The Flock

“Lizard” by Derek Walcott (1965)

This poem, also from The Castaway and Other Poems offers an allegory for colonialism. In it, the speaker saves a beetle from being eaten by a lizard, and then reflects that this may have been a mistake: The beetle might have preferred being eaten by the lizard, a familiar predator, rather being rescued by a stranger. Walcott indicts people trying to interfere with others, no matter how well-meaning they believe themselves to be.

“Crusoe’s Island” by Derek Walcott (1965)

In this poem, also included in The Castaway, Walcott writes from the perspective of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Walcott’s version of Crusoe is interested in cultivating his mind rather than cultivating the island. This poem gives more insight into the internal process that Walcott describes in “The Flock.”

"Crusoe in England" by Elizabeth Bishop (1980)

Elizabeth Bishop was a contemporary of Walcott’s. In this poem, Bishop paints Crusoe as a sympathetic figure, focusing more on his loneliness than his desire to dominate the landscape. It shares certain themes with Walcott's vision of The Castaway and echoes some of Walcott's evolving views on postcolonialism and the relationship between Crusoe and Friday.