Form and Structure

• Black history is quoted to emphasise its separateness and to stress its importance.
• Dramatic monologue, with a dual structure.
• Stanzas concerning Euro-centric history (normal font) are interspersed with stanzas on black history (in italics to represent separateness and rebellion).
• Black history sections arranged as serious lessons to be learned; traditional history as nursery rhymes, mixed with fairytales (mocking of traditional history).
• The lack of punctuation, the stanzas in free verse, the irregular rhyme scheme and the use of Creole could represent the narrator’s rejection of the rules.
• Repetition of “Dem tell me”: frustration.