Derek Walcott's "Old New England" is a poem concentrated upon the history of the beginning of New England colonies in America, but instead of presenting our past as a triumph, he manages to illustrate our most prideful moments as a dishonorable time period. By mentioning harsh things and using vivid imagery, it fabricates the poem to seem like a conviction rather than an ode honoring the country. Symbolism is used quite regularly in this poem. For example, "the war whoop is coiled tight in the white owl, stone-feathered icon of the Indian soul, and railway lines are arrowing to the...
the poem contributing to the severity which is another contribution to the horror he views of American history. His words are neither kind nor sweet and pose to be harsh and cringing to read. "The splintered suns of beads and mirrors are nothing but broken promises that molded the Republic to what it has become"2 is an illustration of the callousness Walcott sees.

Walcott was expressing how he felt about society in America and was being polluted from the start. The Americans were rotting the land and practiced dishonesty and deceit ever since the beginning of the New World.