Gasparillo Remembered

‘King Sugar’ as the late Trinidadian Prime Minister, Eric Williams put it, is what the poem ‘Gasparillo Remembered’ by Anson Gonzalez is about. The economic and personal loss coming from the rise demise of the sugar industry is the central theme of the poem. The title of the poem suggests a duality of reminiscence and loss for an industry that is ‘gone’. The poem is told from the point of view of an old man reminiscing years connected with the sugar industry; fond childhood memories, hardship and toil in the field as a young man and finally, dissatisfaction. The use of figurative language and diction directs the reader to the theme of the poem.
The poem forms a continuous pattern at the beginning with three stanzas of couplets followed by one tercet or three line stanza. This is where Gonzalez talks about the sugar industry intimately, personally and at times, fondly: ‘carts laden with succulent stalks’, ‘collected the arrow pollen for so many restful pillows’. The imagery of ‘restful pillows’ connotes the tactile feeling of comfort and satisfaction. His use of metaphors such as ‘iron hard hybrids that broke teeth’ emphasizes personal loss because the cane which, represents the author, goes from being ‘succulent stalks’(soft and fun) to ‘iron hard hybrids’(hard and dissatisfied).
Gonzalez’s use of alliteration is used to further emphasize contrasting emotions as well as the mood which the author chooses to convey. ‘Succulent stalks’ and hard hybrid’ is an example of contrasting emotions; contentment versus disappointment. The mood of the poem is also affected by the use of alliteration when the author writes ‘hustling, hanging around job hunting’, ‘scarred skin and cane soot’. The mood is light regardless of the diction or word choice. The words in this poem are used to connote the meaning that even though the men were job hunting, they were having fun doing so (‘hanging around’) and even though they had ‘scarred skin’, they were rewarded well on payday (‘the