In his lyrical poem "XIV," Derek Walcott offers an insight into his formative years. Walcott paints an image of his boyhood home and compares himself to a snake in the poem's opening metaphor. The description gives a sense of how well-off individuals who lived there, including the poet's family, werRead more
In his lyrical poem “XIV,” Derek Walcott offers an insight into his formative years. Walcott paints an image of his boyhood home and compares himself to a snake in the poem’s opening metaphor. The description gives a sense of how well-off individuals who lived there, including the poet’s family, were financially. Walcott mostly tells how they gathered around the lamplight in the evenings to listen to his mother’s stories. He still gets sentimental and a little down thinking about these memories.
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Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not applicable. For example, “frenzy of an old snake. Alliteration: The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. For example, “the speckled rRead more
XIV Summary
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