The sigh of History rises over ruins, not over landscapes, and in the Antilles there are few ruins to sigh over, apart from the ruins of sugar estates and abandoned forts.

" In addition to having won the Nobel Walcott has won many literary awards over the course of his career including an Obie Award in 1971 for his play Dream on Monkey Mountain a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award a Royal Society of Literature Award the Queen's Medal for Poetry and the 2011 T. The following year Walcott won an OBE from the British government for his work. His family is of African and European descent reflecting the complex colonial history of the island which he explores in his poetry.

He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is currently Professor of poetry at the University of Essex. Derek Alton Walcott OBE OCC (born 23 January 1930) is a Saint Lucian poet and playwright.