Checking out me history - John Agard (2007) Flashcards
1
Q
Context
A
- Agard’s poetry often focuses on ethincity and identity
- Born in British Guyana in South America (a british colony)
- Moved to England when he got older
- went to school in British Guyana
2
Q
Form & Structure
A
- Lack of rhyme & phonetic spelling:
going against the English language
goes against Euro-centric view of identity that isolates black people
forces reader to recognise identity - most stanzas build up rhyme and end with the most important idea/individual: makes reader stop and think
- No punctuation: we cannot read the poem the way he wants it to be read, symbolises his confusion & not fully understanding, information being left out
3
Q
‘dem tell me’
A
- Repetition: reflects anger at authorities and education system
- it’s what the poem starts with but ends in a completely different way
4
Q
‘balloon, moon, spoon, Nanny de Maroon’
A
- build up of rhyme: gives importance to Nanny de Maroon
- makes reader stop and think about her
5
Q
‘I carving out me identity’
A
- Carving: verb that suggests an active task, suggests person is always building his own identity himself
or affected by other people - at the end of the last stanza: improtance of it and empowerment of finding out about his own identity
6
Q
“Dick Whittington and he cat’
‘Toussaint L’overture, no dem never tell me bout dat’
A
- Dick Whittington: made a fortune because of his cat, fictional forklore
- he was taught about that but not improtant black figures
- Touissant L’Overture: leader of the Haitian revolution
- ‘no dem never’: double negative, frustrated and lack of control over language
- ‘Touissant de beacon’
7
Q
4 quotes
A
‘I carving out me identity’
‘dem tell me’
“Dick Whittington and he cat’
‘balloon, moon, spoon, Nanny de Maroon’
