Oxford honours Walcott

THE University of Oxford recently honoured Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott at the Sheldonian Theatre on June 21. At the Oxford Encaenia, a ceremony steeped in tradition, the St Lucia-born poet and playwright was heralded as the “Homer and Ulysses of our time” by the Public Orator of the English University.

“Great poet, who while expressing your love for your homeland have at the same time brought many times and nations, indeed the whole world, within the compass of your magnificent verse, I on my own authority and that of the whole University admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters,” the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Christopher Patton, stated before formally presenting Walcott with the scroll.

After a formal lunch followed by a garden party on the grounds of Trinity College (Oxford), Walcott was honoured by the principal of St Anne’s College, Dr Timothy Gardam, at a formal dinner at the college.

Since the 1760s the “Encaenia,” the Greek word for a festival of renewal, has begun with heads of colleges and other university dignitaries assembling in full academic dress in a nearby college to enjoy Lord Crewe’s (former Bishop of Oxford 1633-1721) benefaction (peaches, strawberries and champagne) after which they walk in procession to the Sheldonian Theatre. The dignitaries enter the theatre in procession with great fanfare from the Queen’s Horsemen, while those who are to receive honorary degrees wait in the Divinity School, opposite the great doors. They are then escorted by bedels, and then each honorand is introduced by the public orator with a speech in Latin.

At the ceremony, honorary degrees were also presented to David Holmes, Professor Peter Brown, Professor Alison Lurie, Professor Marina Warner Lewis, Professor Raanan Gillon, Sir John Houghton and Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell.

Walcott is currently in Italy to receive an honorary degree from The University of Urbino, he will then attend a performance of his play, The Odyssey in Italian. He was recently awarded the prestigious “Premio Grinzane Cavour” in Turin, Italy.

Over the years, Derek Walcott has also received honorary doctorates from Boston University, Dartmouth University, Hartwick University, PRATT in the USA; The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; the University of Alcala, Spain; The University College of London and Trinity College, Dublin, UK.

Educated at the University College of the West Indies in Jamaica (now The University of the West Indies), Derek Alton Walcott taught from 1953-1957 at schools in St Lucia, Grenada and at Kingston College, Jamaica, before beginning a career as a journalist in Trinidad. Best known for his epic poem “Omeros,” a re-interpretation of the Homeric story, he has written several plays, essays and poems and his work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese among other languages. He has been awarded the Trinity Cross, the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry (1988), The Nobel Prize for Literature (1992) and is an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.