COMH Flashcards
(8 cards)
Dem Tell me
Dem Tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
-the speaker repeats ‘Dem tell me’ throughout the poem, beginning with the very first line
-the depiction of ‘dem’ in comparison to ‘me’ creates a dichotomous image of conflict and distance
-this could reflect the narrator’s frustration with the Euro-centric history taught in the school curriculum
-this phrase is repeated throughout the poem, imbedded it with a righteousness angry tone due to the marginalisation
-the plosive ‘d’ and ‘t’ sound establishes a level of aggression and bitterness that Agard feels towards the education system
-furthermore, the dominance of ‘dem’ at the beginning of each stanza could highlight the repressive and overbearing nature of the British colonial education
how does the Emigrée compare to COMH
- momentous effect of the past on the present reality of both speakers
- the power of connection with heritage
- the power of resistance and reclamation
- the systematic oppression of minorities
metaphor of being ‘blinded’ and from his identity
-this metaphor highlights the deliberate nature of the abuse inflicted by colonial control
-this reinforces the righteous anger of the narrator throughout the poem
-this could also reflect Agards own dissatisfaction with his schooling as a student who received the sanitised education of Guyana as a dutch colony
-the poem implies that denying people access to their personal history is an act of opression
‘dem’ instead of them and ‘de’ instead of the
throughout the poem, Agard utilises non-standard english phonetic spelling and Guyanese-Creole to represent his own culture and background as a Guyanese British immigrant
-this could reflect his pride in his culture as he refuses to conform to the lexis of his oppressors as an act of celebration for his regional dialect
I carving out me identity
-in the very last line, the poet uses the present-continuous tense ‘I carving’
-this suggests that the search for his identity is an ongoing process
-the verb ‘carving’ also implies a great difficulty which could reflect the almost journey of discovery the omitted truths about his history
-however the deliberate choice of the word ‘carving’ also creates the image of the transfiguration of a material with seemingly peripheral importance into a piece of art
-this could suggest that despite the painstaking journey ‘checking out [me] own history , the outcome -unveiling his identity- is rewarding
form in the opening
in the opening, Agard uses a repetitive and simplistic rhyme. This could reflect the constrictive nature of the education system and perhaps even life in Britain
form of the Afro-Caribbean history
-form changes to to something akin to free verse and the rhymes occur faster and more unpredictable
-through the use of form, Agard connects personal freedom as a wider representation of the cultural freedom
-Furthermore he contrasts the level of freedom when’s teaching his real history in comparison to the restriction of life in Britain as reflected through the limited rhyme
Toussaint as the ‘beacon of de Haitian Revolution’ and Mary Sea cole as ‘a healing star’
-Agard employs a motif of light to idealise references to black history
as the poem progresses
-in a literary context, light portrays the image of hope
-for example the ‘star’ is a quintessential example of a guiding source and is quite literally ‘light in the darkness’
-this semantic field of light could suggest the nature of this poem as a triumphant tale of the figures in History who had been overshadowed by their white counterparts such as Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale, both Nurses during the Crimean War except British Education only pays homage to Nightingale
-alternatively,this inextricable connection between light and the historical figures could be emblematic of how they have illuminated a journey of empowerment and discovery of the narrators own identity
