Seminar 12 Caribbean Literature

Poems by D. Walcott

A lesson for this Sunday

Title:literal . Based on the title the point might present some kind of lesson we
should learn

Theme/mood:

The mood of the poem is contemplative, thoughtful and sad as the persona
questions human nature and the morality of children. The atmosphere is at first
calm and melancholic. However, when the persona sees the cruelty of the two kids
starting in the second stanza, the atmosphere becomes horrified, shocked and
troubled.

The poem is about a person who is relaxing on a peaceful Sunday when he sees
two children. The kids caught a butterfly and they harm and torture it, enjoying
themselves and not caring about the pain inflicted on it. The maid stops them and
the hurt butterfly try to fly away.

This experience disturbs the narrator and causes him to wonder whether cruelty is
innate in humans or not.

Thematic structure:

First stanza- the person is relaxing and reflecting on a Sunday in his hammock, he
describes how nature is working in harmony.

In second stanza the person’s interaction with nature is interrupted by small

children hunting butterflies. They end up catching a yellow butterfly and dissect it
until the black maid stops them.

In third stanza the author implies that violence is normal in humans and that even
the apparently innocent children have inherited this trait. Here are the tones of
disappointment and hopeless.

Symbols/allusions:

allusions-

black maid- allusion to slavery

hosanna- praise
lepidopterists- study and collect butterflies

Sabbath- religious observance

haunches- legs

eviscerate- remove

Summer grass symbolizes man’s brief lifespan that is quickly cut down. Lemon
frock and yellow wings represent in turn Nature, innocence, harmlessness and
vulnerability. The girl in the lemon dress parallels the butterfly. Both are supposed
to be innocent creatures, but the girl’s childish innocence is deceptively deadly.
The persona’s garden represents the Garden of Eden, with the children as Adam
and Eve through which sin enters the garden and disturbs the speaker’s rest.

Lyrical hero:

We can see that a lyrical hero is a person who just wants to relax and to be in
harmony with nature, he loves the nature, but suddenly, his peace is interrupted by
violent children who hurt butterflies. The lyrical hero then becomes disappointed,
worried, sad, he is worried by the violent behavior of kids and begin to think about
human’s cruelty.

Even though these kids are playing with the butterflies, they are being joyful; the
speaker seems to take what they are doing very seriously, even if they are kids,
they are actually hurting and torturing the butterflies. And the speaker reflects in
the last stanza on how what they are doing fits into a bigger cycle of cruelty and
pain. This might be the lesson he learns.

Rhythm/rhyme

The poem in itself is melodic, not with a particular rhyme scheme.

Rhyme: iambic