The contribution of imitative verse to Guyanese poetry

Kyk-Over-Al

The cover of the Guyana Classics Library’s collection of the first three volumes of

but a name. Other similar notions carry over in “Divinity” and “Heaven”.

Next to observe is the way the poem is imitative in subject matter. It is a nature poem, glorifying nature and its elements and reflecting romanticism. There is imitation of Wordsworth in the inevitable influence of nature, as a living supernatural force over man and man’s inability to resist it. There is imitation of Keats in the concept of empathy and in the sensual. It is a poem that appeals to the senses in a manner reminiscent of Romanticism.

But while the verse forms like those used by Dalzell were published and praised in the pages of strong advancements in modern Guyanese poetry were also found in the same place. From Volume One of there were signs of poets who rose above the conventions they inherited and were already independent voices. These included Wilson Harris from the outset with “Tell Me Trees, What Are You Whispering”, and “Words Written Before Sunset”. There was James W Smith’s “To A Dead Silk Cotton Tree”, landscape poetry which manages to be local and quite liberated from the imitative.

Walter McA Lawrence too, inherited that brand of landscape poetry, but turned it into something inventive. He developed a patriotic verse from praise of landscape and developed literature based on the natural beauty of the country. This persisted long after him. Other outstanding examples of the confident new developments with a strong sense of post-colonialism were Edgar Mittelholzer’s “For Me –The Back-yard”, Seymour’s “Tomorrow Belongs To The People”, and the early poetry of Helen Taitt, the only woman among the leading poets at that time.