Midsummer XXVII

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1984

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Walcott writes “Midsummer XXVII” in free verse, a form of poetry that does not use regular rhyme and rhythm but rather mimics typical speech. Free verse is a popular form of poetry that became increasingly popular in the 20th century and beyond because it makes poetry more accessible to readers. From the first lines of the poem, the free verse of “Midsummer” establishes a direct and clear connection between the speaker and the reader. He describes to them the landscape he observes, and lets them into his thoughts about what he sees. The poem is filled with enjambment, which occurs when a phrase or sentence continues from one line into the next without end punctuation, adding to the effect that the reader is being let into the speaker’s thoughts as they occur.

Metaphor and Personification

Walcott makes metaphors—comparisons between two unlike things for dramatic effect—using several animals on the island. He writes, “an early pelican coasts, with its engine off” (Lines 5-6). This comparison is not literally true, of course. The pelican is a pelican, but like a machine, the speaker’s changing perceptions make him relate the animal to a plane engine that calls to mind war. Another example of metaphor appears in Lines 20-21: “[T]he sea’s corrugations are sheets of zinc / soldered by the sun’s steady acetylene.” Here, the speaker compares even the ocean and sun to industrial tools.

The speaker also says that the crabs are “wetback[s]” (Line 16) and “the leaves have green cards” (Line 17). Walcott uses personification here, a type of metaphor, to grant the creatures in these lines human-like qualities, ones that are often denied to immigrants and now even to the native-born citizens of the island. The island’s leaves being said to have “green cards”—permits that allow non-US citizens to permanently live and work there—indicates a sense of personhood and belonging to the island that its original citizens now lack.

Plays on Words

The fact that the crab is a “wetback” (Line 16) and the leaves have “green cards” (Line 17) also demonstrates the double nature of Walcott’s word choice. A crab literally has a “wet back,” but the term “wetback” is also a derogatory term for someone who has immigrated from one country to another usually via water. It derives from the stereotype that immigrants need to swim across a body of water, typically the Rio Grande to enter the USA from Mexico, and therefore arrive with a “wetback.”

The leaves are green, ergo they could be said to carry green cards, as in flat, rectangular appendages on the plant, but the term “green card” also refers to an authorized document that allows immigrants to work and reside in the United States legally. He also makes use of the slant rhyme between “empire” and “umpire” to draw attention to the similarities between those two entities. This word-association might indicate the speaker is treating his subject with an intellectual wit, creating some levity but also creating distance between himself and an emotionally fraught subject.