‘Checking Out Me History - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

‘Checking Out Me History’ by John AgardSlide2

John

Agard

,

poet1949 -

John

Agard

 was born in British Guiana (now called Guyana) in the Caribbean, in 1949. He moved to the UK in the late 1970s and is well known for 

powerful and fun performances

 of his work

.

He uses non-standard phonetic spelling (written as a word sounds) to represent his own accent, and writes about what it is like being black to challenge racist attitudes, especially those which are unthinking

.Slide3

A brief note…Agard is pointing out how in the English Curriculum students only seem to learn about white people because he believes it is written by white people for white peopleHe suggests that history in the English Curriculum deliberately leaves out information about black men and women who deserve more recognition Slide4

Stanza one…Dem

tell me

Dem tell me

Wha dem want to tell meAnaphora: these

three

words ‘Dem tell me’

are used at the start of all the stanzas that rhyme

Repetition

:

highlights the control that white people have over history

Phonetic spelling:

an identity from Jamaican roots

Pronoun: ‘Dem’: suggests separateness [‘dem and ‘me’ = them and us]Slide5

Stanza two…Bandage

up me eye with

me

own historyBlind me to me own identityMetaphor: on ‘bandage’ at suggests that

information has been

hidden

Alliteration:

on ‘

b

’ creates

an angry tone

Non-standard

English: on ‘me’ is used to establish a separate identity from the dominant white identitySlide6

Stanza three…Dem tell me bout

1066 and

all

datdem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he catBut Toussaint L’Ouvertureno dem

never

tell me

bout

dat

Nursery rhyme style and references

: shows

he is mocking what he has been told, expects the reader to know all this

Juxtaposition

: pantomime and fables against black history

Double negative

: sounds angry against the oppressive nature of white historySlide7

Stanza four… Toussaint

a slave

with vision

lick back Napoleon battalion and first Black Republic born Toussaint de thorn to de French

Toussaint

de

beacon

of de Haitian Revolution

Longer, italicised verses

: emphasises black historical characters

Short lines, free verse: recalls memories

Metaphor and positive imagery: used to indicate light being brought to black people

Rhyme:

used the power of oral narratives, challenges white history, black history is often told through oral narratives

Repetition:

reminds the reader of his chant, his pointSlide8

Stanza five…Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloonand de cow who jump over de moon

Dem tell me bout

de dish ran away with the spoon

but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroonLack of punctuation: rejects

the rules of

punctuation, rejecting

white

history, rejecting control

Maroon

=

‘maroon’

is a term used to describe black slaves who escaped from slavery

Nursery rhyme references

: trivialises white history, like how historians have trivialised black historySlide9

Stanza six… Nanny

see-far woman

of mountain dream fire-woman struggle hopeful stream to freedom river

Metaphor

: positive image used to indicate how Nanny had the power to see into the future

Metaphor

and

nature and water imagery

: used to indicate Nanny being a spiritual person

Metaphor

: used to indicate warmth and light

Broken syntax

: creates a serious, undeveloped, yet fragmented voiceSlide10

Stanza seven…Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson

and

Waterloobut

dem never tell me bout Shaka de great ZuluDem tell me bout Columbus and 1492but what happen to de Caribs and de

Arawaks

too

Juxtaposition:

antithetical power structures

:

Caribs

and Arawaks, the original inhabitants of the West Indies and Columbus who represents the colonisers

Pairing: Lord Nelson with Shaka Slide11

Stanza eight…Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale

and

she lamp

And how Robin Hood used to campDem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soulbut dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole

Juxtaposition

: Figures from British folklore and nursery rhymes contract with Mary Seacole

Symbolism

: used to reduce Florence’s importance, although light imagery links to black historical references

Quoted rhyme

: suggests how history is not questioned, only repeatedSlide12

Stanza nine…Metaphors

:

describes Mary Seacole in a positive

‘healing’ light and ‘a yellow sunrise’ is full of hope and promise for the dying, a ‘star’ links to the wider universe From Jamaica she travel far to the

Crimean War

she volunteer to go

and even when de British said no

she still brave

the Russian snow

a healing star among the wounded a yellow sunrise to the dying

Crimean War = 1854-56 Russian Empire vs Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. Lots of deaths occurred from fighting bit also from outbreaks of disease.

Metaphor

: suggests braverySlide13

Stanza ten…Dem tell

Dem

tell me

wha dem want to tell meBut now I checking out me own historyI carving out me identityRepetition

:

‘

dem

tell me’ could represent how

black people were oppressed by white history, returns to stanza 1 and his first point

Anaphora

: highlights the anger and defiance of the speaker

Metaphor

: suggests an imprint, permanence

Metaphor

: suggests the main theme of his own historySlide14

Consider the following meanings…‘Dem’ -

‘Me’

-‘Bout’ -

‘Dat’ -‘Lick back’ -‘De’ – ‘See-far woman’ –

=‘Them’

=‘My’

=‘About’

=‘That’

=‘Defeated’

=‘Of’

=‘A

woman who has a vision of the future’Slide15

The poem…Is cleverly constructed to reclaim black identityMakes the reader aware that British history is only a point of view

Introduces the reader to famous black people

Reminds us that whoever controls the past, controls the present

Cleverly uses two types of stanza to show the differences between ‘official’ and ‘non-official’ history

Shows that without a history and without a distinctive voice we may have no identitySlide16

StructureThe poem alternates between two different structures, which is indicated by two different fonts

Rhyming couplets, triplets or quatrains

Repetition of ‘Dem tell me’ indicates the white version of history

Stories of three black historical figures is told using abbreviated syntax – words missed out, shorter lines and an irregular rhyme schemeThe same quatrain is repeated throughout the poem – in each one a different famous white figure is mentioned. Each quatrain usually ends with the mention of a black historical figure who isn’t taught about.Slide17

Sound (phonological effects)Variations in spelling suggests Caribbean dialect and highlights the importance of the speaker ‘carving out his own identity’Repetition creates a sense of rhythm

End rhyme is used and is emphasised by the inclusion of references to traditional nursery rhymesSlide18

ImageryReferences to children’s nursery rhymes and storybook charactersSuggestions that the historical events taught in school are not entirely accurateNature metaphors are used for the black historical figures indicating the strength/growth of these characters

Light – all three are linked to light metaphors showing that they are shining a light on black historical identitySlide19

Attitudes, themes and ideasA dual tone in the poem – rebellious, accusatory tone changes to a celebratory oneMakes the reader consider the meaning of history, provoking the reader to ‘check out’ our own historiesConfident tone that is aiming to bring about changeSlide20

How is the narrator’s voice created in the poem?Non-standard spelling used to phonetically represent an accentRepetition gives it a strong voice, suggesting an assertive, aggressive moodThere is a change in tone when talking about the black historical figures

Rhyme gives it a sing-song tone which suggests an underlying contempt for the white-centric history in the curriculum

A sense of determination in the last line suggests that things are going to change