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Research Chronicler
International Multidisciplinary Research journal
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Too Much Crush of Petals for a Pinch of Perfume: Reflections of History of Wounds in
the Poetry of Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole Soyinka
GURURAJ S
Faculty, Regional Institute of English, South India, Bangalore, (Karnataka) India
Abstract
This paper talks about the sensitive reactions of Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka towards the fear, anxiety, agony and human sufferings across their countries. The
paper relates poems to the social, historical and political contexts of poets’ respective nation
with an awareness of history of West Indies, India and Nigeria. Creative reaction to the
wounds of exploitation and sufferings under series of rulers is analyzed by drawing excerpts
from the three remarkable writers. Paper focuses on the portrayal of pathetic state of people
and nation as a protest against the shameless rulers in varied guises. The paper also discusses
the heartless infliction of agony on common people for the pleasure and prosperity of the
ruling folk.
Key Words: selfishness of rulers, individual & social suffering, reflective, creative response
Hundreds of writers have attempted to
portray the sorrows and pleasures of
human experiences but only a few remain
as truly appealing and representative. The
successful writers have poured out sensible
experiences in varied emotional intensities.
Native land, childhood days, richness of
tradition, culture, realities of history
struggles of life, true concern and
compassion are some of the common
features of successful poetry.
and reflected painful individual, social and
national experiences with a great sense of
responsibility. The portrayal of changing
state of contemporary people is appealing
and representative. Common human
experiences like feeling of inferiority,
sense of loss, alienation, isolation,
aloneness, crave for identity, conflict,
rootlessness, routelessness, faith and hope
are some of the recurring elements of
poetry from different stages of the three
poets. The poems show creative excellence
of the three poets in portraying the
cultural,
social
and
psychological
displacement brought by both colonial and
postcolonial circumstances. The poets
masterfully explored various angles of
displacement and played the role like
promising ‘politician monks’.
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka claim a commendable position in
the twentieth century literary scenario.
Walcott and Soyinka are the Nobel
winning talents and Kamala Das was
shortlisted for the same in 1984. The three
poets brought new dimensions to the
portrayal of sufferings in the historical
context of West Indies, India and Nigeria
respectively. The three writers contributed
to different literary genres and gifted a
reflective dimension to world poetry. The
three poetic talents witnessed, experienced
Volume IV Issue IV: July 2016
There are striking similarities among these
writers as they lived and wrote during two
rare transition periods of history of the
respective countries. First stage was the
society heading towards fight against
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colonial powers after a long period of
exploitation and oppression. The second
period was the nation moving from foreign
rule to independence after continuous
struggle and loss. There were rapid
transitions in personal, social, cultural and
political settings of West Indies, India and
Nigeria within the two significant periods.
A sense of doubt, aloneness, exploitation,
dissatisfaction, fear, uncertainty, rays of
hope and reassurance prevailed during the
transition eras. Walcott, Kamala Das and
Soyinka reached the stage of establishing
their personal and national identity by the
time the doctrine of negritude and
colonization came to an end. The three
poets strove for regaining and re-securing
personal and cultural identity and
uniqueness. The poets also explored
creolization and English for expressing
individual and collective experiences. Use
of creole is prominently seen in the poetry
of Derek Walcott and Wole Soyinka.
different socio-political contexts. Study of
poetry of Walcott, Kamala Das and
Soyinka from a comparative perspective
particularly in multicultural context
resulted
in
exploring
fascinating
dimensions of human experiences and
expressions. The study also explored
interesting connections between literatures
in relation to history, philosophy, politics
and psyche of the people in West Indies,
India and Nigeria. It is found that
contradictions and tensions existed in the
colonies found voice in English and
attained a new identity with distinct
cultural and political aspirations. The
exploration revealed that no writer can
ignore or escape from the past and present
in the construction of text or genre
development.
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka were sensitive to social,
economic, racial, cultural and political
inferiority prevailed at all times of national
and human history. The feeling of
inferiority remained as a part of society
throughout the world, coupled with a sense
of alienation, loss of identity, suppression,
oppression and economic disparities even
after the society was developed and
refined. The three poets tried to help
society regain the real human sensibility
and respectful position to individuals.
A chronological approach of reading the
poems of Walcott, Kamala Das and
Soyinka helped in understanding the
responses and reactions to the events of
national and local history. A comparative
study gave the traces of common and
differing experiences in various aspects
such as social perspectives, traditional
differences and genre development. The
comparative study also resulted in
comprehending the transformations along
time and space. A fundamental objective
to study across linguistic boundaries by
focusing on cultural and national literary
distinctions which tend to be obscure is
successfully realized.
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka witnessed a wide range of
conflicts between old and the new, man
and woman, individuals and the society,
native and the foreign culture, etc. in
different variations. They also faced
conflict within oneself and with the outer
society. The three poets witnessed the
bonds of relationship being established,
strengthened and collapsed. True human
emotions
like
distrust,
mistrust,
Comparative
analysis
enabled
to
comprehend the division between the
literature of ‘one’s own land’ and ‘the rest’
by bringing together explorations in
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domination, sense of betrayal, loss, horror,
rudeness, consolation, hope, etc. are
recurring in the poems. The poets
portrayed the conflict between insecure
freedom and secure feeling amid the
sufferings both at personal and societal
level in most of the poems.
the family and society. Marriage was
actually a misplacement of woman in the
male dominated communities. Women
endured sufferings in the name of religion,
tradition and family prestige. Beautiful
Caribbean Islands did not have happy life
for all. Children were swollen, women
were dried and men were gap-toothed.
Religion served like dark shadow and the
group of islands was full of cursed valleys
like Roseau Valley. Walcott portrayed the
cursed valleys of West Indies in the poem
‘For the Altarpiece of the Roseau Valley
Church’ as,
History of Wounds - Too much Crush of
Petals for Perfume
Poems from Derek Walcott, Kamala Das
and Wole Soyinka are ‘whisperings of
caged and freed birds’. The poems
document fear, anxiety, agony and human
sufferings across the commonwealth
countries of different continents. The study
developed insights to relate the poems to
the social, historical and political contexts
of poets’ respective nation with an
awareness of history of West Indies, India
and Nigeria. The three nations share
similar wounds of exploitation and
sufferings under series of rulers. Poverty
was identical with the countries. The
poems also revealed that most of the
sufferings were the outcomes of penury
and illiteracy. Poverty and low literacy
kept the people ignorant pathless to
improve the life standard. The poems of
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka reflected the pictures of suffering
society and individuals with a high degree
of authenticity and concern. The three
writers have portrayed the pathetic state of
people and the nation as a protest against
the shameless rulers in varied guises. The
poems indicated that both foreign and
native powers were responsible for the
hopeless state of life.
. . .This is a cursed valley, / ask the
broken mules, the swollen children, /
ask the dried women, their gaptoothed men, / ask the parish priest,
who, in the altarpiece, / carries a
replica of the church, . . .
(Walcott: For the Altarpiece of the Roseau
Valley Church, p.112)
In the poem ‘The Fortunate Traveller’
Walcott said, ‘I cannot bear to watch the
nations cry . . .’, which actually reflects a
true human concern of a person who has
witnessed sufferings across the nation.
Suffering in Caribbean islands can never
be compared to sufferings in any other part
of the world because working group of
West Indian society had been thoroughly
‘de-rooted’. Most of the West Indians were
imported from Africa like goods to work
as cattle in fields and plantations.
Caribbeans were rootless and route-less to
return to the original homeland. The
alienated people had no dream of better
life or human rights. Alienation was hard
to digest but ill-treatment, harassment and
tortures given to ‘Caribs’ were worse than
isolation. The displaced people endured
the ‘screams of their children’ helplessly
Walcott captures attention by factual
portrayal of essence of Caribbean life in a
number of poems. Women longed for
peaceful life and worked for harmony in
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for livelihood which forced them to push
young children to physical labour. Many
black children working in farms and
factories died due to lack of safety
measures. Owners and colonial masters
were untouched by such unfortunate
incidents. Walcott’s poetry has been a
voice to many such ruthless happenings
across the country.
provides shameful evidences of loss
undergone by the fighters and helpless
section of the society. Soyinka’s poem
‘Fado Singer’ holds mirror to pathetic life
in Nigeria during under colonial and
postcolonial reign.
. . . Oh there is too much crush of
petals / For perfume, too heavy tread
of air on mothwing / For a cup of
rainbow dust . .
Human situation in India was equally bad
and Kamala Das extended poetic
capability to portray various dimensions of
human sufferings. Kamala Das was
aggressively individualistic, full of social
and political awareness. Kamala Das did
not miss to hear the cry of suffering
section of the society although she
belonged to an aristocratic family. Kamala
Das was sensitive to human sufferings and
the lines from ‘A Hand Like a Bonsai’
proved the sensibility of Kamala Das
articulating human sufferings.
(Soyinka: Fado Singer. P.51.)
Greed of the colonial and other ruling
powers survived at the cost of hardships of
ignorant people and crushed the delicate
petals of aspirations of Nigerian
community. The poem talks about a black
singer who underwent a great torment
before coming to limelight.
Nigerians lived for centuries without
harming the nature around them. The
native land was everything for the
Nigerians and they had happy days in spite
of a few troubles during the reign of
Calabar Kingdom, Oduduwa empire,
Benin empire and other dynasties. The life
was fairly tolerable compared to the
colonial
and
postcolonial
periods.
Exploitation drove people to helpless state
which is outlined in the poem
‘Conversation at Night with a Cockroach’.
. . . From behind the butcher’s lane I
heard a goat / Bleat today. . . .
(Das: A Hand Like a Bonsai, p.34.)
Kamala Das poetry delimited itself to pure
personal longings in the initial days of
writing career. Physical displacements
from Kerala to West Bengal, Mumbai,
Delhi and other places made Kamala Das
see life around ‘her insulated life’.
. . .Our offspring knew no land but
this / No air, no earth, no loves or
death / Only the brittle sky in
harmattan . . .
Sufferings
and
exploitations
were
interwoven in Nigerian life as in India and
West Indies. Colonial British and Nigerian
military rulers sucked the joys and hopes
of common people. Unfortunately, even
after independence ‘political bugs’
continued to extract the blood of people
struggling with poverty and illiteracy.
There were innumerable efforts to help
common folk to find some breathing space
and life free from tears. Nigerian history
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(Soyinka: Conversation at Night with a
Cockroach, p.106.)
The political system changed and
dictatorship took over Nigeria after
independence. Many people fled away
from Nigeria by the fear of state-sponsored
torture. Wole Soyinka went on self-exile
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for two years as there was serious threat to
life. Most of the revolutionaries could not
leave the country. The next generation had
no other land to receive as the homeland
became a boiling cauldron.
try to mislead people by the principles of
testament and Walcott openly declares the
fact.
There’s nothing to understand / in
hunger. . . .
Walcott’s poems indicate that there was
only change in the parade powers.
Hypocrisy, rage bitterness were the same
irrespective of type of the government,
regions and continents. In ‘A Bull Terrier’
Walcott talks about the temporariness of
joys. Sorrows were accidental and
incidental in West Indies and the same was
applicable to India and Nigeria. The plight
of life is recorded by Walcott as,
(Walcott: The Arkansas Testament, p.202)
Swami Vivekananda suggested not to
preach spirituality when a person is hungry
instead to show the path of earning
livelihood. Walcott resounds the same
rationality in the poem ‘The Arkansas
Testament’. Displaced Caribbean people
were deprived of the basic needs but the
missionaries approached them with
coloured religious preaching. Indians and
Nigerians also faced the similar situation
during colonial and postcolonial reign. In
Indian context women were made to
believe that their happiness lies in total
submission and following the principles
advocated by traditional scriptures.
Suffering people tried many other ways to
overcome endless troubles. It was
unfortunate that all routes explored by the
craving individuals led towards similar
sufferings inflicted by different powers.
You prepare for one sorrow, / but
another comes. / It is not like the
weather, / You cannot brace
yourself, / The unreadiness is all…
(Walcott: Oddjob, A Bull Terrier, p.120)
West Indies comprises of a group of
islands and are called Caribbean islands
and there were disparities within the bunch
of islands. One island extending a helping
hand to the other island was not feasible as
every island was inflicted with similar
financial crisis. In the poem ‘The Spoiler’s
Return’ Walcott exhibits the joy of black
people in sharing sorrows by the support
of other generous bunch of people.
Language of the poem echoes true voice of
‘black English’. ‘We own’, ‘We-self’,
‘We was’, etc. These usages in the poem
reflect the real black English and exploring
creole for authentic expression.
. . .All routes led / To the sacrificial
knife . . . (Soyinka: The Battle, p.82)
Common people were treated like
insignificant creatures. The interests and
happiness of the majority were sacrificed
for wellbeing of the rich and ruling
powers. Every route tried by displaced
poor brought remorse than bringing a
sense of relief. There were pretentious but
not preventive efforts to reduce the level of
poverty in Nigeria. We cannot imagine the
plight of ‘children killing cockroaches for
their meal and waiting for the father whose
return from the clutches of so called
guardians of law. Due to continued
poverty there was an increase in the death
The three poets believed that distress of
the people could not be cured by mere pity
or preaching. The poets observed the
contractors of religion making a futile
effort to convince ignorant people that the
sufferings were the result of previous
actions. Deceptive practitioners of religion
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rate. It was so unfortunate for the aged
people to see the death of their children
and grandchildren before their eyes.
disturbed, distressed, disappointed and at
last disillusioned. Experiences of life make
a woman strong, unmoved and undisturbed
like ‘Anamalai Hills’, bearing betrayals
and no longer seeking solace in words.
As people predicted the danger, the racial
slanderers also sensed the losing of
patience by the public and the rage turned
into genocide. Longer the patience graver
the outcome as it was taken as weakness
but there were traitors to weaken the fight
of the people against the savage rule.
The roots of love were strong and the bond
was enchanting that even after eighteen
years Kamala Das was not able to
overcome the pain of loss. She is unable to
understand the mystery of pain getting
carried across years. It was a bond without
a purpose. But the later stages of her life
shattered hopes and dreams of Kamala Das
for such ‘purposeless’ relationships. She
fails utterly in getting true concerns
reciprocated.
. . . So desperate for acceptance,
exhibitionist, / Made omelette of
their brains for white. . .
(Soyinka: Like Rudolf Hess, The Man
Said!, p.202)
The selfish people wanted the acceptance
and favours of people in power. They went
to the extent of exhibiting their loyalty by
sacrificing the interest of the nation.
. . . no longer was / There someone
to put an arm around my / Shoulders
without a purpose, . . .
(Das: The Millionaires At Marine Drive,
p.68)
Poverty in turn strangled the hopes and
aspirations. Like a caged bird, persons
inflicted of poverty suffer and shed life in
the race of finding avenues to escape from
the deadly cage of distress. The poem ‘The
Dalit Panther’ is unusually stunning poem
by Kamala Das in which she represents a
caged and strangled soul.
Common people wanted freedom to work,
freedom to live peacefully and happily.
The happiness was in their work.
Unfortunately innocent people were pulled
into the plots they never wanted to be a
part of.
. . .I yellowed, sickened like the
leaves on trees, / Gained a freedom I
never once had asked for. . . .
. . . He lost both his parents /
Somewhere, now he doesn’t care to
hear the night air sing. The young /
Man in a skull-cap that hides his
wounds lifts a bandaged arm to /
Drink his cup of tea. . . .
(Das: The Millionaires At Marine Drive,
p.68)
The freedom the country attained in 1947
is not the one the common people wanted.
Common people wished for freedom from
exploitation,
injustice,
bloodshed,
interference and inflictions.
(Das: The Dalit Panther, p.37)
The way Kamala Das weaves the poem
speaks about intense observation and
feeling. The wounds inflicted by the
poverty were heavy on orphans.
Social concern and responsibility are
greater values one should adhere to. It was
an expected role to be played by an
individual for the welfare of the society.
Seeking comfort in the wrap of love was a
life-time longing in Kamala Das. She was
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Modernism and postmodernism witnessed
the origin of new values. Safeguarding
one’s own interest and disinterestedness
towards social happiness occupied the
front seat. Wole Soyinka portrays the
advice of selfish individuals in the poem
‘And What of it if thus He Died?’
Soldiers rest / somewhere by a road,
or smoke in a forest.
(Walcott: Elsewhere, p.89)
Walcott affirms that life continues despite
horrifying situations across the globe.
According to Walcott hope is the raft that
always keeps the life moving towards the
distant shore.
. . .They said unto him, Be still /
While winds of terror tore out
shutters / Of his neighbour’s home.
(Soyinka: And What of it if Thus He
Died?, p.189)
Soyinka represents the voice of his fellow
beings and the indispensable situation in
the poem ‘Conversation at Night with a
Cockroach’. Waiting was the only way left
for common people across the continents.
One had to bear ruthless wounds
incessantly caused by the ruling powers
and wait for the bright days without
bloodshed. Kamala Das felt that there was
a need for revolution to bring constructive
changes in the society as the suffering of
individuals is glaringly visible on roads.
She thinks that revolution alone can bring
desirable change in the life of homeless
and helpless individuals. In the poem ‘The
Dalit Panther’ she says,
People always look for the benefits rather
than being helpful to the fellow beings.
Urbanization made people more selfcentered and uncaring. Urban folk is least
bothered about what happens to their
neighbours. They are asked not to bother
even when the ‘winds of terror tore the
shutters of eighbor’s home’.
Walcott pays reverence to those servers of
the ‘general wish’ for their passionate
service unlike the service ‘by speech
alone’. By sorcery of politicians, even the
ordinary people became dice in political
and religious games. Once when people
were thoroughly disillusioned and got an
untimely realization, they would blame the
system, people and themselves too.
It’s time for a revolution, tumult the
secret voices / Of the air, but the ragpicker, eleven years old, curled to /
Foetus-shape on the pavement sleeps
on . . .
The poem ‘Elsewhere’ by Walcott talks
about the incidents occurring in some part
of the world. Indirectly Walcott signifies
that human situations are same in every
part of the world. There are doubts,
revenges and cautious moves all across the
world. Arrest of the people, harvest of
bodies by war and the walk of soldiers, are
almost common which should never have
been.
(Das: The Dalit Panther, p.37.)
But as a result of socio-political games
every attempt for change is turned into a
failure. Kamala Das also responded to
wretched situations of human life but still
most of the critics have wrongly assessed
her poetry as just loud cries of a frustrated
woman but the serious readers of her
poetry can never ignore her sensitivity
towards social and political happenings.
The following lines from her poem
‘Smoke in Colombo’ speaks about her
. . .That somewhere there is an arrest.
/ Somewhere there was a small
harvest / of bodies in the truck.
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social sensibility which should never be
ignored in the show of sensuous side of
her poetry.
in highlighting the same. The pathos of
socially, racially marginalized and the
marginalized gender by suppression and
oppression are discussed to bring out the
main psyche of the then displaced souls.
Displacement seems to have occurred not
only physically but psychologically also.
Philosophy of Marxism seems to be
naturally lingering all around the body of
Wole Soyinka’s poetry. Soyinka’s intense
longing ‘for increasing the social
awareness’ and revelation of the fact
certainly differs from that of Kamala Das
may be noted.
The poetry of Derek Walcott, Kamala Das
and Wole Soyinka is captivating by its
sounding and resounding of love for life
and concern for the fellow beings. The
three poets wandered and displaced their
souls from history, culture, tradition,
mythology, geography, etc. to sow the
seeds of rich personal experiences in the
cultivated ground of poetry. They seem to
have withered tears and bloomed with
hopes for themselves and for others.
Although the three poets display one voice
in the cause of poetry as an art and magical
tool of construction and transformation,
they differ in approach and attitude. The
poetic personality of Derek Walcott,
Kamala Das and Wole Soyinka possess the
prominent characteristics of the respective
nation. Poetry by Walcott, Kamala Das
and Soyinka is an artistic articulation of
emotions and there are deliberate attempts
of concealing in the poetry. Revelation and
concealing are seen in varied proportion in
the select poems. Concealing is done
sometimes for more revelation on
exploration by interpretation.
. . . We sought to speak / Each to
each in accents of trust / Dispersing
ancient mists in clean breezes / To
clear the path of lowland barriers /
Forge new realities, free our earth /
Of distorting shadows cast by old /
And modern necromancers.
(Soyinka: Conversation at Night with a
Cockroach, p.104)
Wole Soyinka also explored language in
dialogue form for bringing greater effect in
transporting ideas. It may be noticed in the
poem ‘Your Logic Frightens me,
Mandela’.
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka responded immediately to
worrying events of their respective
countries. The poems of the three poets
provide glimpses of personal and national
history wounds caused in the process of
attaining and restoring freedom and peace.
Acute pain and helplessness caused by
exploiting powers among of weaker
section of the society are articulated in
most of the poems of the three responsible
voices of the twentieth century.
Kamala Das rushes with feminine haste to
reveal like a restless stream, Walcott
balances thought and expression in poetic
workshop like a ferryman and Wole
Soyinka makes choice of thought and
dressing of expression like a weaver bird.
Kamala Das and Walcott were basically
poets whereas Soyinka was more a
playwright than a poet. The variations in
It is argued that the three poets, belonging
to different continents and nations seemed
to
have
experienced
the
racial
discrimination made by native societies
and the voice of the poets seem to be one
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expressions are an outcome of the poets’
family and socio-cultural background.
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Soyinka was sent to jail and exiled for his
stand against the ruling government. Derek
Walcott faced more complex situation in
which neither blacks nor whites took him
to be on their side due to his origin of
mixed race. The ideology and internal
motifs of the three poets have the impact
of social and political instabilities. Disgust
towards the system both during colonial
and postcolonial periods may be
prominently noticed all along the writing
across decades.
The contemporary literary scenario of
Derek Walcott, Kamala Das and Wole
Soyinka was greatly influenced by the
restless society and political instabilities in
their respective nations. Kamala Das was
an active politician after independence but
did not continue for long as she felt it a
tough game. Wole Soyinka underwent
hardships inflicted by the political games
of military rulers of independent Nigeria.
References:
1. Walcott, Derek. Selected Poems, ed. Edward Baugh, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New
York, 2007.
2. Das, Kamala. Only the Soul Knows How to Sing – Selections from Kamala Das, ed.
Satchidanandan, K, DC Books, Kottayam, Kerala, 1996.
3. Soyinka, Wole. Selected Poems, Methuen, London, 2001.
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