Tanty Merle at the Oval

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Introduction

Paul Keens Douglas is an award winning, Trinidadian raconteur who writes and performs his own work. He has published numerous volumes of work including titles such as : Tim Tim : The Dialect Poetry of Paul Keens Douglas (1976), When Moon Shine (1979) Tanti at the Oval : Selected Works of Paul Keens Douglas (1992) being the most famous and for which we will critically examine its contents and comment on its applicability to contemporary social commentary. The poem Tanti Merle at the Oval was first published in 1992 and heavily references the very important match between Trinidad and Tobago and the Combined Islands that took place in Trinidad and Tobago at Kensington Oval in April 1975. Paul Keens Douglas is known for his colourful characters and use of Caribbean Dialect in his oratory. Tanty Merle is one such character. Through her character we are able to examine Caribbean femininity,Gender roles, matriarchy and how it manifests itself in the Caribbean and a concept called 'crab antics' theorised by Daniel Miller which I will refer to as code switching as it is similar in nature. The central motif of the poem is the cricket match and through this cricket match we get a unique perspective on Caribbean Life,The place and significance of cricket in it ,Language,Carribean Nationalism, Gender roles and Respectability. He examines these in the context of 1975 Caribbean society and we can ask the question : Is Paul Keens Douglas interpretation of Caribbean Life in his poem applicable for contemporary social commentary on the Caribbean ? There are some aspects which may contribute something to contemporary social commetary and some that may not due to the evolution of Caribbean society. In his poem Tanti Merle at the Oval the motif is a cricket match. In this piece Paul Keens Douglas sheds light on the significance of cricket in Caribbean life,Caribbean nationalism,Caribbean Language and Gender relations. The story centres around Tanty Merle one...