Veranda
Derek Walcott
“Gray apparitions at veranda ends
like smoke, divisible, but one”
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright)
STORY/SUMMARY
This poem is structured thematically in three parts. First, Walcott sees the ghosts of
people from the time of the British Empire — colonels, usurers, middlemen, planters.
They are described as ‘divisible, but one’, i.e. being distinct people but also an
expression of the same place and time. The planters are shown to suffer and be
exploited, their ‘tears were marketable gum’,
In the second part, the poet sees his grandfather’s ghost, and the tone changes to be
more personal rather than impersonal and mocking/critical. He addresses his
grandfather’s ghost as ‘sir’ and ‘sire’, showing respect for his choice to migrate to the
West Indies and also for his suicide, which is termed ‘your Roman end’ because in
Roman culture it was thought to be a noble form of death.
The final section considers the transition from life into death as also a kind of
migration, albeit that of the soul. The poet’s hand is ‘darkening’ as he stretches it out
from the veranda to the ghosts, a suggestion that he is ageing and will soon be
joining them.
VOICE
The voice is at first a third person omniscient narrator, describing colonial and historical
events almost impersonally, it is a voice which looks out from the veranda of its house
and perceives the ghosts of people from the Empire, the way in which they lived and
worked at the time.
, The tone shifts, becoming more personal after the line ‘A ghost steps from you, my
grandfather’s ghost!’ as if the mass of historical figures was once blurry and indistinct,
but the speaker is now clearly able to distinguish one of his own family from the other
ghosts. We realise at this point that the speaker is Walcott himself, and he is talking
about his own grandfather. In this shift, the impersonal colonial history of his land
becomes his own personal familial history too. In the same way that the general
history becomes his own particular history, those ghosts which are ‘divisible, but one’
disappear and he is left alone with his own grandfather.
THEMES
Colonialism > There is a lot of imagery pertaining to colonialism — ‘planters’,
‘colonels’, ‘the commonwealth’s greenheart’ ‘an Empire in the red’ ‘Victoria’s china
seas’ etc. The references blend Caribbean and British identities, demonstrating the
interconnectedness of the locations via the British Empire. It’s not all positive,
however — some of Walcott’s references are highly critical or ironic; the reference to
‘the commonwealth’s greenheart’ implies the Empire’s obsession with making money
and jealousy of other empires, whereas ‘usurers’ keeping ‘an Empire in the red’
suggests that moneylenders and the rapid expansion of the empire meant that it was
always in debt, and therefore always under stress and pressure and the false illusion
of financial success (‘in the red’ means in debt rather than profit).
Slavery > As with many of Walcott’s poems, he references the horrors of slavery that
his culture was forced to endure. In this poem, they are “Planters whose tears were
marketable gum, whose voices / scratch the twilight like dried fronds / edged with
reflection”. The adjective ‘marketable’ sardonically implies the commodification of
humans by the empire, the way in which they were treated as no more than
money-making objects. We still feel their pain and suffering embedded in the
memory of modern Caribbean people, their voices still cry out through their
descendants and encourage us to reflect on the horrors of the past.
Ghosts / Apparitions > drawing from memory and experience, Walcott conjures
ghosts in front of him and assesses them, thinking about the way in which they lived
their lives. This gives the poem a haunting quality, as well as making it about
spiritual reflection and the afterlife, as well as the legacy that lives leave behind — all
of which are common themes in his work.
Derek Walcott
“Gray apparitions at veranda ends
like smoke, divisible, but one”
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright)
STORY/SUMMARY
This poem is structured thematically in three parts. First, Walcott sees the ghosts of
people from the time of the British Empire — colonels, usurers, middlemen, planters.
They are described as ‘divisible, but one’, i.e. being distinct people but also an
expression of the same place and time. The planters are shown to suffer and be
exploited, their ‘tears were marketable gum’,
In the second part, the poet sees his grandfather’s ghost, and the tone changes to be
more personal rather than impersonal and mocking/critical. He addresses his
grandfather’s ghost as ‘sir’ and ‘sire’, showing respect for his choice to migrate to the
West Indies and also for his suicide, which is termed ‘your Roman end’ because in
Roman culture it was thought to be a noble form of death.
The final section considers the transition from life into death as also a kind of
migration, albeit that of the soul. The poet’s hand is ‘darkening’ as he stretches it out
from the veranda to the ghosts, a suggestion that he is ageing and will soon be
joining them.
VOICE
The voice is at first a third person omniscient narrator, describing colonial and historical
events almost impersonally, it is a voice which looks out from the veranda of its house
and perceives the ghosts of people from the Empire, the way in which they lived and
worked at the time.
, The tone shifts, becoming more personal after the line ‘A ghost steps from you, my
grandfather’s ghost!’ as if the mass of historical figures was once blurry and indistinct,
but the speaker is now clearly able to distinguish one of his own family from the other
ghosts. We realise at this point that the speaker is Walcott himself, and he is talking
about his own grandfather. In this shift, the impersonal colonial history of his land
becomes his own personal familial history too. In the same way that the general
history becomes his own particular history, those ghosts which are ‘divisible, but one’
disappear and he is left alone with his own grandfather.
THEMES
Colonialism > There is a lot of imagery pertaining to colonialism — ‘planters’,
‘colonels’, ‘the commonwealth’s greenheart’ ‘an Empire in the red’ ‘Victoria’s china
seas’ etc. The references blend Caribbean and British identities, demonstrating the
interconnectedness of the locations via the British Empire. It’s not all positive,
however — some of Walcott’s references are highly critical or ironic; the reference to
‘the commonwealth’s greenheart’ implies the Empire’s obsession with making money
and jealousy of other empires, whereas ‘usurers’ keeping ‘an Empire in the red’
suggests that moneylenders and the rapid expansion of the empire meant that it was
always in debt, and therefore always under stress and pressure and the false illusion
of financial success (‘in the red’ means in debt rather than profit).
Slavery > As with many of Walcott’s poems, he references the horrors of slavery that
his culture was forced to endure. In this poem, they are “Planters whose tears were
marketable gum, whose voices / scratch the twilight like dried fronds / edged with
reflection”. The adjective ‘marketable’ sardonically implies the commodification of
humans by the empire, the way in which they were treated as no more than
money-making objects. We still feel their pain and suffering embedded in the
memory of modern Caribbean people, their voices still cry out through their
descendants and encourage us to reflect on the horrors of the past.
Ghosts / Apparitions > drawing from memory and experience, Walcott conjures
ghosts in front of him and assesses them, thinking about the way in which they lived
their lives. This gives the poem a haunting quality, as well as making it about
spiritual reflection and the afterlife, as well as the legacy that lives leave behind — all
of which are common themes in his work.
