|
This person is genius.No really,it won't suffice to study this poem for only one semester. It makes me go nuts. Some of the mythological characters were unfamiliar to me , so i did some research. Here are the results (the characters mentioned in the IX of the First chapter ( when the author talks about the feast of gods,storm, and a very bad weather)
1) Erzulie-"Virgin of the Voodoo" . A Caribbean moon goddess associated sometimes with happiness and luck,but sometimes with discord and jealousy. She is personified as a water snake. As a mistress of the god Damballah, she is the goddess of fresh water
2)Damballah- a powerful god of the Voodoo mythology. He is a patron of spring and rains. Here is THE IMPORTANT thing about him: he is part of trinity of snakes( DAn PEdro and Simbi are the others).This trinity was associated ( do not ask me how)with the revolt of slaves against the Napoleonic forces in 1804 that made Haiti the second free country in the Western Hem.( the USA being first). these gods are part of Mesoamerican and Caribbean
mythologies. Next god is from the Yoroba people folklore. NOTE : Yoroba people live in Nigeria, Benin and few other Western African countries. The slaves were captured and brought to the markets particularly from this part of the African continent
3) OGUN-the deity of iron and the patron orisha (god) of all humans for whom iron has a particular significance, such ass smiths, hunters, warriors.
Thus, Walcott combines mythologies of the world . It should not be considered a shadow of Homer's world,but rather an outstanding meditation on OUR history.
Philoctete is the link. He feels pain of loneliness,uncertainity. All characters have the same pain, and guess what: pain means punishment AND a price for expiation ( to expiate -to bring to the end)
|
|