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AQA GCSE POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE

‘Checking Out Me History’ by John Agard

Learning Objectives:

-AO1: Respond to the using details from the poem to support your opinion

-AO2: Analyse the writers’ methods (language, structure and form) and the purposes of these methods

Pre-reading activity

1. Why do you think it might it be a good idea to teach young people history at school? Note three reasons.

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  1. Why do you think that British history is widely taught across the world?

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  1. What reasons might there be to teach young people about the history of other cultures as well as British history?

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 Take 3 minutes to discuss your opinions with a partner. Justify your ideas.

 Add any further issues you have uncovered.

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First impressions

 Read the poem.

 What are your first impressions of the tone and meaning? What, do you think, is the speaker’s opinion?

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What type of poem is this?

 This poem is a dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue is a piece of verse that gives the speaker a voice to EXPRESS his/her feelings to a silent audience.

In the case of ‘Checking Out Me History’, Agard’s speaker expresses a desire to learn more about his/her own country of origin, not just the Britishhistorys/he has been taught in school. Agard himself was born in Guyana in South America in 1949 and moved to England in 1977.

Poetry detective

*Find table on next page (page 4).

What is the narrator of the poem taught at school? What does the narrator wish he or she was taught?

Instructions for teacher:

  1. Enlarge, cut out and hide the statements around the classroom.
  2. Put pupils into groups of three. One student within the group takes on the role of scribe; s/he will need the empty table on page 5 and a pen. The other two students are ‘runners’. (Teacher to differentiate accordingly.)
  3. The task for the ‘runners’ is to find a statement, memorise it and then return to the scribe who has to write down the information provided by her / his runners. Runners are NOT allowed to pick up the statements or to shout the facts across the classroom. Neither are they allowed to memorise more than one fact before returning to the scribe.
  4. The team must arrange the statements in the table under the relevant heading.
  5. This is a frantic activity but one that students enjoy and it often turns into a race without the teacher even mentioning the word. Advice on movement around the classroom might be necessary.

TAUGHT / NOT TAUGHT
1066 / Toussaint L’Ouverture
Dick Whittington / Nanny of the Maroons
The man who discovered the balloon. / Shaka, Zulu King
‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ by Mother Goose / The Caribs
Lord Nelson / The Arawaks
The Battle of Waterloo / Mary Seacole
Robin Hood
Florence Nightingale
Old King Cole
Christopher Columbus
TAUGHT / NOT TAUGHT

Webquest

 Use the Internet to find 3 - 4 details about the historical figures that Agard feels have been ignored or underrepresented.

Toussaint L’Ouverture / ______
Nanny de Maroon
/ ______________________________
Shaka
/ __________________
The Caribs / ______
______________________________
The Arawaks
/ ______
__________________
Mary Seacole
/ ____________

Poetry detective

Spot the following poetic techniques and devices at work in the poem. What is their PURPOSE and EFFECT?

techniques / examples and analysis
short lines
italics
non-standard english
repetition
lack of punctuation
a range of historical events / figures
rhyme

Let’s take a closer look

 Answer the following questions by providing quotes and analysis. Think PEA - point, example, analysis.

Stanzas 1 – 3

Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
But Toussaint L’Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat

What can we infer about the speaker?

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Who do you think ‘dem’ refers to?

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Why do you think the poet has included a mixture of real events, characters from children’sstories and nursery rhymes?

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Stanzas 4, 6 and 9

4 / 6 / 9
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution / Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river / From Jamaica
she travel far
to the Crimean War
she volunteer to go
and even when de British said no
she still brave the Russian snow
a healing star
among the wounded
a yellow sunrise
to the dying

Select an effective noun phrase used to describe each historical figure. Discuss the effect of each noun phrase and how the speaker’s praise for them is made clear.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

______

______

Nanny de Maroon

______

______

Mary Seacole

______

______

Below is stanza four of the poem, rewritten in standard English.

From Jamaica, she travelledfar to the Crimean War. She volunteered to go and even when the British said no, she still braved the Russian snow. She was a healing star among the wounded, a yellow sunrise to the dying.

 Give examples of / make a note of (up to you which; delete below as necessary) the non-standarddialect and grammar forms that this has revealed. Explore their effect.

techniques / examples and analysis
ellipsis
lack of punctuation
enjambment
phonetic spelling
colloquialism

Why might the poet have used such short lines in these stanzas?

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Why might the poet have used italics for these stanzas?

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Stanza 10

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

What might the metaphor‘I carving out me identity’ mean? Think about the connotations of the verb ‘to carve’.

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What could you infer about the way the speaker feels about his or her identity from this stanza?

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/ My Itchy Toes Smell Loads
 Complete the table below with what youconsider to be the most important quotes and poetic deviceswithin each category.
meaning
imagery
tone
Structure and Form
language

Comparing poems

-AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects

 Use the Venn diagram to find the differences and similarities between the two poems.

Sample exam question

Compare the theme of history in ‘Checking Out Me History’ and ‘The Horse Whisperer’.

Planning an essay

 Using MITSL as a guide, create anessay plan or spider diagram for your essay question. You must include 3 - 5 points of comparison. Number each point in the order you would write about them in your exam. When you write your essay, remember to analysestructuralandpoetic devices for their effectand meaning. Don’t just list.

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Checking Out Me History
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50 / Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
But Toussaint L’Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon
and de cow who jump over de moon
Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon
Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo
but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu
Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492
but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too
Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp
and how Robin Hood used to camp
Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul
but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole
From Jamaica
she travel far
to the Crimean War
she volunteer to go
and even when de British said no
she still brave the Russian snow
a healing star
among the wounded
a yellow sunrise
to the dying
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.
John Agard

Acknowledgments and thanks

Written by Chantel Mathias and Amanda Fiegel

Introduction and copy by Karen Bishop

Audio file scripts and recordings by Barrie McDermid -

Interactive resources and design by David Riley -

Images:

  • napoleonstark.wordpress.com
  • voiceseducation.org
  • mwhcp-per6.wikispaces.com
  • clayvilla.com
  • flmnh.ufl.edu
  • famous.y2u.co.uk

Agard, John

‘Checking Out Me History’ Copyright © 1996 by John Agard reproduced by kind permission of John Agard c/o Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency Limited.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this collection. If notified, we will be pleased to rectify any errors / omissions.

Copyright © 2010 TES English