Inspiration: Edward Kamau Brathwaite, “Letter SycoraX” (p. 109)

These lines in E. K. B.’s poem “Letter SycoraX” serve as the conceptual starting point for my creative adaptation. The syncopation of the word “archipelago”—how the syllables are littered on the page—echoes the literal scatteredness of the archipelago, which Brathwaite himself compared to “skid[ing] that pebble along the water - chi-chi-chi-chi - every skid of that stone blossomed into an island” in “Caliban’s Guarden.” Further, this idea of the archipelago fascinates me because it is a very terraqueous concept: the island lies in the liminal space between the pelagic and the littoral, the thalassic and the tellurian. Again, this idea is underscored by Brathwaite himself when he comments about adopting the rational idea of a dialectics into the postcolonial idea of a “tidalectics.” In this way, Brathwaite’s attempt the fracture the multisyllabic word “archipelago” is an attempt to illuminate the natural environment that he lives in, one that naturally defies a total (‘totalitarian’ if you will) way of conceiving existence.
 
On a thematic level, my work echoes the terraqueous nature of Brathwaite’s “archipelago” by emulate the shape of a cliff (“crag”) by the seaside. The bottom half is an ocean of words, with the series of dots at the very bottom representing the “demersal” sections of the ocean. The upper half takes inspiration from traditional Chinese landscape paintings to simulate the physical shapes of the cliff. In this way, I create a literal, liminal space between the land and the sea. The vertical axis of land and sea also echoes the vertical extension of Brathwaite’s fractured line. On a technical level, I take a lot of inspiration from Brathwaite’s use of syncopation. Various words and phrases are syncopated: “submerged,” “pelagic,” “diluvia,” “crag,” “silent,” “littoral,” “sediment” (just to name a few—enjoy the process of discovery as you encounter other words encoded into this poem). These words are syncopated by blanks and punctuations that mimic the chaos of the undercurrents in an ocean. In this sense, I am expanding on the purely vertical axis of Brathwaite by utilizing the horizontal space of the page to create wideness. Additionally, there are two aspects of Brathwaite that also attracted my attention: (1) typography; (2) orality. I explored the idea of typography, obviously, through the various punctuations that are scattered across the page, but also through the “r” (the shape of this letter resembles that of a cliff). I explored the idea of orality through the syncopation of “diluvia”—“dye”-“loot”-“via.” I chose these three words because they evoke the image of the trade routes on the Indian Ocean, where dye were being transported and India’s resources being looted via the sea routes. I think here, the ocean plays a significant role in a colonial site of extraction—it is the waterways that connected land. Again, we have that interplay between the terra and the aqueous in the terraqueous.
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An insight that I have gained through this project is an empathy for Caliban’s struggle with modern technologies like the word processor and the computer/typewriter. Besides providing convenience because they are very easy to use and loaded with templates, the existence of such templates can also constrain my thinking. This is why this experimental form of poetry is important to help me think outside of the box once in a while, to write but without the pressure of making immediate sense. In a way, the opacity generated by typography is just as illuminating as the orality of a spoken poem.  

- Zichen (Jason) Tong, January 7, 2026

For this assignment, I chose to illustrate “Letter SycoraX,” particularly focusing on the imagery of Sisyphus employed by Brathwaite throughout the second part of the poem. I was drawn to this idea because of its ability to powerfully depict important aspects of “Caliban’s” struggle – the heavy burden, its cyclic nature, and, thus, the feeling of frustration. He repeatedly writes, “a cyaan get nutten write,” therefore declaring this feeling of not being good enough and not being able to live up to the standards forced upon him by the “Prosperos,” while he emphasizes the prolonged experience of “slide / in black down” and losing any progress he might have made. Another key aspect of the poem that I tried to capture here in the rough, unpolished style of this drawing, is Caliban’s relaxed imperfection in the letter, which I found to be a strong source of argumentation in itself: Brathwaite’s writing showcases a version of Caliban that does not appeal to any audience other than his own mother, SycoraX, enabling him to reveal emotions ranging from anger to joy. In a similar way, leaving these imperfections in my own visual interpretation of the text allowed me to include ideas I may not have been able to otherwise, like the way previous iterations of the sketch remain visible in layers underneath, as if they represent such parts of Caliban’s identity.

Moving to specifics, on the left side of my illustration, I decided to place the Caliban-figure in a stance representing his resilience: the arms outstretched and feet flat on the ground as if he is preparing to stand. Although he may have previously been overcome by the difficulty of his task, remaining stationary simply to hold the weight of the rock, he gets ready to continue on. Drawing from Brathwaite’s play-on-words between “write,” “rite,” and “right,” which, to me, suggest that a heavy burden facing Caliban comes from language itself, I chose to add letters of the alphabet on the boulder to highlight this notion. “Caliban” appears etched into it, as well, because this identity, and even the name itself, are additional weights he must carry as he is put into boxes by Prospero and others. The right side, is meant to display the lasting effects of Caliban’s writing, leaving the viewer with the repeated affirmation “i is a somebody” (that is positioned specifically at the top of the hill), asserting his place in the world and the power of his words.

This starts where “Caliban Upon Setebos” ended…

Creative Portion:
1 ‘Eaten no quail for a month, ’Wailed for a month, ‘Starved for a month.
2 ‘Done all this and more. Setebos must be satisfied, and now He will not hurt him.
3 Finally ‘can wander outside of this cave! ‘Eat some quail!!
4 ‘See a book, must be one of Prosper’s. ’pick it up.
5 ‘Must not let Setebos see him reading it
6 ‘Run to a cave and open it, away from His gaze.
7 ‘Thinketh tis strange that he can understand it because he can’t read…
8 But, he understands and loves it. Tis called The Tempest
9 One of the characters is very similar to him. This character’s name is also Caliban, strange.
10 But this Caliban is trying to escape his situation—risking the anger
11 Of both Prosper and Setebos!
12 How is he not struck down by Setebos? Can it be that Setebos does not kill all who rebel?


    Caliban: [Aside] If so, maybe I will escape! Oh, how great that would be! I should test this
     Theory out first. Maybe I should seem happy out of the cave when Setebos is watching.
15 If Setebos does nothing that means He either does not really care that I am happy           
     Or He does not exist. So, I will try to escape this fear of Him and Prospero.
     If He does punish me, it won't be too bad. The risk will be worth the possible reward.


Caliban wanders out of his cave with his book in hand and climbs the tallest tree he can see. He starts to eat his favorite fruit lounging on the tree, book open.


    Caliban: [Aside] If Setebos punishes me when I am happy, he will surely punish me now!

                                    Silence except for the crashing of the waves on the beach

     Caliban: Nothing? Can this be? Free?

20  Caliban: [Sings] ‘Ban, ‘ban, Ca-caliban
        Has no more master!!!
        Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom,
        high-day, freedom!

       Caliban: Is that a boat I spy floating towards me? I’ll use it to escape from here!
25    Maybe I can return one day to destroy Prospero and take back my island!


Caliban Swims out to the ship, which is obviously abandoned, and Climbs aboard. As he starts to sail away from the island he stares back toward the island.


Caliban: Can this be? Am I really free? Or is this Setebos’ trap to make me suffer more
By making me believe I am free and then cruelly take this freedom away?

            Clap of thunder in the distance

Caliban: Ho! Is that thunder I hear? Is it He? Setebos!?

            Another clap of distant thunder

What should be done? Continue, run, hide, return, die?








Analysis:
This is based on a perspective (shared by authors like Maclean) that Caliban in “Caliban Upon Setebos” is more a passive character compared to the relatively more agential Caliban Shakespeare presents. I try to portray this Caliban (Browning’s Caliban) in the rational way he appears in Browning’s poem by portraying him as a person who reasons through issues. I also describe Caliban as using natural events to influence his theology (just as in Browning’s poem).

Based on the opinion that Shakespeare’s Caliban is more agential and Browning’s more passive, I use a format closer to “Caliban Upon Setebos” when Caliban acts more passively and a form closer to The Tempest when Caliban acts with more agency. The last line is ambiguous as to whether it is a more agential or passive Caliban, both in structure and in what Caliban says. How one imagines what Caliban will do next (after hearing the second clap of thunder) would seem to indicate the way one views Caliban’s fundamental character in “Caliban Upon Setebos.” That is either more passive and a fundamentally static character or someone who is able to change perspective given new information and is capable of acting with agency. Whether Caliban is capable of being influenced and changing would, in turn, comment on what one thinks Browning is trying to suggest with this poem, ultimately affecting the meaning of Browning’s poem.

In Robert Browning’s “Caliban Upon Setebos,” the readers are exposed to Caliban’s most confidential thoughts. The exposure of his most private thoughts leads to two contradictory interpretations of Browning’s Caliban. One characterization of Caliban is that he projects his internal violence and spitefulness onto Setebos, thereby creating a violent, spiteful god. A contrasting view of Caliban is to look at how he observes the world and the people around him, particularly Prosper. He extrapolates from his observations of a seemingly cruel world (think of, for instance, the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest) that Setebos must be a capricious, and sometimes violent and spiteful, god. This view suggests Caliban is a philosopher/thinker. Caliban’s ability to use inductive reasoning to reach conclusions about Setebos and Prosper suggests a high acuity of vision and intellect. My drawing focuses on these two distinct interpretations of Browning’s Caliban by adapting a particular passage, in which Caliban has a thought experiment about Setebos’s thoughts and arbitrary actions when helping beings lower than himself:

By choosing to draw a beastly Caliban, instead of Setebos (who Caliban is adopting the role of Setebos), the “I” in this passage becomes more closely associated with Caliban himself. That is, one would imagine, if Caliban actually had more power, such as Setebos or Prosper in the poem, then he would have the large, maniacal smile seen in the left figure. In contrast, the right side shows Caliban as a person with a high acuity of vision and intellect. There are three heads. The one at the top is Setebos, the one in the middle is Prosper, and the one at the bottom is Caliban. The connection of the three heads represents how Caliban has such an awareness and understanding of Setebos and Prosper that he can accurately guess what Setebos and Prosper (though Prosper is not actually in this particular passage) would think. The adaptation of this passage to an artwork shifts the subconscious decision readers make when reading “Caliban Upon Setebos” to a more conscious one. Distinctly showing these two opposing views of Browning’s Caliban pushes the viewer to more actively think and discuss the question: is Caliban the barbaric, spiteful, violent being or the thinker, a being with high acuity, or perhaps both?

First Draft of the Drawing:

Delving into the first draft of the drawing is a good place to start to learn more about the artistic process and choices. There were two critical differences between the first sketch and the final draft of the drawing. First, I decided to fill up more of the paper, where the figures connected to each other. Filling up the page and connecting the beings together is meant to spur conversation about the connection between the figures. For instance, an initial thought I had was that the Caliban on the bottom right is how Caliban actually is, just a person; the Caliban on the left is the Caliban created by other people in The Tempest through their descriptions of him; and the egg is how Caliban sees his own predicament, as a person enslaved by Prosper, who has gone through many hardships but is still standing. Another thing to ponder is the positioning of the three heads. Why is Setebos’s head at the top, Prosper’s in the middle, and Caliban’s head at the bottom? At least from the artist’s perspective, I was thinking about Sigmund Freud’s superego, ego, and id. The second critical choice made early on in the drawing process was that in contrast to the serious, dark mood in the first sketch, I chose to take a colorful and somewhat more comical approach in the final draft. While the serious, dark mood of the first sketch fits more with the overall mood of “Caliban Upon Setebos,” my art piece could be interpreted as a parody or dark humor. One intention to choose a more satirical approach is for the artwork to connect the viewer to the artist and artwork more. This piece is meant to promote discussion and be accessible to all ages. However, one element that could be lost is the gravity of the situation. Arguably, Caliban started natural theologizing because he is trying to understand his enslaved condition and trying to figure out if he can rebel against his slave status and Prosper (Loesberg 872). The severity of the situation, where Prosper’s enslavement of Caliban leads him to need to natural theologize to attempt to understand his situation and his violent thoughts originating from viewing a seemingly cruel world, could be lost in the art piece. However, what could be gained is the potential dialogue about important themes (e.g., the different aspects of the same person, the effects slavery has on the mind) or just child-like themes (e.g., why use crayons and oil pastels instead of say watercolor, what’s the purpose of using crayons and oil pastels for most of the painting versus digital drawing for the knife and blood gushing out of the egg).

Works Cited

Browning, Robert. “Caliban upon Setebos.” The Tempest, Shakespeare, edited by Virginia Mason Vaughan and Alden T. Vaughan, Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2011, pp. 338-347.
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Loesberg, Jonathan. “Darwin, Natural Theology, and Slavery: A Justification of Browning’s Caliban.” ELH, vol. 75, no. 4, 2008, pp. 871-897.