Dear Editor,
On December 13 we will commemorate another death anniversary of our national poet, Martin Carter. For the younger generation Martin Carter may be just another name listed among one of our national heroes. Since literature died a long time ago in our poor system of education, it’s about time our educators re-introduced the poetry of Martin Carter as well as that of many other Guyanese writers. On October 22, 1963, Carter said the following: “Publishing poetry in this country is like lending books to corpses. Few read and those who do are not equipped either by curiosity or sensibility to understand what is confronting them.” This statement came about because many were not equipped with a background in literature to comprehend poetry.
Martin Wylde Carter was the greatest poet Guyana has produced. He was one of the Caribbean’s greatest intellects and a distinguished literary personality, whose creative imagination left an indelible mark on the English-speaking Caribbean and the Western hemisphere. He ranked among literary exponents like Derek Walcott, VS Naipaul,Wilson Harris, Ian McDonald, AJ Seymour and Kamau Braithwaite. He was an important figure in the independence movement which liberated Guyana from British colonialism. He died at the age of 70, having devoted 40 years of his life to his country and literary pursuits. His works are now being studied at Caribbean and British universities, among others. Dr Gemma Robinson from the University of Sterling has written on the life and writings of Carter.
Carter’s poems can be compared to those of Tagore, TS Eliot, Ezra Pound, WH Auden and WB Yeats. He was a great teacher of mankind and an ardent seeker of truth. His poems are rich in symbolism, philosophy and theology, and contain some very profound and complex images.
Carter was a man of wisdom and wit, a gracious and elegant personality, a unique and fascinating figure. The quality of his poetry will be remembered. As we remember him let us now see him as the poet-philosopher from his intricate lines:
Wanting to write another poem for you
I searched the world for something
beautiful
The green crown of a tree offered itself
Because its leaves were combed just like
your hair.
Let’s comb through his words of truth and life and remember them ringing in our ears like the rains singing in the wind.
Yours faithfully,
Rev Gideon Cecil
