Use this to annotate your poems

1. Checking Out Me History
John Agard

2. Important things to know…
1066 = crucial to English history as it
marked the take over of English society by
the French.
Dick Whittington = a poor boy with nothing
but a cat who became Lord Mayor of
London – mentioned in fairy tales and
pantomimes
Touissant L’Ouverture = the black leader of
the Haitian revolution against French
Colonial rule. He abolished slavery in Haiti
and turned it into an independent republic
Nanny de Maroon = (Maroon is a general
term used to describe black slaves who
escaped from slavery and lived in remote
places within the areas they had been
transported to.
Nanny de Maroon led the maroons to
victory in Jamaica against British rule.
Lord Nelson = famous English admiral who
inflicted a massive defeat on the French
which meant the British Empire was
strengthened.
The Battle of Waterloo 1815 = the final
defeat of the French army led by Napoleon
which made Britain a world super power

3. Shaka = an influential leader of the Zulu
nation. He united the Zulu people against
other tribes and the increasing presence of
the white settlers
Caribs and Arawaks = the original
inhabitants of the West Indies at the time
when Columbus ‘discovered’ the islands.
They were killed off by the war or through
exposure to European diseases that they
had no immunity to.
Florence Nightingale = a famous British
nurse. Famous for her work in the
Crimean War and her innovations in
hygiene.
Robin Hood = legendary English hero
made famous from supposedly stealing
from the rich to give to the poor.
Mary Seacole was a Jamaican woman who
looked after soldiers in the same way that
Nightingale did – a black woman who
made a unique contribution to our history
but has been forgotten.
Crimean War = 1854-56 Russian Empire vs
Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire.
Lots of deaths occurred from fighting bit
also from outbreaks of disease.
Old King Cole and The Cow Jumped Over
the Moon = nursery rhymes

4. What do the following mean?
Dem -
Me -
Bout -
Dat -
Lick back -
De –
See-far woman –
-Them
-My
-About
-That
-Defeated
-Of
-A woman who
has a vision of the
future

5. Brief notes about the poem
• Agard is pointing out how in the English
Curriculum students only seem to learn about
white people because he believes it is written
by white people for white people
• He believes history in the English Curriculum
deliberately leaves out information about
black men and women who deserve more
recognition

6. Stanza one…
Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
What’s the stanza about?
These three
words are
used at the
start of all
the stanzas
that rhyme
The repetition highlights the
control that white people have
over history
Agard believes that if
you control what
people learn about the
past, then you can
control how people
think and what they
think about themselves

7. Stanza two…
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity
The alliteration on ‘b’ at the
start of these lines shows
that Agard believes that
information has been
deliberately distorted and
hiddenThe use of the ‘b’
creates an angry
tone
The use of non-standard English is
used to show his own culture and
background which he feels is not
acknowledged by the English
Curriculum
What’s the stanza about?

8. Stanza three…
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
This quatrain is repeated
throughout the poem – in each
one a different famous white
figure is mentioned. Each quatrain
usually ends with the mention of a
black historical figure who isn’t
taught about
The childish rhyme shows how he feels
about what he has been told about the past
– this is why he mentions characters from
nursery rhymes and myth – he is mocking
what he has been told
What’s the stanza about?

9. Stanza four…
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick black
Napolean
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
These longer verses serve to
concentrate on someone
famous in black history
The mocking tone is not
apparent in these sections.
They are italicised so that
they stand out visually
The lines are
shorter and they are
written in free verse
– Agard is using an
unconventional
form to write about
unconventional
ideas
The use of occasional
rhyme in these sections is
irregular
These section are filled with
metaphor and positive
imagery to convince the
reader about how amazing
these people are
What’s the stanza about?

10. Stanza five…
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 the
spoon
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon
Note the lack of punctuation in the
whole poem. Agarad is choosing to
reject the rules of punctuation – the
poem is therefore purposefully full of
enjambment – this represents how he
is rejecting white history too
What’s the stanza about?

11. Stanza six…
Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river
This language is unusual
and original
What do the metaphors
suggest to you about
Nanny de Maroon?
The metaphors create
a positive image of
Nanny
What’s the stanza about?

12. Stanza seven…
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and
Waterloo
but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great
Zulu
What’s the stanza about?

13. Stanza eight…
Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492
but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks
too
What’s the stanza about?

14. Stanza nine…
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
What’s the stanza about?

15. Stanza ten…
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
This metaphor
describes Mary
Seacole in a positive
light – a yellow sunrise
is full of hope and
promise for the dying
What’s the stanza about?

16. Stanza eleven…
Dem tell
Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity
The repetition of ‘dem tell
me’ could represent how
Agard felt nagged when
he was at school
Here the second line highlights how angry
Agard is
Now that he knows
about Toussaint; Nanny
de Maroon and Mary
Seacole he feels he is
able to understand
something about the
culture he comes from
What’s the stanza about?

17. The poem…
• Is cleverly constructed to
reclaim black identity
• Makes the reader aware
that British history is only a
point of view
• Introduces the reader to
famous black people
• Reminds us that whoever
controls the past, controls
the present

18. The poem…
• Cleverly uses two types of
stanza to show the
differences between
‘official’ and ‘non-official’
history
• Shows that without a
history and without a
distinctive voice we may
have no identity

19. Stanza two…
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity

20. Stanza two…
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity