Lampfall
Derek Walcott
‘Closest at lampfall
Like children, like the moth-flame metaphor,’
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright)
VOCABULARY
Coleman’s humming jet - Coleman is a brand of gas burner
Tuning fork - a two pronged fork that makes a specific note when hit against
something, used to tune musical instruments
Joseph Wright’s Astrological lecture - a painting which depicts a public scientific
lecture with people gathered round a mechanical reconstruction of the solar system
Benediction - blessing, well-wishing, usually religious or spiritual
Quarrelling - arguing
Gesticulating - moving your hands around to make gestures
Rejoice - celebrate
Primal - relating to early evolution / barbaric and savage
Phosphorescent - glowing
Glaucous - dull grey-green or covered with a grey film
Loom - a machine that weaves fabric
STORY / SUMMARY
STANZA 1: The poem begins with a scene on the beach at night. The poet states that
he and his family are ‘closest’ when darkness falls and lamps are lit. They are drawn,
like children - moths around a flame - to the Coleman burner that they’ve lit at the edge
of the sea. The small fire is described as a ‘tuning fork’ which brings the family together,
setting them all in sync with one another so that they can harmonise into a ‘still [...]
choir’. This reminds the poet of the painting by Joseph Wright’s Astrological painting, in
which a lamp is put in place of a sun to show how the planets orbit around it in rings.
, These are likened to ‘rings of benediction’ that the light of the lamp casts around the old
people on the occasion. Walcott shifts to saying he never tires of the ocean’s noises - its
quarrelling, silence, raw voice (which are contrasted with the peace and harmony of the
people on the beach) or the leaves, which are picked up by the light and wind, and
remind him of the raising hand gestures that are combined with the call to ‘rejoice’ in
church.
STANZAS 2/3: The peaceful image of the first stanza is disrupted, as Walcott says that
he’s tethered to an old fish, ‘a monster of primal fiction’, that drives him undersea,
pulling him along the bottom of the ocean into darkness, where the only light is cast by
glowing plankton. This represents the way in which his mind becomes displaced, he is
unable to live in the moment with his friends and family, and instead begins to think of
their situation in a more abstract sense - the way it links to primeval culture, the way in
which it’s fleeting and brief to experience life so simply. He’s ‘elsewhere’, as he is not
able to experience the scene on the same level as the others - he has a feeling of
disconnection or dissociation to his surroundings, he sees the scene through the fish’s
‘glaucous’ eyes, and the family’s voices ‘curl’ in his ear, suggesting that he hears them
but does not fully interpret or resonate with what they are saying. This provides a direct
contrast to the ‘tuning fork’ and harmony of the first stanza, when the family were
synchronised.
STANZA 4: The family have been watching the sea waves rocking back and forth all
day, with the white foamy edge of the sea looking like a thread of wool. This is likened to
Penelope, from the Odyssey, who weaves when waiting for Odysseus (see context for
more info). The sunset glows like coals on a fire, and this warmth is transferred to the
people, who lay their hearts into each other (a metaphor meaning that they share
stories and feelings). As the light fades, they are drawn together, for fear of losing each
other once it becomes dark. The sunset is called the ‘furnace door of heaven’,
suggesting that it is a transcendent portal to another world.
STANZA 5: At night, the sound of the forest replicates the sound of the sea, as it
contains an ‘ocean of leaves’, drowning her children - a possible reference to the Lamia
or La Llorona (the weeping woman), who were forced to kill their children in many
stories by drowning them. The poet asserts that despite this ominous sound and the
night time, he and his family belong there, in the landscape. They see Venus, a star,
which stops them from feeling lost. For Walcott, this experience seems to snap him out
of his dissociative experience, and he returns to being with his family.
