Checking Me Out History

Question 1

Checking Out Me History context (John Agard)

Answer 1

• Carribean Patois - non standerdised english and phonetic spelling
• He wrote this poem to be performed with his themes being about morality and race, he makes his poems playful and entertaining but serious topics
• History is sanitised, what is taught in school is not the real history. Taught selected bits, undermines black history and culture. Official black history is whitewashed

Question 2

Checking Out Me History MUST mention

Answer 2

• The poet shows the conflict between cultures and the need to forge his own identity by embracing his Caribbean heritage, even if it is not encouraged by authority
• The poet looks, not just at his own ethnicity, but all those groups who are overlooked in favour of the ‘white British’ contemporaries. Highlighting the conflict in these ‘false’ history
• The poet uses structure to build in rhyme and rhythm and portray an oral tradition of stories

Question 3

Checking out me History Structure

Answer 3

• Written in irregular rhyme and with short mixed enjambment in verses the work creates the tone of a man speaking out and angry/ frustrated.
• It also however captures the accent and rhythm of the Caribbean ethnicity of the poet and the parts of the work in italic are almost song like with a rhythm that seems to suggest stories passed down in song or to a beat.
• This is done to emphasise that not just the history, but the way it is passed on is very much a part of the poets identity and draws on his own Caribbean background, at conflict with the repetitive names and dates he was apparently being taught at English schools.