KeenBrain
KeenBrain
KeenBrain

Derek Walcott Quotes


Share this page on

Quotes by Derek Walcott

Showing 61-70 of 119 Quotes by Derek Walcott

There's always a need at a critical time for poetry.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Always Critical Need Poetry Time

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


I don't believe that poetry is in danger because nobody wants to read it or appreciate it. There is a tremendous audience for it on any given day or night. You just have to know where to look.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Any Appreciate Audience Because Believe Danger Day Given Just Know Look Night Nobody Poetry Read Tremendous Wants Where You

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Look at Allen Ginsberg. In poems like 'Kaddish' and 'Howl,' you can hear a cantor between the lines. It's fully alive, and I think that's what's missing in modern poetry. It's too dry and cerebral.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Alive Allen Between Cerebral Dry Fully Hear Howl Like Lines Look Missing Modern Poems Poetry Think Too You I Think

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


I can't tear up a poem and be a sound bite for you. Why is that so hard for anyone to understand?

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Anyone Bite Hard Poem Sound Sound Bite Tear Understand Up Why You

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


A long time ago, I thought, as a writer in the Caribbean, 'I don't ever want to have to write 'It was great in Paris.'' Because I don't think, proportionately speaking, that one's experience in a city as opposed to, say, a village in St. Lucia, is superior to the other.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Because Caribbean City Ever Experience Great Long Long Time Long Time Ago Opposed Other Paris Say Speaking Superior Think Thought Time Village Want Write Writer

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


The thing a writer has to avoid is being the 'voice' of his people and pretending he can speak for them.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Avoid Being He His People Pretending Speak Them Thing Voice Writer

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


There are certain functions that a writer has to do. In a time of crisis, it is great to have heroic poems, as it was in the Irish Revolution. It's great to have great songs, because people need something to sing when they are marching. That's OK, but it should be on the side. It's not the ultimate thing.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Because Certain Crisis Functions Great Great Songs Heroic Irish Marching Need Ok People Poems Revolution Should Side Sing Something Songs Thing Time Ultimate Writer

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


The Chinese, the African, and the European - they are all there. So the division of the Caribbean experience into being emphatically only African is absurd.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Absurd African Being Caribbean Chinese Division European Experience Only

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Miscegenation is not an idea that we would have in the Caribbean. It wouldn't come up because anybody could marry anybody, you know. I'm not saying that there aren't prejudices in the Caribbean, but the idea of the word 'miscegenation' is not something that we think of.

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Anybody Because Caribbean Come Could Idea Know Marry Prejudices Saying Something Think Up Word Would You

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


The poet complains or points out the discontent that lies at the heart of man, the individual man, and how can that be redeemed?

~Derek Walcott

Topics: Complains Discontent Heart How Individual Lies Man Out Poet Points Redeemed

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Biography

Nationality: Unknown

Type: Poet

Born: January 23rd, 1930

Links

Find Derek Walcott on Amazon

Related Authors

Maya Angelou
T. S. Eliot
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Robert Frost
Khalil Gibran
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Edgar Allan Poe
Rabindranath Tagore

Popular Authors

Woody Allen Fyodor Dostoevsky Jimi Hendrix Hippocrates Elbert Hubbard Walter Scott Taylor Swift Mark Zuckerberg

Change your beliefs...change your life.

Get a related quote or insight every day.

(it's 100% free)

Follow Us On

Today's Birthdays

1958 - Neil Degrasse Tyson

1600 - Thomas Goodwin

1703 - Jonathan Edwards

1713 - Denis Diderot

1824 - Henry Chadwick

1830 - Chester A. Arthur

1879 - John Erskine

1882 - Robert H. Goddard

1887 - Rene Cassin

1902 - Ray Kroc

Birthdays on October 5th
All Birthdays

Popular Topics

Cool Great History Love Marriage Pet Poetry Smile