It is wrong to
dwell on poverty in an attempt to romanticise it. It is wrong to sentimentalize
poverty. But that does not mean it is impossible to find beauties in the
condition of poverty. The fact that poverty was once a desirable condition in
intellectual circles should make one suspicious. Thomas a Becket was made a
saint for his fleas and their meaning. That became a romantic poverty. Walcott
celebrates that life which has no concern with the monumental. His work has
become its monument. That is a paradox. One cannot escape such things. To
refuse to see beauty in poverty is also sentimental and romantic. We must risk the
monumental.