Checking out me history. Flashcards
What country is John Agard from?
British Guiana in South America.
What war was Mary Seacole involved in?
Crimean.
What country was Toussaint L’Ouverture from?
Haiti.
What is an idiolect?
An individual’s way of speaking.
What does John Agard mean by ‘Dem tell me’?
White people have decided my education.
How is Agard using juxtaposition?
He contrasts silly nursery rhymes with historical figures.
What does John Agard state that he is doing at the end of the poem?
FInding out about his own history.
Why is the poem written using two different structures?
To show there are two different historical perspectives.
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity.
Restrictive verbs, create idea that the version of events given to them is harmful.
Short verse and irregular rhyme.
Short verse and irregular rhyme create an almost drum beat. This can reflect the Caribbean traditions of music and verbal passing on of stories. The stanza also looks at a conflict-orientated character indicated by words such as ‘battalion’,‘thorn’ and ‘revolution’.
I carving out me identity.
Violent metaphor. Expresses the resistance and need to create something which cannot be removed/ wont fade.
Structure.
-Written in irregular rhyme and with short mixed enjambment in verses
tone of a man speaking out-angry/frustrated.
-accent and rhythm of the Caribbean ethnicity
-italics-song like with a rhythm that seems to suggest stories passed down in song or to a beat.
