Checking out me History John Agard Lesson 1
- Slides: 7
Checking out me History John Agard Lesson 1 LO: To explore the context and structure of the poem
Performance poetry http: //www. bbc. co. uk/learningzone/clips/johnagard-checking-out-me-history-poemonly/12247. html
Reminder of how to organise you’re annotations. . Context: Key Themes/Ideas Language: Text of poem ___________ Structure and Form: Comparison poems:
WM - Checking out the ‘other’ history This poem explores and celebrates the history that has been previously ignored by the white western world. TASK: Research and write a couple of lines about each of the historical characters below: • Toussaint L’Ouverture • Nanny de Maroon • Mary Seacole WHAT do they all have in common? Why does John Agard want to celebrate them?
CONTEXT: Colonialism is where one group of people dominates or controls the affairs another group of people often with quite horrific consequences for those being dominated. Agard wants to use his poem to give a voice to the ‘colonised’ and ‘oppressed’. TASK: Annotate your poem in the CONTEXT section with these ideas: - Provides a voice for black history - Agard lives in Britain but was brought up in Guyana so is interested in the colonial relationships of countries and how that impacts on a individual’s own IDENTITY - The ‘dem’ in the poem that the speaker refers to, symbolises the colonising country against those who are being oppressed.
TASK: Annotate Structure and Form section using the below to help you • The poem is clearly divided into 2 parts – signalled by the use of ITALICS. The 2 sides echoes the two sides of history. • The relaxed rhythm and rhyme scheme of the stanzas in plain text create a sing-song or nursery rhyme style TONE. This is to undermine the white history the speaker feels has been forced upon him. • The stanzas in italics are structured quite differently with short, punchy, powerful lines which slow the pace. This creates a shift in tone to one that is more serious so that we, as readers, are asked to take the ‘other’ side of history more seriously. OPTIONAL EXTENSION TASK: Research the concept of the ‘other’ in philosophy and sociology.
Identity and History TASK: Answer the question below The poem is written in a dialectical non-standard English. How has Agard captured the natural sounds and phrases of the Caribbean dialect?
