“His Strokes Rhyme Couplets Now”: The “Prismatic light” of Impressionist Poetry in Walcott's Tiepolo's Hound

Abstract

Tiepolo's Hound is a poem about contradiction, confusion, and conflation; of the unreliability of memory, the sudden moment of epiphany and its immediate loss, and the privileging of the parergal. This essay explores the way that Derek Walcott uses both poetry and painting to navigate these issues and asks if the possibilities of language can be expanded through its combination with the visual. Through his ekphrastic poetry and the inclusion of his own paintings, Walcott challenges assumed dichotomies and perspectives and forces a new way of seeing the world.