Checking Out Me History - John Agard

Checking Out Me History - John Agard

1. Direct address - Talking to reader

2. 'Dem tell me' - Repetition, different to him, white people?

3. Rhyme - Mocking white history/what he is taught

4. 'Nanny de maroon' - Ends on black historical figure, focus, important

5. 'Blind me' - Metaphor, doesn't want him to see who he really is

6. 'Bandage up me eye' - Metaphor, held back purposefully

7. Enjambment - Anger, lack of control, wants to get it out

8. 'All dat' - Not important to him, vague

9. Song/rap - Black icons can't be controlled

10. 'Mountain dream' 'Hopeful stream' ' freedom river' - Natural influences on him, nature

11. 'Slave' - Noun, only black history taught

12. Italics - Emphasizes importance of black historical figures

13. 'Wha dem want to tell me' - Forced, learn what they want, what they choose to show him

14. 'I carving out me identity' - Metaphor, takes time, hard to do, ends on poet, important

15. 'Beacon' - Hope

16. 'I checking out me own history' - Doing it himself

17. 'Caribs 'Arawaks' - Compound sentence , forcing black and white together

18. 'Healing star' 'Yellow sunrise' - Metaphor, positive

19. 'Mary Seacole' - Did more than Nightingale without help, still not remembered

20. Free verse, oral poetry

21. Non-standard phonetic spelling, no punctuation - Refuses to use, forces us to adopt his accent

22. Born and raised in Guyana, Caribbean (British colony)

23. Pride, white power, identity, culture, challegeing racist attitudes