M. Ashiqur Rahaman Sourav

Abstract: The study examines Derek Walcott’s dual identity, particularly the tension between his African background and his position as an English-language author. Walcott, a poet from St. Lucia, significantly represents the history and culture of the Caribbean within a postcolonial context. This paper focuses on how questions of identity, belonging, and cultural ambivalence are reflected in his poetry. It asks how Walcott negotiates his divided cultural inheritance and how this shapes his response to socio- political realities. His poems often show that he cannot fully side with any one culture, which results in a sense of diasporic tension and ambivalence. His poetry reflects a dilemma, positioning him as a poet straddling multiple cultures. However, a reading of some later poems suggests a movement toward self-negotiation and partial reconciliation. Thus, his diasporic frustration becomes somewhat softened, leading him to a more accepting sense of self. Using close reading of selected poems and drawing on postcolonial and diaspora perspectives, this essay explores how Walcott’s poetry represents cultural conflict, hybridity, and the search for selfhood. The paper argues that his poems reveal not only postcolonial crisis but also a gradual process of inner negotiation and self-acceptance.

Keywords: ambivalence, diaspora, nationality, frustration, European introduction

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