Where It All Goes Down
St. Lucia; Massachusetts; Africa; Various Capitals of Europe
Have we said that you have to pay close attention when reading this work? Just in case, we'll say it again: Keep on the lookout. There's a lot of globe-hopping going on here, and if you're not careful, you'll miss the itinerary. Although Walcott sets his story in motion on the island nation of St. Lucia and the entire narrative revolves around it, there are some wicked side-trips.
Most of these trips are taken by the narrator himself, who lives in Massachusetts. It is in New England that he loses his lady love, searches for inspiration (think: Catherine's writings and Winslow Homer's painting), and encounters his father for a second time.
The coldness and whiteness of this land reminds him of the myth that "history only happens in cold places," a staple concern challenged by Caribbean literature. It's also a stark reminder of the racial tensions that lie beneath the surface of New England civility, where white people shy away from him or look downright alarmed when he approaches—even if they are apologetic afterward.
The narrator's tour of Europe is mapped by his father's readings (and his own). He travels to Lisbon, London, Dublin, Venice, and Istanbul in order to gain perspective on his poetic task and to "[sew] the Atlantic rift with a needle's line,/the rift in the soul" (LXIII.iii.319). It's all done in the name of love for an island that has imprinted its beauty on him forever.
Africa occupies a central place in the ancestral memories of the characters. Walcott doesn't dwell on the physical aspects of the land in his descriptions, though—instead, Africa is an emotional and psychological landscape that leaves its marks on Helen (her beauty), Philoctete (his wound), Seven Seas (his language), and Achille (his loyalty to tradition). For more on this, be sure to swing by the "Characters" section.
Importantly, Walcott encounters stories of beauty and oppression in every land he visits, which allow him to bring the two hemispheres of his world much closer together. The rich beauty of St. Lucia ultimately unites the historical narratives of these various places in Walcott's mythic imagination, making it impossible for him to forget these associations and the three Helens that have so captivated him.