This document was used in my revision and helped me to achieve a Grade 9 in my English Literature GCSE (159/160) - key words and alternative interpretations of quotes are provided.
Agards Poetry often focuses on ethnicity and
Dem tell me
i
identify
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me Agard read the line (in a history textbook) :
“West indian history begins in 1492 with the arrival of Columbus”
Bandage up me eye with me own history which made him consider the Eurocentric view
Blind me to my own identity
in education
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat ↳ the retelling of history depends on who is
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
telling the story
But Touissant L'Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat ↳ those in power use their power to shape
our understanding of who we are
Toussaint
a slave
Agard grew up and went to school in Guyana
,
with vision which was a British colony until 1966
lick back the poem is about the segregation of white
Napoleon and black
battalion history
and first Black Structure :
Republic born I . rhyme scheme
Toussaint de thorn a black historical
↳ the rhyme forces white
to de French
Toussaint de beacon figures together on numerous occasions
of de Haitian Revolution ↳ lines 22-25 :
building up the ,
rhyme
climaxing to the final line of the verse
Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon ↳ the importance of Nanny de Maroon
and de cow who jump over de moon
Dem tell me bout de dish run away with de spoon
↳
Agard wants the reader to stop and think
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon about these black historical features
. Enjambment (lines 32-35)
2
Nanny
26
↳ two compound sentences used here
27 see-far woman
↳ forces the reader to combine black and white
28 of mountain dream
29 fire-woman struggle historical figures
30 hopeful stream
↳ emphasises that 'Lord Nelson' and 'Shaka de
31 to freedom river
great Zum' belong in the same sentence,
contrary to what he was taught
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo
Es
↳ lines 32-35 generally
but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu
e Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492 ↳ a very simple childlike rhyme scheme is
,
but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too used in verses about white people mocking ,
36 Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp the presentation of history as childish/naive
37 and how Robin Hood used to camp ↳ this contrasts with the three verses about
38 Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul Black History
39 but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole
. The verses about Black
3 (lines 10-21,
History :
40 From Jamaica 26 31 -
,
40 49)-
she travel far
·
↳ they are italicised to highlight their importance and
to the Crimean War
she volunteer to go make them stand out
and even when de British said no ↳ written in free verse
she still brave the Russian snow
a healing star
↳ no rhyme/ regular rhythm
↳
among the wounded nobody can control them
a yellow sunrise 4 'l carving out me own identity'
.
49 to the dying in the poem
↳ The
Speaker is the last person referred to
highlighting his significance
Dem tell me ↳ he is the final person Stanza because
in the his new-
Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history found history has empowered him with a new sense of
I carving out me identity identity
. lack of
5 punctuation
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