And ban ban, Caliban: lenguaje, identidad y resistencia en el Caribe

Abstract

When Lawson Edward was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1930 it would have been difficult to foresee that he was going to become one the most remarkable and honoured writers emerging from the Caribbean. Strongly committed to the de-colonial cause, the poet explores the world of words, and the role language plays in the construction of identity as vehicle to the writing or silencing of culture. As a colonial subject himself, Brathwaite struggles to find his own voice in what he calls “Nation Language”, a form of expressing in English that recovers the sounds and rhythms of the submerged languages of native and transplanted peoples in the region. From this viewpoint, Brathwaite opens an interoceanic and intercultural dialogue with the imperial power. In his poem “Caliban” published in Islands, the second book on the trilogy The Arrivants (1973), the Barbadian re-signifies the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a symbol of resistance empowered in Nation Language. It is of my interest to explore the construction of Caribbean identity, language and resistance proposed by the poet in the thematic line explored and the stylistic resources displayed in the poem.