Adam's Song

Paradise Lost By John Milton (1674)

Not only was Walcott’s first poem an imitation of John Milton’s style, “Adam’s Song” draws as heavily from Milton’s retelling of the Garden of Eden narrative as it does from the Old Testament. Milton’s Paradise Lost is a book-length reimagining of the fall of mankind from the Garden of Eden. Many aspects of Milton’s retelling, such as Satan’s involvement as the serpent that tempts Eve, have become commonplace interpretations that resonate with Walcott’s own retelling of humanity’s fall.

“The Sick Rose” By William Blake (1794)

From William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, “The Sick Rose” is an abstracted reinterpretation of the Christian fall of mankind. Blake’s poem, particularly compared to Walcott’s, relies on metaphor and symbolism to retell the story in a condensed and more traditionally abstracted form. Comparing Blake’s Romantic take with Walcott’s postmodern take on the fall of mankind showcases Walcott’s loose yet more direct engagement with the relevant themes.

“Sea Grapes” By Derek Walcott (1976)

“Sea Grapes,” the titular work of the collection where “Adam’s Song” originally appeared, can be read as a bridge between “Adam’s Song” and Walcott’s his 1990 Homeric epic Omeros. In “Sea Grapes,” Walcott engages with Ancient Greek mythology—rather than the Christian mythology of “Adam’s Song”—and connects the Caribbean with the Mediterranean Sea of Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey. Like the adulteress who brings the concerns of “Adam’s Song” to “our own time” (Line 2), Walcott’s connection of Ancient Greek mythology with the contemporary Caribbean demonstrates that the past and present are interconnected across generations and cultures.

“Bread” By Kamau Brathwaite (2006)

A rough contemporary to Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite is also one of the Caribbean’s most celebrated poets. “Bread,” from Brathwaite’s 2006 collection Born to Slow Horses, shares a number of poetic techniques and imagery with “Adam’s Song.” In particular, both poems draw from Biblical narratives. Unlike Walcott, who was part of a Methodist minority in the Caribbean, Brathwaite is part of the Catholic majority. His use of bread as a symbol in this poem is charged with its place as Christ’s flesh in Catholic transubstantiation.