The Place of the Poet: Dante in Walcott’s Narrative Poetry

Abstract

Dante’s Commedia is a rich source of quotations, allusions, and formal and thematic parallels in Derek Walcott’s poetry, from the earliest, self-consciously experimental works, to the title poem of his most recent collection, The Bounty. For the most part, this essay will be confined to discussion of Dante’s presence in the three long narrative poems Walcott has published to date: Epitaph for the Young, published in Barbados in 1949 when Walcott was 19 years old; Another Life, begun in 1965, but not completed or published until 1973; and Omeros, published in 1990.2 All three narrative poems have an immediate connection with the Commedia in that the poet himself appears as a protagonist — in a central role in Epitaph for the Young and Another Life, both of which are clearly autobiographical, and as a major character in Omeros, which incorporates autobiographical material. Some consideration will also be given to the radio play Senza Alcun Sospetto (1950), which remains largely ignored by Walcott’s crifics;3 in that it is an extended treatment of a passage in Dante’s Inferno, the play provides a useful point of comparison for the narrative poems.