 <http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1992/walcott-poetry-seagrapes.html>
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