Omeros | Essays and Criticism

  • The Aleatory Muse of Omeros

    In the following essay, "The Aleatory Muse of Omeros," Hamner surveys ways that Walcott's work both adheres to and diverges from classic epic traditions.

  • Helen's Calibans: A Study of Gender Hierarchy in Derek Walcott's Omeros

    In the following essay, Minkler proposes that in many ways, Walcott's Omeros retells Homer's version of the story of Helen of Troy — but with Helen a victorious rather than victimized figure.

  • Ancestral Rhyme

    In the following excerpt, Leithauser considers Walcott's epic poem as a recovered history of 400 years of the Antillean islands, most of which has passed without being recorded.