Even though Edward Brathwaite's poem The Ancestors, as its title suggests seems to be about our ancestry and the reclamation of it, the overall structure of the poem itself reveals insights into the struggles of the poet and delves into issues of identity. Central to the issue of identity is the question of language and how it gives voice to the "other". Language, in this poem, also represents one of the ways in which Brathwaite attempts to give voice to the fragmented and scattered people of the New World.

The poem is divided into three main sections, with the first two sections seemingly structured within a narrative framework. Both sections are divided into two stanzas that provide us with the bulk of information about the persona's ancestors as represented by his grandfather in Section one and his grandmother in the second section.

In section one, the persona openly acknowledges and accepts his relationship to his grandfather, who symbolically represents the Eurocentric, colonial "English" gentleman, by the use of the personal pronoun "my" in reference to him. This image of the persona's grandfather as a "black English country gen

The poet's preoccupation with voices remains sustained throughout the poem as he attempts to give voice to the voiceless. When the persona describes his grandmother as singing in a "Vicks and Vapour Rub-like voice", the mood of the poem changes thus setting the tone for the engagement into the oracular singing traditions of the blues. The repetitive lines and allusive tone in the final oracular section reinforce the enduring nature of the oral folk form whilst also reaffirming its deference to the European traditions. Even the ending of the poem is suggestive of this continuity with the final lines ending with an ellipsis, which suggests more that is not said.

The fact that Brathwaite kills the grandfather in the second stanza is symbolic of the temporal nature of this very "English " identity. This view is further sustained by the persona's admission that the only remaining thing he has left is "his hat". The reference to the persona having "borrowed" the hat cements the belief that this identity is an assumed one and is not his own even though his grandfather assumed that identity. The reference to "I used to try it on" reinforces ideas of colonial mimicry that was introduced in the first stanza. The underlying tone of this stanza however, seems to suggest a moving away from this type of identity into a recognition of a fuller, more rounded one in which the New World man is reconnected with his African home as well as his European ancestry.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Edward Brathwaite's, Arrivants Trilogy, Standard English, Vapour Rub-like, Passage Brathwaite, World Caribbean, Indian Literature, West Indies, Blackman Caribbean, Abena Busia, auditory images, enduring nature, grandmother section, convergence space, brathwaite attempts, west indies, arrivants trilogy, west indian, attempts voice, english gentleman,
Approximate Word count = 1270
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)