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1st out of 51 books
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Omeros
A poem in five books, of circular narrative design, titled with the Greek name for Homer, which simultaneously charts two currents of history: the visible history charted in events -- the tribal losses of the American Indian, the tragedy of African enslavement -- and the interior, unwritten epic fashioned from the suffering of the individual in exile.
Paperback, 325 pages
Published
June 30th 1992
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published August 31st 1990)
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This book is more than a book. It is a remarkable poetic feat. Walcott retells the story of Homer's Odyssey in modern times, using a tiny island and its inhabitants as the setting and characters. And here's something that is truly remarkable about it--just about the whole thing (a couple hundred pages) rhymes. You don't notice that it rhymes, because the story itself is so absorbing. I'm definitely not somebody who believes that poetry has to rhyme, anybody who can create an epic poem with ...more
Shannon
is currently reading it
I've been chipping away at this one on and off for 6 years. The only man I ever fell head over heels for invited me to hear Walcott read excerpts, and I got hooked: "Were you smoke from a fire that never burned?" That line haunted me along with the phantom heartbreaker that unrequited love turned out to be. But in getting through 2/3 of this epic and years over that man, I have found many other passages worth sticking it out for..."Because rhyme remains the parentheses of palm...more
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This is a long narrative poem, and usually called an epic; I would call it that except that I no longer have any idea what an epic is. It has no single hero, even though one of its characters, Achille, very nearly is one; the author is consciously considering the form of heroic tales. Parts of it seem like a novel (in verse), since they concern the daily lives of sharply-drawn characters; but on the whole, structurally, this only makes sense as a poem. Even a not-so-narrative novel like The Autobiography of My Mother...more
Omeros is quite simply one of the most beautiful and engaging books I've ever read. It's smart, cynical, moving, even funny. I've been savoring it for months (it's a demanding read, not a book to zip through), but will now make a concerted effort to push through to its no-doubt tragic conclusion. Simply a must-read for anyone who cares about literature.
Derek Walcott's attempt at an epic poem is successful in his most famous work, Omeros. Using many references and notable characters found in the works of Homer and Dante, Walcott applies the most suitable notions of epic poetry and establishes the text more importantly with the Caribbean islands, most significantly, St. Lucia, the author's home. In the tradition of great Latin American literature such as Carpentier's Kingdom of This World and V.S. Naipaul's Miguel Street, Omeros brings the rea...more
from Chapter LX:
... and find someplace,
some cove he could settle like another Aeneas,
founding not Rome but home, to survive in its place,
far from the discos, the transports, the greed, the noise.
--
At a certain point I couldn't stop reading this. The mastery of the form's rhythms (indicative of a personality capable of constant poetic vision) I can only compare contemporaneously to Pinsky's. The chronotopic awareness is incredibly layered, and cre...more
... and find someplace,
some cove he could settle like another Aeneas,
founding not Rome but home, to survive in its place,
far from the discos, the transports, the greed, the noise.
--
At a certain point I couldn't stop reading this. The mastery of the form's rhythms (indicative of a personality capable of constant poetic vision) I can only compare contemporaneously to Pinsky's. The chronotopic awareness is incredibly layered, and cre...more
Achingly beautiful. The world looks different while you are reading this epic poem set in St. Lucia. Walcott won the Nobel Prize in 1992 for this one. My heart hurts with love for this book. Omeros makes poetry fall out of your mouth while you rinse a dish.
A very challenging read, but well worth it! The scope of history, literature, landscape, love, pretty much everything, is broad and surprising. The language was amazing. This is a kind of re-telling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but set in the Carribean and, rather than real wars, there are relationship wars, slave trading, and parallels to injustices in history. Characters meditate a lot, explore their roots, and speak patois. (My favorite line, amid all the gorgeous metaphor, was "Ach...more
More of a 3.8, really, but I felt Walcott deserved the honor.
To be frank, I'm not entirely sure if this work truly deserves the lauding it’s received. While a stunning epic and a true work of marvel, I don't quite know if it's, well, Nobel-worthy.
It is a complex work, and so must be read slowly. However, I felt at times that the narrative itself slogged along, was so dull in some places that it nearly convinced me to put the book down. There is also the issue (or what I p...more
To be frank, I'm not entirely sure if this work truly deserves the lauding it’s received. While a stunning epic and a true work of marvel, I don't quite know if it's, well, Nobel-worthy.
It is a complex work, and so must be read slowly. However, I felt at times that the narrative itself slogged along, was so dull in some places that it nearly convinced me to put the book down. There is also the issue (or what I p...more
Kt
rated it
Recommends it for:
MRG 201103 (Joanna)
Recommended to Kt by:
MRGbooks 201103 (Joanna,Howard)
Amazon.com Review
Creating an epic poem based on Homer and Odysseus seems a risky proposition for a modern poet, but Derek Walcott accomplishes the feat with stunning results in Omeros. The title, which is Homer's name in Greek, nods to the wandering and exile of the great poet himself, who learned and suffered while traveling. From there, Walcott takes off to "see the cities of many men and to know their minds." After an exhilarating exploration of tremendous proportions, we lear...more
Creating an epic poem based on Homer and Odysseus seems a risky proposition for a modern poet, but Derek Walcott accomplishes the feat with stunning results in Omeros. The title, which is Homer's name in Greek, nods to the wandering and exile of the great poet himself, who learned and suffered while traveling. From there, Walcott takes off to "see the cities of many men and to know their minds." After an exhilarating exploration of tremendous proportions, we lear...more
Derek Walcott was born in 1930 in Castries, Santa Lucia. With the publication of Omeros in 1990, Derek Walcott produced a poem in the tradition of the Iliad
and the Aeneid.
Omeros is an epic poem spanning many years of history, both personal and international, and encompassing the sea and land of his many home lands, it is a tour de force that inspires the reader. Influenced by both Homer and Dante the poet blends references to time past and present, to places in which he lived when y...more
and the Aeneid.
Omeros is an epic poem spanning many years of history, both personal and international, and encompassing the sea and land of his many home lands, it is a tour de force that inspires the reader. Influenced by both Homer and Dante the poet blends references to time past and present, to places in which he lived when y...more
Gracie Torres
rated it
Recommends it for:
those who love image-heavy poetry//This is an Epic
Recommended to Gracie by:
Assigned for Professor Scharfman's Caribbean Literature Course S
Shelves:
1-books-that-changed-my-life
"Then silence is sawn in half by a dragonfly/as eels sign their names along the bottom-sand/ when the sunrise brightens the river's memory/ and waves of huge ferns are nodding to the sea's sound/ Although the smoke forgets the earth from which is ascends/ and the 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 it iguana is from'/ But, taking its own time, the iguana ...more
In a recent New York Times Book Review, William Logan claimed of Walcott that, "If he had not invented himself, academia would have had to invent him." (*The Poet of Exile,* April 8th) I completely concur, except that Logan meant this pejoratively, and I mean this lauditorily. Yes, I did read this in college for an independent study on postocolonial literature. Yes, this is now a very prominent text within academia. But I feel that these facts point toward the text's vital importa...more
This is the best book I never finished. While that in itself may not be saying much; it is--in this case--a testament to how rich and thought-provoking the text actually is. An adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, it is a story about race, colonialism, and of course, the journey "home" as only a Caribbean intellectual could write it.
Each page is so packed with imagery, metaphor and historical allusion that it is easy to wander off in reflection and contemplation at any moment. ...more
Each page is so packed with imagery, metaphor and historical allusion that it is easy to wander off in reflection and contemplation at any moment. ...more
I have never really read poetry much and I had not read Homer before reading this book but it really captured me despite the fact that I did not know all the references.
Omeros was such a joy to read. I am now reading the Odyssey and I guess that I will want to read Omeros again very soon after I finish (or after reading the Iliad too), just to see what I will read differently.
Omeros was such a joy to read. I am now reading the Odyssey and I guess that I will want to read Omeros again very soon after I finish (or after reading the Iliad too), just to see what I will read differently.
Reading poetry has always been a chore for me, so I did not enjoy this book by Nobel Prize winner, Derek Walcott from Saint Lucia. Clearly, the language and poetry is beautiful and musical, but this epic, patterned after the writings of Homer (Omeros is the Greek name for Homer), was very difficult to follow. Walcott lectures the reader on the negative effects, especially upon the natives of the country, of colonialism. The development of character was great, but it was often difficult to fig...more
this is one of the best books i've ever read book as far as fiction + poetry goes [it is an epic poem u see, a poem that tells a story], and i just remember it right now after typing all caps about homer. please to reading and learn about cool west african gods + learn how to make a canoe from a single tree. wowzers.
There is not a damn thing I can say that could even possibly portray how amazing this book is. It is, more or less, a re-telling of The Odyssey by Homer. In fact, the title: Omeros, is the "correct" spelling in Greek of Homer's name. Like The Odyssey, Omeros is written as an epic poem. Just go read it!
I had always heard this described as a West Indian version of the Iliad, I guess by someone who hadn't read it. In all Walcott's books, I'm impressed with how he shows the complicated relationships and nationalities that have formed over the Caribbean. And here, those relationships take an even longer form with characters like Achille, Hector, and Helen, characters based on people native to St. Lucia, standing in for a narrative he can only project onto them, as he would, as someone who knows th...more
My favorite poem of all time. Every time I read it I get more. Walcott's inventiveness with language is delightful, giving you faith that not all the big, great, brilliant poetry has already been written. And his evocation of the Caribbean is marvelous.
Not much to say except express my admiration for Walcott's art. My professor makes it seem like this is the most accessible of Walcott's poetry for non-islanders such as myself, and that's too bad. That's not to say that Omeros is an easy read. Expect to put a lot of time into reading and rereading. But it's worth every moment.
Marcus Murphy
added it
It was awesome, I was really confused when I first started but as the process continued. I farther my understanding and the journey of the book was unbelieveable.
An Odyssey of the Caribbean. Walcott is brilliant, of course, but the book/epic poem is not an easy light read. Enjoyable, yes. But takes some concentration.
Amazing. I don't think I can put into words all the reasons why this epic poem is so brilliant. Full of the most striking imagery, Walcott deals with a huge range of things, from colonialism to loss to memory to history to love, but none of it feels forced. Every word shines. A really beautiful work of art.
This is a book to be slowly savoured rather than rushed. The vivid imagery is immediately noticeable, but it takes time to really feel the pace of the story. Even though I consider myself well-read, a well-annotated edition would have been helpful for me. I will reread this many times, I think, as it is deep and rich.
Dovofthegalilee
added it
Metaphorically- gun to mouth.
Incredibly beautiful.
Wow. Crystal from sand: it's amazing.
A fantastic, post-colonial take on Homer's epic poem, Omeros perhaps may start out slowly but builds to a wonderful tale of the swirling of time and parentage and its effects on previously isolated island civilzations after the fall of empires. The main characters are perhaps lost amidst all these overarching themes and parallels to their famous Grecian and Trojan counterparts, but the ending is so satisfyingly thought-provoking that I didn't mind.
This book wasn't for me, I realized I am not a big fan of epic poetry. There were some very nice passages but too much description, and the story's interweaving of time and characters was at times confusing. There are many references literary and otherwise. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are up on Homer and Caribbean/colonist history. I am very sure there were allusions to many other things I completely missed.
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Derek Walcott is a Caribbean poet, playwright, writer and visual artist. Born in Castries, St. Lucia, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."
His work, which developed independently of the schools of magic realism emerging in both South America and Euro...more
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“Art is History's nostalgia, it prefers a thatched roof to a concrete factory, and the huge church above a bleached village.”
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