Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Omeros/Seven Seas

Walcott takes a page from Dante's book and picks an epic poet to act as a guide/soothsayer in this poem.

He's inspired to work with epic poetry when he sees a foam bust of Homer (a.k.a. Omeros) in his ex's living room and uses the Greek poet's depiction of Helen of Troy to help him think about the Helens in his own life.

Later, the role of poet/singer is passed to Seven Seas, who embodies both the Western concept of the poet as seer (using his "inner eyes") and the African griot, who keeps cultural memory alive through the telling of stories and singing of songs.

The two characters meld together as the poem progresses, and though they maintain their distinct identities and dialects, their aspects flicker and flip for the narrator as he journeys into the afterlife. Omeros/Seven Seas guides the narrator through the perils of hell, but it is ultimately Omeros who gives him a hand up out of the "pit for poets"—presumably as the father of classical poetry as we know it.