Checking Out Me History Flashcards
Who wrote it?
John Agard
When was it published?
2007
Why was it published?
To express racism in education systems - a lot of his poetry examines cultures and identities
What are the poet’s attitudes?
Anger
Admiration - for black heroes and heroines
Celebration
Who was Agard?
Born in Guyana but moved to Britain in 1977
He’s known for fun and powerful performances of his work, and uses phonetic spellings to represent his accent
What’s the poem about?
Talks about creating his identity from his heritage, which he has to research because he wasn’t taught it
Recite your introduction sentence
Checking Out Me History, published in 2007 by John Agard, follows the narrator as he talks about creating his identity from his heritage that he’s going to research, because he wasn’t taught it; the poem was written primarily to express the racism in education systems.
Recite your conclusion
Agard was born in Guyana but moved to Britain in 1977, and is known for his powerful and fun performances of his work, which uses a lot of phonetic spelling to represent his accent. The main purpose of his poem was to emphasise the importance of knowing your own history and hesitance, regardless of where you come from, as this can form who you grow into be, an a lot of his poetry examines culture and identities as a result of this.