University of Bucharest Review  Vol. VI/2016, no. 2 (new series) Cultural Representations of the City 137 Monica Manolachi  DEREK WALCOTT’S LONDON: A COMPLICATED LOVE STORY Keywords: postcolonial poetry; Derek Walcott; representations of London. Abstract: Caribbean poet Derek Walcott is rightfully considered to have put his small native St. Lucia Island on the world map. With his numerous collections of poetry, drama and essays, the 1990 Nobel Prize winner has become one of the most prominent West Indian authors of the twentieth century. Born into a mixed family, in his poetry he often touches sensitive topics that can be subsumed to the theme of colonial trauma and postcolonial healing. Some of these refer to sites of memory such as the centre of the British Empire, where his paternal grandfather came from: the poet seems to have always been aware that London was once a colony too, a Roman colony, linked to the Mediterranean Basin, a seascape partially similar to the Caribbean; hence his balanced and compelling critical approach to rewriting the past. The Thames, significant architectural sites, as well as other historical and cultural symbols of the metropolis sometimes appear on the page. My paper explores the colonial and postcolonial images of London in Walcott ’s poetry, as expressions of a troublesome love relationship, in selected fragments which cover several of Derek Walcott’s collections and the epic poem Omeros (1990). It argues that his outstanding poetic postcolonial critique has heightened the value of a difficult, culturally hybrid bond and provides lyrical evidence accompanied by close reading, to highlight some of the literary techniques employed, rooted in both European and Caribbean traditions, yet routed in contemporary transcultural dynamics. Last but not least, the following analysis demonstrates how poetry, memory and faith support each other in deconstructing and reconstructing authority and authorship. In The Empire Writes Back, Bill Ashcroft el al. (2002) wrote: “A major feature of post-colonial literatures is the concern with place and displacement. ” (8) Indeed, writers such as Derek Walcott have constantly been interested in finding reference points and constructing reference frames that can support postcolonial subjectivities, generated by dislocation but sunk into oblivion by oppression. His work has been studied from numerous perspectives, but apparently not many critics have focused on his portrayal of London, on the tensions between its colonial and postcolonial functions, on how the metropolis is seen from the Caribbean. The following pages showcase fragments from seven volumes published over about four decades: The Gulf (1970), The Star-Apple Kingdom (1977), The Fortunate Traveller (1982), Midsummer (1984), Omeros (1990), Tiepolo’s Hound (2000) and White Egrets (2010). With the exception of Omeros and Tiepolo’s Hound, all poems have been quoted from The Poetry of Derek Walcott – 1948-2013. As a general trend, the selected pieces show a gradual development from an imagined imperial faraway city  University of Bucharest, Romania.