HEAD of the Department of Literacy, Cultural and Communication Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Dr. Louis Regis, brought his personal perspective to the works of the late Guyanese poet, Martin Wylde Carter, at a memorial lecture conducted in Carter’s honour, Monday evening at the Umana Yana.

Dr. Regis delivered a talk on, “I am My Poem: the Signifying Elements in the Poetry of Martin Carter,” to attendees of the event, including Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Professor Al Creighton and family, friends and lovers of the late Carter’s works.
Carter, who was both a poet and political activist, is widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region.
Minister Anthony explained that the occasion was not just another to remember Carter, but one “to try to understand the words that he would have left with us, to really decipher some of his philosophical thoughts, some of the things that we can glean from his poetry.”
“Perhaps we could use them to inspire us as we move forward with our own lives,” he said.
He shared the view that in Carter’s work, one sees his passion for Guyana and relives Guyanese history. Whle many of Carter’s poems were born out of specific context within Guyana, there is that universal appeal, “because people around the world can identify with what he is saying,” Minister Anthony said. He said Carter’s work has been able to transcend the boundaries of Guyana and to reach out to the Caribbean and into the larger world.
Creighton explained that though the annual memorial lecture series is in honour of the late Guyanese poet’s contribution to local poetry and literature, it also serves to propel the development of Guyanese literature in general in a much wider context than the work of Carter.
“While it is true that the work of Martin Carter is extremely important and is one of the great contributions to national literature, the lecture series has wider reach outside of the work of Carter to the work Guyanese in general, to the subject of Guyanese literature in general, and to the subject of Guyanese culture, so that each time a lecture is delivered in the series, it enlarges Guyanese culture and literature and this particular enlargement is being done in the name of Martin Carter, who has contributed so much towards it,” Creighton explained.
He also advised that when a particular scholar is invited to present at the Martin Carter Memorial Lecture Series, there is no compulsion that the subject of the lecture should be about Martin Carter.
Dr. Regis, in his contribution shared the view that in his examination of Carter’s poems, he found him to be a liberal humanist, and that his poetry and political activism are all derived from this fact.
Dr. Regis, who is an academic, researcher and literary critic whose specialisation is in the areas of West Indian literacy, cultural studies and cultural history, said what he also found is that many literary critics have used the fact that Carter would have written many of his famous poets whilst imprisoned, and his political activism to reduce his work and his vision to that of a public political poet. He said that while this may be true, it is not the whole truth, as Carter also embraced social change.
Martin Wylde Carter, 1927-1997, is best known for his poems of protest, resistance and revolution. He also played an active role in Guyanese politics, particularly in the early years leading up to independence in 1966. He was imprisoned by the British Government in 1953 under allegations of spreading dissent. He is popularly known for his pieces, Poems of Resistance From British Guiana, This Is The Dark Time My Love, and ‘I Come From The Nigger Yard’. (GINA)