Martin Carter
| Martin Wylde Carter | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 7, 1927 Georgetown, Guyana |
| Died |
13 December 1997 (aged 70) Georgetown, Guyana |
| Occupation | Poet, political activist |
| Nationality | Guyanese |
| Notable works | Poems of Resistance from British Guiana (1954), Poems of Affinity (1980) |
| Notable awards | 1994 Order of Roraima |
| Spouse | Phyllis Carter (neé Howard) |
Martin Wylde Carter (7 June 1927 – 13 December 1997) was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region, Carter is best known for his poems of protest, resistance and revolution. Carter played an active role in Guyanese politics, particularly in the years leading up Independence in 1966 and those following immediately after. He was famously imprisoned by the British government in Guyana (then British Guiana) in October 1953 under allegations of "spreading dissension", and again in June 1954 for taking part in a PPP procession. Shortly after being released from prison the first time, Carter published his most well-known poetry collection, Poems of Resistance from British Guiana (1954).
Martin Carter was born in Georgetown in what was then British Guiana (now Guyana) to Victor Emmanuel and Violet Eugene Carter (neé Wylde) on 7 June 1927. He was one of six siblings. From 1938 to 1947 he attended Queen's College school, in Georgetown. On leaving Queen's College, Carter decided not to go to university and, instead, joined the civil service where he worked for the Post Office and then for the Prison Service. 1948 saw the first publication of Carter's poetry, when a "fragment" of his poem "An Ode to Midnight" was printed in A. J. Seymour's literary journal Kyk-Over-Al. In 1950 Carter became one of the founding members of the socialist and anti-colonial People's Progressive Party (PPP), led by Cheddi Jagan. He published his second poem, "The Indian Woman", in the same year, in the PPP journal Thunder (under the pseudonym M. Black). Carter married Phyllis Howard in 1953, and their first child, Keith, was born later that year.
In 1953, Carter left the civil service and stood for the PPP in the first universal suffrage elections in British Guiana. He was not elected, but the PPP won a convincing victory. In October 1953, following the British government's declaration of a State of Emergency in Guyana, Carter was arrested and detained without charge at a US airbase in Timehri on suspicion that he was "spreading dissension", along with Eusi Kwayana and Cheddi Jagan. While detained, Carter took part in a one-month hunger strike, beginning on 23 November, organised by the detainees as a protest against the injustices of the government and their being held, indefinitely, without charge. Carter remained in prison until January 1954, when he was released under orders not to leave Georgetown. The restriction orders placed upon him lasted until 1957. In May 1954, Poems of Resistance from British Guiana was published in London by the Marxist publishing house Lawrence and Wishart, making Carter one of the first Caribbean poets to be published outside of the Caribbean. In June 1954 he was arrested once again for taking part in a PPP procession, and was imprisoned for six months, until December that year. His second child, Sonia, was born shortly after his release.
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