SOURCE: Walcott, Derek, and Rebekah Presson. “The Man Who Keeps the English Language Alive: An Interview with Derek Walcott.” New Letters 59, no. 1 (1992): 8-15.

The following interview focuses on Walcott's epic poem, Omeros.

[Presson]: The last time we talked you made much of what Omeros is not, and so what would you say it is?

[Walcott]: It's long. I don't know. In the reviews that have been coming out, they've been using the word “epic” a lot. I just reread it again, and I suppose in terms of the scale of it—as an undertaking—it's large and does cover a lot of geographic elements, historical ground. I think that's the word. I think the reason why I hesitate about calling it that is I think any work in which the narrator is almost central is not really an epic. It's not like a heroic epic. I guess that's...