Carter and Roach: Their Role in the Region Essay Example

in the early sass's, Roach seemed to deem it his duty to give the people a vision; a Sino of what the Caribbean was and what it is.

In Roach's materializing of this mission, he first had to internally accept the Caribbean for what it was and what it had been through to take a realistic approach on the subjects and themes presented, and by extension, his undertaking. In a review by Geoffrey Philip, he stated, 'Poets like Roach are the tremors, undetected at first by critical seismography that lead to the groundswell of appreciation by their contemporaries. ' As such, when exploring Roach's work, it is quite obvious of the awareness he had for the importance of poetry o the people, and his debatable success, in the region's needs being addressed.

In Roach's poem "She", written for Basil Pit who was thinker and writer who got into politics, we have a great overall view of his mission. In this poem, he incorporates the beauty of the Caribbean whilst not denying the tumultuous past that occurred for us to De won we are, as a Carlo mean today. From ten Tee lines, Roach expresses ten fertility of the Caribbean colonial experience as he refers to the: "Flower and fruit of four centuries Of ruthless traffic, of reckless greedy gleaning Of old continents, and the commingling Of our blood with wanton, lustful ease... (lines 2-5) Roach shows our rich experience and outcome, due to slavery and the larger continents' experiment with globalization on the Caribbean in terms of bringing people here and working them, or in more appropriate words, extorting them. In lines 6-7, Roach shows

the cultural imperialism exerted onto the Caribbean by these larger continents, and how we experienced cultural erasure as a result of this. In the last lines of the poem, Roach makes extensive use of visual imagery in his portrayal of the Caribbean beauty, through landscape images.

He also reflects the beauty of the human existence through the highlighted landscape. When looking at his structure of this poem, we cannot help but experience the passion with which Roach delivered this poem; his extensive use of enjambments closely resemble that of William Wordsmith, who often described poetry as the 'spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion'. Within this piece, Roach's view of Caribbean beauty can be summed in in the line, 'She's beauty set in a rare frame of beauty. Here, Roach shows the unique magnificence of the Caribbean which has to be seen with a different lens, and within different frame.

Its beauty cannot simply be seen within a 'Resurrection' lens; its history and socio-economic context all lend to its exceptional outcome. Roach also addresses topics along this theme in his piece 'Immoralities' written in 1938, where we see his Wordsmith-Ian' influence as he emphasizes the beauty of the landscape and shows his talent as a visual poet, with his extensive use of color, similar to that of 'She". As we delve deeper into Roach's work, with his piece 'Letter to Lamming', we can truly see how Roach feels about the importance of poets to fulfilling the region's deeds.

He pleads to Lamming, who left and went to England, to come back home. Throughout the poem, Carter somewhat reprimands Lamming for 'abandoning his home as he states, 'l

hold my narrow island in my hand while you have thrown yours to the sea and this results to Roach lessening Lamming too 'seasonal voice, a lonely seagull. ' He also makes assumptions of Lamming's feelings in this poem; that he is unhappy, that he sees him as being lost in a big place and that he isn't welcome in England.

He brings all these ideas to the reader in his second stanza, especially when e refers to Lamming's 'prohibited complexion', simply referring to his 'blackness', also tying in the supposed lesser view of the Caribbean people. However, one of the most powerful statements in this stanza is Roach's belief that Lamming is 'hungry in body and spirit', experiencing a deep hunger for home and for belonging. In the following stanza, Roach addresses the need for Lamming's genius in the Caribbean; emphasizing the importance of the duty of creative to the region's needs and their role in addressing the human experience of poverty.

Roach seems to plead to Lamming that as creative they must stick together to help the Caribbean grow in unreasoning Ana appreciation Tort want teeny nave Ana want teeny nave experienced Although Roach expresses the negatives of the Caribbean experience, he never fails to give us that glimmer of hope; the ability for change. In the first line of the fifth stanza, 'Our islands still are greener than we know them', Roach shows that we may at times underestimate the potential that we, as a people, have for improvement.

This can also be interpreted as Caribbean people not seeing the wonder of the Caribbean for what it really is. In Roach's seventh

stanza of 'Letter to Lamming', he asks Lamming what he remembers or the 'classic images' especially when winter reaches. In the stanza, Roach uses images that may appear to be negative, to reflect the Caribbean and it leaves one to wonder about this so called 'beauty that Roach refers to throughout his poetry. However, these images of 'hungry children' and Wrinkled and gnarled grandmothers', can be his effort to coerce Lamming back home.

Here again, we see how highly regarded Roach views the work of creative to addressing the Caribbean human experience; that the presence of Lamming's genius an address the needs of the region, such as abject poverty. In the penultimate stanza of this work, Roach epitomizes how important they, the early Caribbean writers, were to the region at large. He simply refers to them as founders; leaders without a trail trying to leave a trail for others to follow them on their mission. Roach captures this view in the lines, 'Here we are architects with no tradition, are hapless builders upon no foundation; no skilled surveyors mark our forward road. This shows both the struggle and the determination of the early poets, painters and writers in the Caribbean at this time. Roach ends this poem with a very powerful biblical allusion, 'sweat in prayer', which fully accounts for the distress Roach is experiencing due to Lamming's departure. As he makes his final attempts to help Lamming remember what he has left behind in his homeland, this seemingly desperate attempt to bring him back truly reflects Roach's belief in the importance of poets and poetry to the Caribbean and the great role they are

to play in helping meet the region's needs.

In Roach's last poem, 'Fin's' we see the final thoughts and words of Eric Roach in his suicide note, transformed into poetry. Although in this poem, it can be thought that Roach's suicide was his 'giving up' on the Caribbean, this is not necessarily the case. Throughout Roach's work, his patriotic passion is always present; whether he is acknowledging our tumultuous past, fixing our present or working toward a recovering future. In his last piece, we see a disillusioned Roach, he has reached his last strength and seems to have given up his mission.

In White's review of Roach's work and his death, he simply stated that, 'Shameful that it took such an ending to make some of us take note of this unforgettable craftsman and EOT. ' It leaves one to think of how Roach felt at this time; that he felt useless toward the improvement of the Caribbean and its people, which was his mission to begin with. After such a realization, Roach's thinking may have led him to feel inadequate as a creative, resulting in his death.

This view is also put forward by other critics, such a Philip, who in a review stated that, 'By neglecting Roach, the region lost an invaluable opportunity to learn from one of its cultural heroes'. This gives us a proper example of how important a poet sees poetry as a tool for change; whereby if it is not aging an impact, the poet simply sees no point in continuing, or in Roach's case, existing. As stated Dye panel, 'l nee Teller AT ten poet Arleen to spiral

Is a tragic clean, and, sadly for the Caribbean, Roach was not an exception.

His work, art, and life were fused into a decision from which he could never return. ' Comparatively, we can look at the poet Martin Carter whose nears of making change varied greatly from that of Eric Roach. Despite a similarity in their missions, Carter adopted more active methods of benefiting the Caribbean needs. Unlike Roach, Martin Carter had a significant impact on improving Caribbean needs in his home country of Guyana, while he was still alive. Carter, as a founding member, along with Checked Ganja, of the People's Progressive Party had a crucial role in the sass's fight for Iguana's independence.

In an article by Brenner, he refers to Carter as 'a poet of political conscience', which ideally accounts for his early works where Carter can be seen as writing representatively, or for the people. Despite his later disillusionment phase, the early works and poems of Martin Carter had an immense impact on the region, as Carter identified with the importance of his poetry for regional change. In Carter's poem 'On the Fourth Night of a Hunger Strike' from his Poems of Resistance (1954), we have a clear understanding of his struggle; yet despite this struggle, his still manages to produce poetry giving the people glimmers of hope.

We are introduced to the harsh and surely despairing times of Carter's life from the beginning of the poem, with the first line 'l have not eaten in four days', yet before the end of the stanza he symbolically speaks of hope or 'something warm inside of me'. Throughout the poem, Carter

speaks of a 'comrade', one who it would appear helped him through his time of struggle and gave him strength, 'They could not know my heart was reading 'Courage! ' They could not dream my skin was touching 'Struggle! '.

Here, Carter demonstrates the power of having faith in the brotherhood of the oppressed, writing for the readers of his work to stay together and never give up, despite the situation. This work from Carter shows how important he deemed poetry in the revolution or benefit of the Caribbean, where despite his struggle and the physical effects of his trudge, he still sees the need to write for the people. It also proves ironic that though Carter writes to encourage the people, in this piece, Carter musters courage from the writing of another, 'a letter from a comrade. According to Brown, 'Carter knew the real value of words, knew that they might be both weapon and the nears of spiritual survival'; this explains his reason in producing poetry as well as drawing hope and encouragement from the words of another. In Carter's piece 'Fragment of Memory, he presents to the readers the painful past experienced by peoples of different races and cultures. He symbolically uses the seas as a nears of connection; tying us all together, as people who have all undergone struggle, one way or another.

His use of the representative We' presents us with a collective voice, as Carter identifies with the people. Carter, similar to that of Roach, addresses the past in his work; the first stanza speaks of the suffering that started since slavery, suffering so horrific that even the foam

groan(De) out perpetually. ' Despite this experience, nothing can make the people forget their past as We bear a mark no shower of tears can shift', since in our subconscious mind, the skeletons of leaver remains. From stanzas two to six, Carter draws global examples of other times in history when Decease AT snaps people Tell misery. Rater reiterates to ten people Tanat teeny are not alone; that other people experienced not only physical loss, but also shattering of dreams. Through this poem, Carter shows the importance of poetry in allowing people to empathic with their brothers who have also experienced struggle. In the final stanza of the poem, Carter makes an appeal to the people; though the ships are gone', and slavery and indentures have ended, we must use our ancestor's experiences as a stepping stone if we are to accomplish an expectation of a better society arising out of painful sacrificial struggle.

In one of Carter's later poems, entitles 'Proper', we see a dramatic change in his style due to his disillusionment with Iguana's situation, a style which can simply be put as a cryptic conundrum of words. In this poem, the reader can examine the existentialist philosophy of self experienced by Carter. Carter seems to be examining the effect or importance of his poetry in relation to the needs of the region, similar to hat of Roach. He addresses his own poetry in this piece; the work he had written before and now the work he wishes to produce, but is restrained, reminiscent of 'A Mouth is Always Muzzled.

Though Carter has adopted what seems to be confusing inversions of phrases, he

shows the people that he will endure. That in order to survive he must now adapt his poetry, yet the essence will remain expressed in the line, 'But, enduring, you change with the change that changes and yet are not of the changing of any of you. ' Carter seems to be encouraging and showing the people that spite the conditions, they must push forward with an inner fortitude that will surpass all odds.

Although Carter's voice was being suppressed, as stated by Lloyd Brown, 'The voice itself may have been muted, but the fiery sense of engagement which has made that voice all but unique in Anglophone Caribbean poetry, still burns. ' Though Roach and Carter both held roles in shaping the region's needs, it can clearly be seen that Carter's active role versus Roach's relatively passive role, resulted in Carter's work having greater impact on the region, at the time of his writing.