In Derek Walcott’s poem “The Sea is History” there is a conversation within the poem that analyzes the concept of origin stories and what is marked a history as opposed to myth. What is considered history is framed in terrestrial markers by the speaker of the question at the beginning of the poem. The question is answered with elements of the reoccurring concept in our mermaid readings of the below surface ocean being a locked up and restricted place, but the poem will unlock that history that has always been there. While the themes of religious myth work as an entry point for comparison Walcott blends the events that happened on and within the ocean to link the land events that was remembered in the ocean. Walcott brings History as being measured outside the confines of imperialist definitions.
What stood out to me was his play on language with the ocean creatures and oceanic elements carrying double meanings to aid in the historic importance of the ocean. He links oceanic terms to the terrestrial, bringing balance and attention to a connection the terra-dominant language typically denies. Lines such as “the white cowries clustered like manacles on the drowned women…”. Yellow cowries (on land) were used as a shell money in Africa (“cowrie”). Being made into manacles also known as handcuffs, references the enslavement of African people who were monetarily measured in their worth to the system they were violently dragged in to.
The designation of “white” cowries, carries with it the meaning of the monetary price placed on black African people enslaved by white (European/imperialist) forces. As Walcott characterizes the sea as grey, it brings not only imagery of the ocean in stormy conditions but of the result of the colors of black and white combined together. This not only holds the meaning of the acts witnessed by the ocean, but integrates the ocean into being part of the human experience, not just the other or a setting.
Work Cited
“Cowrie.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/animal/cowrie. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
Walcott, Derek. “The Sea Is History.” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, 28 Mar. 2025, poets.org/poem/sea-history.
Wonderful focus and research to explore your understanding of the poem. And great point: “As Walcott characterizes the sea as grey, it brings not only imagery of the ocean in stormy conditions but of the result of the colors of black and white combined together.”