Checkinf Me Out History V2 Flashcards
Form used in COMH and significance
Stanza in italics: telling the reader of important history he was not taught (he is now the educator). The italics emphasises his history visually.
Short line stanza in iatlics- slow pace of stanza which is too emphasise his hidtory (make the reader acknowledge it)
Excess rhyme scheme during non italicised stanza= makes the history he was told seem simple. Metaphor for the colonisers often infantilised those they colonised
Phonetic spelling with nonpunctuation: Agard rebbelling against the speaker with his voice. Forces the reader to speak like him. Furthermore, he is going against what he was taught in school since they did not edcuate him properly.
Structure used in COMH and significance
Contarst of non-italic stanzas and those in italics: highlights the contrats between what the speaker has been taught and what he learns from ‘checking out me own history’
Repetiton of non italic stanzas: conveys a sense of being bombarded by the bias education ‘system dem’ against ‘me’
Refernces between non-italic and italicised stanzas: Italics=children stories ‘Dick Whittington’ and nursery rhymes ‘De cow who jumped over de moon’ . Non-Italicised= leader ‘Toussaint L’Ouverture’ and moral heroes ‘Mary Seacole’
Context of COMH
Agard recieved a Eurocentric education in Guyana (colonised) until 1966 . He was given a eurocentric view of history whilst denied his own (denied of his own identity)
Inspired from ‘half caste and other poems’ which focused on racial and cultural identity.
Agard created his poem with the intent of it being universal (all people who live under oppression and denied of from their cultural identity )
Lanuguage used in COMH
Repetition of ‘Dem tell me’- creates an accustary tone presents the speakers anger
‘Bandage’ and ‘blind’- emphasises the damage inflcited by biased education. A metaphor for cultural oppression (how became blind to it)
‘and all dat’- similar to BC (etcetera). This implies a dismissive attitude to what he was taught in school
Imagery of light- Presents Agard in a process of restoring his sight (his cultural truth) that he was hidden from reinforces his message for hope and is also allowing the reader to see. E.g ‘Vision’,’beacon’,’see-far’,’healing star’,’yellow sunrise’
Natural images- natural images associate with his history he is now bringing light - emphasises the ‘natural’ power of his culture. E.g ‘mountain’,’fire’,’stream’,’river’,’sunrise’
‘Carving’ out his identity-makes it sound difficult and time-consuming, but also a worthwhile process as it results in artwork (beauty). It is also shown to be an ongoing process.
Similarities with COMH and Ozymandias
“Blind [him] to [his] own identity” pain inflcited by oppresors
Ozymandias is also stripped from his identity as his works are now covered by the “low level sands”
Differences with COMH and Ozymandias
Agard is able to research and speak about his history whereas Shelley describes how corruption in power is permanent and will preserve ‘legs of stone’
Similarities with COMH and Emigrée
Voilent connotations ‘bandage up me own history’-in Rumens poem there is an aggressive undertone ‘branded by an impression of sunlight’
Both poems show a great emotional significance to cultrual identity ‘dem tell me” show anger in Rumenks she says ‘I comb its hair and love its shining eyes’ maternal feeling to her old home
Importance in langauge in both poems ‘child’s vocabulary’ while Agard uses a Creole language to represent the diffierent cultures
Differences with COMH and Emigrée
Speaker demonsies his childhood through his angry tone. Rumens uses light imagery ‘impression of sunlight’ ‘the white streets’ and ‘taste of sunlight’ to present dreamlike, idealised childhood
Themes in COMH
Anger to oppressors
Power of cultural identity
Power of oppressors
Power of pride
