What is the meaning of the poem Proem by Martin Carter?

Answer 1

Proem is one of Martin Carter's more cryptic poems, at least initially. The background to it offers some insight. In Stewart Brown's introduction to Selected Poems mention is made of an incident where a little girl in identifying Martin Carter as appearing in a

Guyanese paper recognizes him and points him out to her mother as the "Proems" man. The little girl obviously had a problem in pronouncing the word poem. Identity is made the focus of this incident and ultimately the poem "Proem". The poem is about identity and what it means to have another define who you are. Essentially the poem speaks to the issue and even has as its theme the proposition that one will remain who one is no matter what anyone else says, no matter how one is misperceived or undergoes change. A person remains whatever they are and no amount of imposed definitions or misreadings will change that. This concern of the poem highlights the focus of postcolonial writers on the concern of identity. Identity for a country, a people and ultimately a single person. How are we to define ourselves? The suggestion is that words are the vehicle of definition but in the intent and sense of his poem Carter negates this avenue of definition and invites the reader to accept the mere fact that a person is whatever he is. It is curious that the poem uses the highly rare second person perspective which makes the reader a participant in the action of the poem. This device evokes a dramatic effect in the poem while at the same time accusing the reader of engaging in the human campaign of definition but as a subject rather than as an actor. It lends a preachy style to the poem as if the narrator is speaking directly to the reader. The poem is distinct from Carter's earlier poems in that it does not incorporate many of his Nature imagery except to highlight in metaphoric form the inspiration for this contemplation of identity: ' the root turning back at a rock questioning that which it feeds". This image is an apt depiction of the relationship of the newly independent colonies to the metropole in their attempt to find themselves in the world. The colony that fed the mother country with raw material now questions it seeking for some statement of identity and criticising imposed self-conceptions. At first a cryptic poem "Proem" is now one of my favourite postcolonial deconstructionist anthems. True to the militant independence of a Martin Carter. P.A.