Checking Out Me History Flashcards
(5 cards)
Whats’s the context on John agard
After living in Britain for 30 years and seeing the flawed and oppressive education system.
“I carving out me identity”
The use of the personal pronoun shows he’s taking personal charge over his identity a power denied to him through a systematic exclusion of black history.This omission perpetuated a cycle where his identity was constantly stifled.
“Mary seacole” “fire women struggle” “a healing star”
The motif of light show Agard pairs a motif of light with black historical figures.”Star” provides a source of direction and it also characterises someone with a divine quality.This could represent how these historical figures carved out a passage to freedom and illuminated colonialism.
Whats the form in checking out me history
It’s written in free verse with the periodic of rhyming quatrains.This could be metaphorical act of breaking free from the European convention.At the end of the rhyming of quatrain a refereance to black history comes at the end of each stanza perhaps critiquing how white history was prioritised.However by it being the final image of the stanza it rmains more pertinent in the reader’s mind so Agard is now giving them the acknowledgment they deserve.
What poems does it link to
Identity-London
Human control/power-London
Memories-Ozymandias
