Lisa HansenProfessor PhillipsFinal article05/16/2014Analysis of Derek Walcott's poetry:Poetry is in essence a form of written artistic expression. This allows writers to reveal their ideas and feelings in a very unique way. Wallace Stevens once said, “Poetry is a destructive force.” In other words, poetry has power, I believe that to be a very true statement. Another poet named William Carlos Williams once said, “Poetry is a little (or big) machine made of words. » I also believe this statement to be true: every aspect of a poem is important to its function as a whole, and if something is missing or changed, it can no longer function in the same way. I believe the poet Derek Walcott knew these “rules of poetry” and modeled them in his own writings. For example, we can see the use of these statements in his poem “The Death of a City by Fire”. “The Death of a City by Fire” is a powerful poem about a city in ruins after being destroyed by fire. Someone who appears to have witnessed the tragic destruction tells the story in the first person, and it's as if we are accompanied by the aftermath. The overall tone of this poem is very serious. Making the reader feel what the viewer feels is very dark and extremely sad. However, as the poem progresses, the tone slowly shifts from morbid to hopeful, and we get the sense that resurrection is coming. Imagery is the dominant force in this poem, and Walcott creates these strong images to describe what the city looks like now. . In lines 5 and 6 he says: “All day long I walked among the rubble of the rubble, shocked by every wall that stood in the street like a liar; » He seems incredulous at what he sees; the place he once called home is now...... middle of paper ......o paint a clear picture through the structure of his poem, his specific word choice and the tone it creates. And each of his poems is unique in the way you feel when you experience it. “The Death of a City by Fire” is a very good example of a Walcott poem that can paint a picture. It has the ability to place you among the debris that was once a city; we feel like we have lost everything in this tragedy. But it also gives you the feeling that there is hope for rebuilding and that time can heal. I believe this poem is a destructive force; it is powerful and can evoke strong images and feelings. I also believe that this poem is a machine made of words, each one equally important for the whole thing to work as it is supposed to. This is what makes poetry so unique; it can be several things at once, and it's relevant even if it's foreign.