half caste

• summary

  John Agard

  discuss the term half caste and how ridiculous it is
• context

  • Agard was born in Guyana
  • moved to Britain in 1949
  • mother is Portuguese
  • tells people off for using the term
  • anger
• language. structure and form

  • start and ends with a three line stanza
  • structured with short lines
  • almost no punctuation - confrontational
  • free reverse
  • direct adress
• "explain yuself"


  -reapeated

  -colloquial

  -address the reader

  -challenges presumptions made by society
• "yu mean when Picasso mix red an green is a half caste canvas"


  -mixing things creates beauty

  -priceless art

  -use of visual colour imagery creates a disjoined image and adds to uncomfortable tone
• "England weather nearly always half caste"


  -lack of capital - shows disrespect

  -calling out the hypocrisy

  -British culture and language is a mixture of different cultures
• "half of mih eye" "half and mih ear"


  -humorous language

  -shows absurdity of being called half Caste

  -Caribbean dialect - authenticity

  -symbolises the poets experience of being treated as incomplete due to being half caste repetition of half assert richness and complexity of identity

  -highlight need to recognise and embrace entire identity rather than just half