For some forty years Derek Walcott has been the preeminent poet and playwright of the West Indies. In spite of his international awards (including an O.B.E. in 1972) and the accolades of such peers as Robert Graves, Selden Rodman, and Seamus Heaney, Walcott has had to contend with the charge that he is so deeply influenced by Western tradition that he has yet to achieve his own voice. Yet this scion of African and European heritage embodies the cultural matrix of the New World. Thus inevitable questions of origins, identity, and the creation of meaningful order in a chaotic world lead Walcott to themes that transcend race, place, and time.

Derek Alton Walcott was born on 23 January 1930 in Castries, Saint Lucia, to Warwick and Alix Walcott. Warwick Walcott was a civil servant, poet, and visual artist who died at thirty-five, when Derek and his twin brother, Roderick...