How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Page)
Quote #1
Although smoke forgets the earth from which it ascends,/and nettles guard the holes where the laurels were killed,/an iguana hears the axes, clouding each lens/over its lost name, when the hunched island was called /"Iounalao," "Where the iguana is found" (I.i.4)
Look out for the iguana/lizard, who makes several appearances throughout the poem and stands for the original inhabitants of the island. The re-naming of the island and the Homeric comparisons are Eurocentric, but its true name reminds the characters of its unique and original identity.
Quote #2
These were their pillars that fell, leaving a blue space/for a single God where the old gods stood before./The first god was a gommier. (I.i.5)
This "slaughter of the trees" gives Walcott a way to introduce the lost identity of the island and its people. The felling of the trees is symbolic for the loss of an indigenous culture that existed before colonialism changed the island forever. There's also the sense here that the old religions cultivated respect for the environment while monotheism represents the exploitation of natural resources.
Quote #3
The loose logs swirled/in surf, face down, like warriors from a battle/lost somewhere on the other shore of the world./They were dragged to a place under the manchineels/to lie there face upward, the sun moving over their brows/with the stare of myrmidons hauled up by the heels/high up from the tide-mark where the pale crab burrows. (II.i.10)
Walcott's use of epic style and a mythic past turn the humdrum task of cutting trees into a higher, more noble act. There's a sense that the "slaughter of trees," though necessary for the fishermen, is apocalyptic in some way.