Derek Walcott’s poem “The Gulf” provides a clue as to where the speaker is. The “airport coffee” indicates that the speaker is at an airport. The second line links to the speaker’s current condition. They come across as not too becoming. They’re described as “sour” and “unshaven.” The final line of the first stanza provides further insight into the speaker’s state. They have “racked nerves”; they’re anxious and perhaps restless.
The three lines in the second stanza seem to merge the speaker’s body with the body of the airplane. The “smoky, resinous bourbon” inside the speaker might also allude to the fuel inside the plane. The mention of the “body” in the second line and the “roar” in the third line reinforces the coupling of the agonized person and the tumultuous airplane.
In the third stanza, the “exhausted soul” in the first line, the “screeching” in the second line, and the image of the speaker’s friends fading away as the plane takes off add additional evidence that the speaker’s body and the airplane have formed some kind of propulsive union.
The fourth stanza, the speaker actually mentions a “divine union” in the first line. In the second line, the speaker arguably aligns themselves with the airplane again, as they’re both “created things” and in the air. The presence of “the Texan” in the final line of the fourth stanza appears to move the poem in another direction.
The mention of “all things” compels the speaker to consider other things, like history (Lyndon B. Johnson), philosophy (the Sophocles quote about not being born), and the beautiful and violent landscape that the speaker presumably notices from their airplane window.
Using this line-by-line explanation of the first four stanzas, as well as the review of some of the poem’s key themes, one should now have enough examples to explain the remaining lines and analyze them accordingly.