DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.24165.1 ISSN: 2732-5121

A Poem Begins with a Lump in the Throat”: Metawriting as a Possible Method to Overcome Writer’s Block in Derek Walcott’s Omeros

Adel Sliti
Show PDF Cite
This article offers a new reading of Derek Walcott’s book-length poem Omeros , arguing that its marked metatextual statements function as a method to counter writer’s block by transforming moments of creative apprehension into writing substance. While scholarship on writer’s block has largely adopted empirical or clinical frameworks to diagnose and categorize its causes, critics of Walcott have not examined how his metatextual strategies might address the phenomenon of writer’s block. This article therefore reorients the study of writer’s block toward the field of creative writing by examining how a writer may confront this issue within the creative work itself and in the act of writing. It argues that Walcott’s self-conscious metatextual practice demonstrates how reflection on the writing process can also confront moments of blockage. If writer’s block denotes the condition in which a writer is unable to begin or continue writing, then writing about writer’s block performs a twofold function: it acknowledges the impasse while simultaneously transforming it into creative material. In Omeros , metawriting—writing about writing—becomes writing substance itself. This approach shows how metawriting can help writers confront creative blockage, offering new perspectives for Walcott studies and for the pedagogy of creative writing.

More from our Archive