checking out me history and island man comparison
Checking out me history and island man comparison.
“Checking out me history” is all about the writer wanting to learn about his past. Instead, he is being taught all about the history of white people. He keeps reciting facts that he has learnt. Some of the facts most English children would have learnt whilst they are in school, and some of the facts he has been taught outside of school, probably by his parents.
The poem seems like it is a rant to the schooling system and the politics of the country. This may be why there is no punctuation in this poem. It is a way to rebel against the teachers. At school the teachers are always telling you to check your spelling and punctuation, and he is disagreeing with the way and things he is being taught.
Having no punctuation suits the informality of the whole poem and it adds to the song-like form of it. The short lines in the poem make it seem quite powerful, although also quite childlike.
The rhyme in “checking out me history” holds the rhythm together. It seems like the poem is meant to be told, or sung, rather than to be read. The rhyme in some verses has a regular rhyming pattern, where as the verses ion italics (verse four, six and nine) have no rhyming patter. These are the facts that he has learnt so it seems right that the rhyming in these are different.
The poet often repeats the phrase “dem tell me”. This emphasises the point about him being taught things that he does not want to learn, because it seems like he cannot be bothered to write proper English. When the poem is spoken aloud, the phonetic spelling makes it sound like you have a Caribbean or south American accent. This makes you think of one of the British colonies, where they would me made to learn about white people’s history. The phonetic spelling is non Standard English and it adds to the fact that the poet is rebelling against the way he being taught. It makes the poem seem more informal, like he is simply talking to you as part of a
“Checking out me history” is all about the writer wanting to learn about his past. Instead, he is being taught all about the history of white people. He keeps reciting facts that he has learnt. Some of the facts most English children would have learnt whilst they are in school, and some of the facts he has been taught outside of school, probably by his parents.
The poem seems like it is a rant to the schooling system and the politics of the country. This may be why there is no punctuation in this poem. It is a way to rebel against the teachers. At school the teachers are always telling you to check your spelling and punctuation, and he is disagreeing with the way and things he is being taught.
Having no punctuation suits the informality of the whole poem and it adds to the song-like form of it. The short lines in the poem make it seem quite powerful, although also quite childlike.
The rhyme in “checking out me history” holds the rhythm together. It seems like the poem is meant to be told, or sung, rather than to be read. The rhyme in some verses has a regular rhyming pattern, where as the verses ion italics (verse four, six and nine) have no rhyming patter. These are the facts that he has learnt so it seems right that the rhyming in these are different.
The poet often repeats the phrase “dem tell me”. This emphasises the point about him being taught things that he does not want to learn, because it seems like he cannot be bothered to write proper English. When the poem is spoken aloud, the phonetic spelling makes it sound like you have a Caribbean or south American accent. This makes you think of one of the British colonies, where they would me made to learn about white people’s history. The phonetic spelling is non Standard English and it adds to the fact that the poet is rebelling against the way he being taught. It makes the poem seem more informal, like he is simply talking to you as part of a