checking out me history

Question 1

‘dem tell me
dem tell me
wha dem want to tell me’

Answer 1

(dem = white education system)

anaphora: ‘dem’
↳ hyper fixated on white people
↳ accusatory & oppressive tone

imperative verb: ‘tell’
↳ assertive, one sided conversation (patronising & condescending)

Question 2

‘bandage up me eye with me own history
blind me to me own identity’

Answer 2

verb: ‘bandage’
↳ connotates to a cure meaning that the white people believe that it’s a hindrance/almost distressing to learn about other races
↳ he can not learn about his own history as his eyes have been covered

plosives: ‘bandage’, ‘blind’
↳ irritated by narrow minded whites

metaphor: ‘blind me to own identity’
↳ suggests cruelty of being separated by from identity, alike to being blinded
↳ it’s like losing a major sense, senses allow you to explore the world
↳ emotive language

Question 3

‘toussaint de thorn
to de french
toussaint de beacon
of de haitian revolution’

Answer 3

parallelism:
↳ suggests unity, satisfaction & justice

metaphor: ‘toussaint de beacon’
↳ light, guidance, salvation

Question 4

importance of the stanzas in italics

Answer 4

italics
↳ show that black history is special and important
↳ emphasise segregation between world history and black history as black history is seen as inferior

short lines
↳ increase pace to induce a dramatic & exciting feeling
↳ contrast to previous monotonous stanzas
↳ suggest a lack of information about black history due to misinformation & lacking knowledge
↳ fleeting thoughts

long stanza:
↳ significant & rich history

Question 5

‘nanny
… of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river’

Answer 5

noun: ‘mountain’
↳ high achieving, visionary

metaphor: ‘fire-woman’
↳ she was passionate to fight for her freedom

semantic field of nature: ‘mountain’, ‘stream’ and ‘river’
↳ nature is essential, vital and beautiful just like black history

juxtaposition: ‘fire’, ‘river’
↳ fighting for peace and freedom

Question 6

‘dem tell me about florence nightingale and she lamp
… but dem never tell me about mary seacole’

Answer 6

mary seacole is overshadowed by florence because she is black

Question 7

‘a healing star
among the wounded
a yellow sunrise
to the dying’

Answer 7

metaphor: ‘healing star’
↳ cure in time of war, positive effects
↳ has emotional significance to him & guidance

metaphor: a yellow sunrise’
↳ yellow connotates to fresh & new beginning
↳ sunrise is the beginning of a new day, mary seacole was unique
↳ great nurse as she woke the dying

juxtaposition: ‘lamp’ (FL) ‘star’ (MS)
↳ a star is much brighter and bigger

Question 8

‘dem tell me
dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
but now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity’

Answer 8

cyclical structure: ’dem tell me’
↳ echoes the beginning to show how stubborn & repetitive the english syllabus is

volta: ‘but now’
↳ the speaker is taking injustice into his own hands

possessive pronoun: ‘me own history’
↳ he has begun educating his own self

first person: ‘I carving out…’
↳ the speaker is assertive & not passive
↳ he has let go of ‘dem’ and now takes responsibility for himself & makes the poem about himself, not them

verb: ‘carving’
↳ requires time & skill, he wants to cut out white history
↳ strenuous
↳ he’s leaving an imprint in the world
↳ he is pained that his identity has been left from him for so long

Question 9

no full stops in checking out me history

Answer 9

-his story is incomplete
-he doesn’t want to conform to eurocentric standards
-the lack of grammar makes the reader feel like an outsider just as he does in modern society due to his identity being ignored
↳ pushes unconventional ideas

Question 10

context:

Answer 10

-agard was born in guyana in 1949, it became independent in 1966, which means he grew up with eurocentric views
-he lived in england for 30 years
-agard was inspired by reading a school textbook that said that west indian history began with columbus

Question 11

language:

Answer 11

creole
↳ significant to his identity

Question 12

structure:

Answer 12

no punctuation
↳ speeds up the flow of text, conveys anger
↳ opposes status quo

enjambment:
↳ too much emotion to be contained

italics
↳ emphasise separation between black and white history

Question 13

form:

Answer 13

free verse & irregular rhyme scheme:
↳ opposes status quo
↳ pushes unconventionality which reinforces his idea of allowing black history to finally shine

Question 14

1066

Answer 14

battle of hastings

Question 15

duck whittington and he cat

Answer 15

-taught in primary schools
-trivial

Question 16

toussaint l’ouverture

Answer 16

-a former slave who became the leader of the only successful slave revolt and created an independent state
-haitian revolution
-advanced with hard work

Question 17

napoleon

Answer 17

-was born into riches
-defeated by toussaint

Question 18

nanny de maroon

Answer 18

-leader of the maroons
-a group that escaped slavery & led the maroons to victory against british colonies

Question 19

lord nelson and waterloo

Answer 19

battle winners

Question 20

shaka de great zulu

Answer 20

-zulu leader
-united tribes and challenged white settlers
-only white victories are celebrated

Question 21

columbus and 1942

Answer 21

-columbus allegedly discovered america
-native tribes discovered america first
-shows how white people rewrite history to form their own narratives

Question 22

de caribs and de arawaks

Answer 22

-the first people of the caribbean
-they settled in these islands long before columbus arrived in 1492

Question 23

florence nightingale and she lamp

Answer 23

-the founder of modern nursing.
-she would walk among the beds, checking the wounded men holding a light in her hand
-florence returned after the war as a national heroine

Question 24

mary seacole

Answer 24

-jamaican born nurse
-funded her own trip to crimea after being refused by the british war office
-established a hotel to provide a place for sick and recovering soldiers
-rode on horseback into the battlefields to nurse wounded soldiers on the front lines
-after the crimean war, mary returned to pondon with very little money and in poor health

Question 25

who wrote checking out me history?

Answer 25

john agard