Checking out me history

• Argard’s purpose is to make the reader consider the way in which we are taught history and how we conceive our identity
• The poet had to follow a history curriculum which was bias towards whites and /or is Eurocentric. In his poem he challenges this view and cities some major black figures to balance the bias and create abbas for his own identity.
• Agard speaks as himself protesting about the way black culture has been ignored or marginalised. The ‘official’ versions of history are filled with white people because, Agard and others would say, that history has been written by white people (thus excluding black men and women). The poem challenges racist attitudes which are often unthinking.
• Agard uses a mixture of stanza forms - suggesting he’s breaking away from the tradition he’s been taught. The rhymes emphasise the childishness of what he has been told about the past. The effect of all this is to mock what he has been told about the past and to mock the attitudes of those who seek to marginalise black achievements.
• Repetition of ‘Dem’ emphasises how the poet doesn’t identify the people/ teaches that taught him history. The poet replaces the ‘th‘ with ‘d’ in order to suggest his Caribbean dialect. The use of phonetic spelling could emphasise how he sees his identify as different (to the history he has been taught).
• The poet uses the tone of the poem to convey that the history he was taught in school was like a nursery rhyme or made up story to him. It creates a childish effect - perhaps a mocking tone.
• The poet juxtaposes British history with his own history.
• The repetition of “Dem tell me“ is used at the start of all of the four line stanzas that rhyme. The repetition creates an angry and accusatory tone. The words “Dem tell me“ - emphasise the control that white society has over history.
• “Bandage up me eye with me own history / Blind me to me own identify“ The alliteration of the ‘b’ sound helps to empathise how history is not fully presented but is distorted and destructive. The metaphorical image of the “bandage” is ironic - bandages should aid healing, but here they’ve caused blindness.
• “carving” - the verb nightlights a careful desire to shape, sculpt and fashion out his own history. “identity” is the empathetic final word which sums up the main theme. He will no longer be force fed historical information. He is going to use his own history / culture to create his identity / sense of self.
• “Mary Seacole..” - the poet‘s use of natural imagery for women could represent mother nature and / or showing the power of women. She is described as a “healing star” which suggests images linked to light, hope and warmth. Seacole is seen as a mythological creature (metaphor).
• The source of the poet’s anger and indignation is that he believes that his view of history and himself have been distorted. He feels that his education kept his true identity hidden from him.
• “Blind me to me own identity” - No light shed upon his own identity / feels that he has been forced to learn an ‘alien‘ history.
• “Bandage me up with me own identity” - Bandages are usually white therefore he has been blinded by the ’white‘ history.
• “I carving out me identity” - last line reflects the fight / struggle the poet has to shape, create his own identity / historyagainst the ‘norm’. The connotations of the verb ‘carving’ also suggestive of trying to sculpt, create something that won‘t fade or be forgotten .
• Feelings and attitudes

  Questioning / cynical

  The speaker of the poem poses the question : what is history? It is based on a person / people's perceptions.

  Celebration / rebellion

  The poet uses the poem in order to celebrate unknown historical figures - celebrating their work and their lives.

  Anger / defiance

  There was a conflict between what the poet was allowed to see and what he wasn’t.
• THEMES

  Outsider

  Racism / discrimination

  Identity - personal identity - who each individual is and / or collective identity - how different minorities have been marginalised through education.

  Presentation of childhood.
• COMPARE

  ’Emigree’ - theme of outsider / tension between cultures / identity

  ’London’ - Power of establishment e.g the church, education and power of people.

  ‘Ozymandias’ - Power of people

  ’The Prelude’ - Identity, autobiographical, how a childhood experience has a profound impact.
• KEY QUOTES

  ”Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me”

  ”Bandage up me eye with me own history / Blind me to me own identity”

  ”..but dem never tell me about Mary Seacole”

  ”But now I checking out me own history / i carving out me identity”