PoemsLe Loupgaru

In this poem we are told of the curious tale of Le Loupgaru based on the talks of “Christian Witches” or otherwise known as Le Brun. This man, who is a drug dealer, is feared all through the town. It was rumoured that Le Brun would change in a wolf (Alsatian hound) and one night one of his own watchmen would deal him a fatal blow that would damage him to the point of near death, where he carrying his very own organs. The poem tells of how his greed would bring him down in actuality.

We see the graying women are a symbol of old women which are a symbol of wisdom. The man, Le Brun is in fact, a Loupgaru. In our local palance, these men are seen as men who take a deal with the devil and by evil and wicked means, such as drugs or prostitution, make a lot of money in a short period. The poem shows how Le Brun, has made such one deal. Walcott shows how a devil comes in many different ways such as a man in a, “white linen suit, pink glasses, cork hat, and tap, tapping cane”. We see that Le Brun is a dying man, because of his pact with the devil.

We find the “a dying man licensed to sell sick fruit” is a paradox by means of a dead man earning money where NO AMOUNT of money would be able to save him. He is ostracized, because people know he is followed by death and suffering. There is alliteration in the first line in the sound, “tah”. There is onomatopoeia in “tap, tapping cane”. The phrase, Christian Witches earthly folks are those who can give insight into the supernatural. There is imagery in the way he dressed. There is the image of the Loupgaru and the drug dealer.

The greatest theme coming out of this story is the supernatural.

Ol’ Higue

The Soucouyant can be described as a ball of fire, which sheds her skin that is as a coat. She prowls the night and is the product of a deal with the devil. She has a lust or desire for innocent blood or young blood. Rice is scattered at doors so that you are able to have time to escape her and find her skin and destroy it (with scattered salt) because she is forced to pick it. This can also be used to identify women rumoured to be Soucouyant. A sense of sympathy is invoked for the Soucouyant as she is caught up in this life cycle which she cannot break unless by a certain procedure.

What is the purpose of a Soucouyant?

The old folklore tales serve to scare young children into proper and well behavior. On the other side of things there is also the cultural preservation of the moral and ethical values of a country.

The old Hig does not like the life she has and sees it with great scorn. She is a ball of fire in an immortal prison of mortality. She does not live a glamourized life, in truth; it is painful and leaves to suffer at the hands of the dark forces. There is also an element of humour in the poem. She is complacent and very sassy by her nature. This is seen in the lines:

“You think I wouldn’t rather take my blood seasoned in fat black pudding, like everyone else”

“Don’t even talk ‘bout the pain of salt”

“Having to bend these old bones down to count a thousand grains of rice!”

“If only babies didn’t smell so good” dry sense of humour.

The Soucouyant is said to leave the skin of their body on the branches of a silk cotton tree. The Soucouyant compares the sound of the blood running through the veins to a soft call. This is a metaphor. Directly following this there is personification where the blood is said to be singing. After this we are met with yet another metaphor comparing life to a song. Sweet also has a double meaning comparing life to a sweet thing and thing she drinks.

“Singing the sweet song of life” alliteration.

Finally the dying hum refers to her last gasp that one would make before your death. Holding her final note for years and years means that her natural life has expired and she carries on only as a Soucouyant.

In this poem there are also rhetorical questions:

You think I like this stupidness?

There is repetition found this story, in the word “soft” which serves to show that the child’s blood has beguiled or hypnotized the Soucouyant

“How would you mother name your ancient dread, for the murder inside your head”

The Soucouyant is used as ready-make excuse for bad parenting or cradle death. We must understand that infant mortality was higher in older days. The Soucouyant is like a scapegoat to bad parenting and a mother being neglectful. The murder inside your head serves to rationalize that “it is not my fault, but that of the Soucouyant” after a mother may out of frustration wish ill upon their child. The last two lines carry two meanings; literally that the Soucouyant shall live

as long as there is new blood, and that so long as there are young children the stories of the Soucouyant shall carry on.

There is also a condition brought about after a pregnancy. It is a short depression that varies in time from person to person. It has a through-going ring of “I have to take of a human being for the rest of my life” this scares mothers, and from this is born a neglectful attitude toward the child. They don’t know what to do and they wish there child had not been born. The Soucouyant almost SUGGESTS that whatever goes wrong can be blamed on her.

Certain words also lend to certain meanings such as

Stupidness- to show frustration

Gallivanting- to show that she, the Soucouyant, is having quite a time but in truth she is not which thus means that this is used with sarcasm.