2530863
Description
Mind Map by Eleanor Simmonds, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Eleanor Simmonds
over 9 years ago
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Checking out me History by John Agard
- About the Poem
- The poem is spoken in an
Afro-Caribbean voice describing
and reacting to what he has
been taught in school
- He mocks education confined to
the main events and people in
British History which are as
irrelevant to him as nursery
rhymes.
- The achievements made by people from
other cultures are missing from his
education, leaving him struggling to
understand his own history and identity.
- The poem ends with a desision to fill
in the missing details.
- The poem is spoken in an
Afro-Caribbean voice describing
and reacting to what he has
been taught in school
- Ideas, Themes and Issues
- Personal Identity
- Our sense of indentity begins in
childhood and is closely linked
to our history, culture and
language
- Our sense of indentity begins in
childhood and is closely linked
to our history, culture and
language
- Colonialism
- When the British Empire colonised
countries in the 19th and 20th Centuries
children were often educated in English
and taught only British History
- When the British Empire colonised
countries in the 19th and 20th Centuries
children were often educated in English
and taught only British History
- History
- History is selective and is often written by the
strongest side in any conflict. There are always two
sides, but often only one gets heard.
- History is selective and is often written by the
strongest side in any conflict. There are always two
sides, but often only one gets heard.
- Rebellion
- The Caribbean figures in the poem had no power and were
forced to rebel to change their situation, just as the voice in the
poem had to.
- The Caribbean figures in the poem had no power and were
forced to rebel to change their situation, just as the voice in the
poem had to.
- Personal Identity
- Form, Structure and Language
- The free verse form, lack of punctuation and
use of Creole in the poem could reflect the
voice's refusal to use conventional English
forms and Standard English.
- The tone is mocking in places but becomes
increaslingly defiant as the words 'dem tell
me' are repeated
- Metaphors linking to the Caribbean
figures to light are a contrast to the
images of blindness that describe
his Eurocentric education. These
images create a link between
understanding your own cultureand
the ideas of enlightenment.
- In consistent rhymes and
half rhymes reflect the
voice's missing knowledge
and feeling of
incompleteness
- The shorter italicised lines
draw out attention to the
significant historical figures.
These lines sound incantatory
as though the voicein the
poem is calling them to life.
- The free verse form, lack of punctuation and
use of Creole in the poem could reflect the
voice's refusal to use conventional English
forms and Standard English.
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