Checkin Out Me History

John Agard

Learning Objectives (AQA)

AO1: respond to texts critically and imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations.

AO2: explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.

History

Who decides which parts of human history we learn at school?Is some history more important than others?

Checkin Out Me History

Dem tell meDem tell meWha dem want to tell me

Bandage up me eye with me own historyBlind me to me own identity

Repetition

Non standard English

Dem tell me bout 1066 and all datdem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he catBut Toussaint L’Ouvertureno dem never tell me bout dat

Date of BattleOf Hastings

Mediaeval mayorOf London – subjectOf pantomime.

C18th leader of Haitian Revolution

Opposites – dem tell me bout/ dem never tell me bout Who does ‘dem’ refer to?

Toussainta slavewith visionlick backNapoleonbattalionand first BlackRepublic bornToussaint de thornto de FrenchToussaint de beaconof de Haitian Revolution

Italics used in this stanza

Half rhyme

Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloonand de cow who jump over de moonDem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoonbut dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon

WesternEuropeanhistory

Nursery rhyme characters

Legendary C18th rebel and Escaped slave in Jamaica

Why are historical figures mixed with nursery rhyme characters and Characters from children’s stories?

Nannysee-far womanof mountain dreamfire-woman strugglehopeful streamto freedom river

Images of a powerful woman

Words showing hopebrought by Nanny toJamaican slaves.

Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and WaterlooBut dem never tell me bout Shaka de great ZuluDem tell me bout Columbus and 1492But what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too

Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lampAnd how Robin Hood used to campDem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soulBut dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole

Zulu chief, united many southernAfrican tribes

Native peoples of West Indies

Jamaican nurse who servedin Crimean War

From Jamaicashe travel farto the Crimean Warshe volunteer to goand even when de British said noshe still brave the Russian snowa healing staramong the woundeda yellow sunriseto the dying

Most poetic stanza and uses more Standard Englishthan other stanzas

Dem tell me Dem tell me wha dem want to tell meBut now I checkin out me own historyI carving out me identity Intention to take

control away fromthose who taught him

What are the connotations of this verb?

Importance of black history

Do you recogniseany of these people?

Look for clues inthe poem.

Dramatic Monologue

A piece of verse that gives the speaker a voice to express his/her feelings to a silent audience.

What are the feelings and opinions that John Agard is expressing in ‘Checkin Out Me History’?

Form and Structure

1. Which lines or stanzas stand out? 2. Why do they stand out?3. What is the impact of these lines or

stanzas?4. Look at stanzas 3,4,5 & 6 – what is

similar about them?5. Why is that?

Character & Voice

Who is being given a voice in this poem?