Checking Out Me History

Power and Conflict Anthology Poem

Who wrote Checking Out Me History?

John Agard

Context

John Agard was born in the Caribbean in 1949 and moved to the UK in the 1970s. His poetry challenge racism and prejudice. This poem may, to some extent, have achieved its purpose as in 2016, a statue was erected in London in honour of Mary Seacole, one of the people mentioned in the poem.

Big Ideas

• Anger

• Admiration

• Celebration

• Power Identity

Message of the poem

The poem represents the voice of a black man who is frustrated by the Eurocentric history curriculum in the UK, which pays little attention to the black history. Black history is quoted to emphasise its separateness and to stress its importance.

Structure

It is written as a dramatic monologue, with a dual structure. Stanzas concerning Eurocentric history, in normal font, are interspersed with stanzas on black history, in italics to represent separateness and rebellion. The lack of punctuation, the stanzas in free verse, the irregular rhyme scheme and the use of Creole (natural language) could represent the narrator’s rejection of the rules.

“Dem _________ me“

“Dem tell me“

“Bandage up __________________ history“

“Bandage up me eye with me own history“

“de __________________ de moon“

“de cow who jump over de moon“

“but dem never __________________ de maroon“

“but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon“

“hopeful __________________ river“

“hopeful stream / to freedom river“

“But now I __________________ I carving _________“

“But now I checking out me own history / I carving out me identity“

“Dem tell me“

Repetition of this phrase, likely referring to the British education system, and how it tells people about mostly their own history, instead of that of black people’s history. Also, throughout the play lots of colloquial language and creole is used, to represent his mother tongue, and to celebrate his own history.

“Bandage up me eye with me own history“

Metaphor suggestive that he is not able to learn about his own history, only people who the education system deem relevant. They are preventing him from finding out about what he finds interesting.

“de cow who jump over de moon“

This is showing that he believes that the system even teaches them pointless things, like nursery rhymes, when they could be using the time to learn about his history.

“hopeful stream / to freedom river“

Streams and rivers have connotations of freedom, which is what it presented here. He is presenting the often not talked about historical figures in a very positive way, to present how good they are, despite the education system not talking about them.

“But now I checking out me own history / I carving out me identity“

This is showing that he now feels as if he can embrace his background, instead of hiding it. He can now be who he wants to be, and he no longer feels repressed by the system.