Checking Out Me History (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology in the GCSE contains 15 poems, and in the poetry question in the exam you will be given one poem on the paper - printed in full - and asked to compare this given poem to one other from the anthology. You will not have access to the other poems in the exam, so you will have to know them very well from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to learn. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-mark response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
• How the poet conveys these ideas and messages through their methods
• How do these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas and themes of other poems in the anthology

Below is a guide to Checking Out Me History by John Agard, from the Power and Conflict anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is essential that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Agard’s intention and message

Checking Out Me History in a nutshell

Checking Out Me History is a modern poem published in 2007 by the poet John Agard, who was born in British Guiana, now called Guyana, in the Caribbean. The poem uses non-standard phonetic spelling and mixes Guyanese Creole with standard English to represent the voice of a black man who recounts all of the white historical figures he was taught as a child at school and is frustrated that important figures from black history were not mentioned. He, therefore, resolves to discover more about the history and heritage relevant to him. The title of the poem is thus ironic, as it is not “his” history he is “checking out”.

Checking Out Me History breakdown

Lines 1-5

“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”

Translation

• The speaker repeats “Dem” meaning “them” or “they”
• “Them” or “they” refers to his white teachers
• He says that they teach him what they want to teach him, controlling what people learn
• They cover up colonised people’s history from them, blinding people like the speaker to their true history and identity

Agard’s intention

• The narrator of this poem is introduced through their voice and the deliberate use of the Guyanese Creole dialect
• The poet is referring to the English curriculum taught by British educators, which was written by white people and biased towards white history
• 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
• It also reflects his pride in his own culture and background

                                                            

Lines 6-9

“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”

Translation

• The narrator then references the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and the childhood story of Dick Whittington and his cat
• But he was never taught about black historical figures, such as Toussaint L’Ouverture

Agard’s intention

• The poet references white historical figures or events in each quatrain and contrasts this with a black historical figure who isn’t included in the curriculum
• This is to show that these white historical references were irrelevant to him
• Toussaint L’Ouverture was a slave and the leader of the Haitian Revolution
• He beat back the (white) French emperor Napoleon, which is how Haiti gained independence from the French and became the first black democracy in the Americas
• He transformed the lives of many slaves

Lines 10-21

“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”

Translation

• The speaker then “teaches” us about Toussaint L’Ouverture
• He was a slave who rose up to beat back Napoleon’s battalions leading to Haiti’s independence
• He was a thorn in the French’s side, meaning a constant pain, and a figure-head of the Haitian revolution

Agard’s intention

• The poet deliberately changes to italics here to contrast the difference between white and black history
• Toussaint as a beacon implies he is illuminating the poet’s true historical identity
• His history is important to him, as demonstrated by his knowledge of this historical figure more relevant to the speaker and the poet

Lines 22-25

Translation

• They are taught about trivial things such as the man who discovered the balloon and the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle”
• But they didn’t teach him about Nanny de Maroon, a Jamaican slave born to the Asante people in the late 17th century

Agard’s intention

• Even nursery rhymes and English inventors are prioritised over such important black historical figures

Lines 26-31

“Nanny

see-far woman

of mountain dream

fire-woman struggle

hopeful stream

to freedom river”

Translation

• Nanny was a “see-far” woman, meaning a visionary
• She founded her own town for other escaped slaves in the mountains of Jamaica
• Today, she is a Jamaican national hero

Agard’s intention

• Again, Agard changes into italics to highlight the difference in historical narratives
• Nanny de Maroon’s actions were a source of hope for other enslaved people, like a stream that flows into a deeper river of freedom
• The reference to “fire” again suggests illuminating the speaker’s true history
• The reference to struggle highlights that her journey and fight were not easy

Lines 32-39

“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 be 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”

Translation

• The narrator then goes on to list other important figures and events in white history
• Admiral Lord Nelson defeated Napoleon in The Battle of Waterloo
• Shaka was a Zulu king from Southern Africa, famous for bringing together different nations in order to grow the Zulu kingdom:
  • The speaker is not taught about him
• He is also taught about Christopher Columbus, who came to America in 1492:
  • However, the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, the “Caribs” and the “Arawaks”, were mostly killed and displaced after Columbus’s arrival
• The British taught the speaker about Florence Nightingale, who famously nursed injured soldiers by the light of her lamp during the Crimean War
• They were even taught about mythological figures like Robin Hood, and another nursery rhyme, “Old King Cole”
• But the British never taught the speaker about Mary Seacole

Agard’s intention

• Shaka is a historical figure who never made any contact with European people
• He is a historic figure who revolutionised African communities alone, and not someone one would expect to learn about in an English school
• Agard is indicating that the narrator is very knowledgeable about the type of history that matters to him

Lines 40-49

“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”

Translation

• Mary Seacole was from Jamaica and had to travel far to get to the Crimean War
• She volunteered to help but initially was denied by the British War Office
• She then travelled independently to Russia to help heal the wounded
• She gave hope, like a healing star and a bright sunrise, to sick and dying men

Agard’s intention

• Again, Agard deliberately changes the font to teach us about the history that matters more to him
• He once again uses the image of illumination to highlight this aspect of history

Lines 50-53

“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”

Translation

• The speaker repeats the opening line of the poem, that the British only taught colonised students their version of history
• However, the speaker is learning the history of his own people
• By doing so, the speaker is creating his own identity

Agard’s intention

• This marks a turning point in the poem, from “dem” to “I”
• This shows the speaker taking ownership of his own identity
• The poem is now about him, rather than them

Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is important to take an integrated approach to AO2, focusing on the main themes and ideas of the poem and then evaluating how Agard’s choices of language, structure and form contribute to these ideas. In essence, how and why the poet has made the choices they have, in relation to their intentions and message. 

Focusing on the poet’s main ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. In the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Agard’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem is written as a form of dramatic monologue, in which the speaker uses oral poetry to teach the reader his history, as opposed to the history imposed upon him

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Identity and control	Dramatic monologue from the point of view of the speaker, presumably someone who was educated in the British system	The speaker is able to take back “control” over the history that matters most to him

Structure

Agard deliberately structures the poem into two distinct styles through the use of italics. This shows the separation between the history he was taught and black history, which is more important to his own identity

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Identity and control	Poem alternates between two structures, marked by two different fonts	Agard juxtaposes juxtaposes sometimes frivolous British and white history taught in colonial schools with powerful black history
		This implies that these people have been ignored or purposefully omitted from British education, as the British chose to glorify their own historical figures
	Stanzas dealing with the history the speaker was forced to learn use simple rhyming couplets	The simple, almost child-like rhymes emphasise the superficial nature and lack of relevance of this history to the speaker
	Each of these stanzas starts with “Dem tell me”	The repetition suggests frustration at the colonial control which has dominated the speaker’s life, and which now dominates these stanzas of the poem
		Agard seems to believe that if you control what people learn about the past, then you control how people think and what they think about themselves
	Each stanza ends with reference to a black historical figure	This suggests the lack of prominence given to these figures
	These stanzas also repeatedly use the connective “but”	This is used to tie together black and white history. They cannot be separated and one should not be ignored over the other
	Final stanza links back to the first, and contrasts “Blind me to me own identity” with “I carving out me own identity”	This shows the speaker’s journey to find his own identity
	The longer verses concentrate on someone important in black history	Agard is using an unconventional form to write about unconventional ideas
	The lines are shorter and written in free verse, sounding more like a speech	The tone is not mocking, contrasting with the poet’s mocking tone in the stanzas referencing nursery rhymes, as if these were important
	Agard uses non-standard phonetic spelling	Creole is the native language of an area which has arisen from attempting to speak two different languages
		This shows how the speaker is resisting the traditions of the English language and the restrictions imposed by colonial rule
Control and oppression	The poem deliberately does not use punctuation	Punctuation can be interpreted as a set of rules used to shape and restrict communication
		By not using it, Agard allows the listener or reader to interpret the poem in their own way and attach their own set of rules, and identity, to it, therefore resisting oppression

Language

Agard uses his choice of techniques and language to contrast the importance and relevance of the British or white history taught in colonised schools with less prominent black history

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Identity and control	Agard uses violent metaphors, such as “blind me” and “bandage up me eye” to depict the impact of not learning about history relevant to the speaker’s identity	This emphasises the deliberate nature of the abuse inflicted by colonial control
Conflict between different histories	Verses about black history are full of positive and nature imagery, such as “mountain dream” and “yellow sunrise”	This suggests the longevity and power of these historical figures, just like the longevity and power of nature
		The rich imagery used in these verses juxtaposes with the childish lexis in the other stanzas
		This reflects the beautiful and complex nature of black history
	Agard repeatedly uses the motif of light in the black history verses. For example, “Toussaint de beacon”, “fire-woman”, “a healing star” and “a yellow sunrise”	This implies that these figures are a source of guidance and inspiration
		They illuminate the history that has been hidden or deliberately omitted from the curriculum
	At the end of the poem, the poet uses the present continuous tense “I carving”	This suggests that the search for his own identity is an on-going process
		The deliberate choice of the verb “carving” also suggests that it is a difficult and sometimes painful journey

Examiners are clear that context should not be written about separately. It is therefore important that you do not write about context separately, or include irrelevant biographical information about John Agard or the historical figures mentioned in the poem. The best way to include context is to start with the key themes and ideas in the poem, and then include an exploration of why the writer may have chosen to address these themes and ideas. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Agard explores:

• Cultural identity
• Oppression and control

Cultural identity

• Guyana was a Dutch colony until 1966
  • Agard was born there and received a British education
  • When Guyana became independent, he realised how much of his identity he had been deprived of
• The title of the poem reflects the subject matter
• • The poem written from the perspective of someone from a Caribbean culture, as the title is written in a Creole dialect
  • The use of the words “Checking Out” implies a less formal way of learning about history, rather than studying it at school
• The poem is filled with historic context
  • On both “sides” of the British-colonial story are figures whose contributions to their home, culture or people are significant
  • Agard examines both sides to shed light on some of the most influential historical figures whose names are overshadowed over and over again
• Much of colonial society was about being told what one’s place in the world was by someone else
  • The poet is suggesting that colonial education cannot be trusted because it does not have the interests of colonised people in mind
• The use of historical figures important to black and colonised peoples’ history shows the poet’s passion and pride towards his own history and identity
  • These are people the poet can relate to and wants to learn about
  • They represent freedom from the oppression of the colonised education system
  • The poet may also be questioning why people don’t know about minority groups from the Caribbean, such as the Caribs and Arawaks
  • This suggests that people may be ignorant to his cultural identity

Oppression and control

• The poem implies that denying people access to their history is a form of oppression
• It stops people from being inspired by history that is relevant to them and establishing a separate identity (to that of their colonisers)
• It is possible that British and other colonised powers deliberately omitted Toussaint L’Ouverture from their teachings
• They might have feared that other oppressed peoples might learn from this example and rise up
• In order to reclaim that identity, the speaker argues, colonised peoples must reclaim their history
• The key to fighting back is for colonised people to investigate and learn about their own history
• If you control what people learn about the past, then you can control how people think and what they think about themselves
• Whoever controls the past controls the present
• The poet is therefore arguing that, without a history and a voice, we have no identity
• The poem is therefore intended to apply to all people living under oppression and being denied their cultural identity

The essay you are required to write in your exam should be an integrated comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems (the one given on the exam paper and one other). It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents key ideas and themes, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that Checking Out Me History explores ideas of identity, oppression and control, the following comparisons would be a good place to start:

• Checking Out Me History and London
• Checking Out Me History and The Émigrée

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

Checking Out Me History and London

Comparison in a nutshell:

This comparison provides the opportunity to compare the poets’ attitudes towards the misuse of power by those in authority. However, while Agard gives a solution, Blake does not, demonstrating their differing viewpoints on the potential for cultural and social change.

Similarities:

 

Topic sentence	Both Agard and Blake challenge the power of humans to control and oppress
Evidence and analysis	Checking Out Me History	London
	Agard challenges the authority of the English curriculum, and British and other colonial powers, through the deliberate use of phonetic spelling, lack of punctuation and free verse	Blake challenges the “blackening church” for not fulfilling their obligations and helping the poor
	The repetition of “Dem tell me” suggests the speaker’s frustration and anger at the restrictions imposed on what he is able to learn by the British education system	The monarchy is also criticised as being responsible for the misery and suffering of war
	Agard uses nature imagery to imply the powerful force of his history and its ability to outlive the history and identity colonised education tried to impose upon him	Blake’s London criticises attempts by authorities to control and own nature, which are ultimately futile
	He describes Nanny de Maroon as “a healing star” and “a yellow sunrise” to symbolise her power and inspiration	Blake juxtaposes “chartered” and “flow” in the line “Near where the charter’d Thames does flow”, emphasising how impossible it is for humans to ultimately have power over nature
	The authority he is criticising cannot ultimately control forces of nature such as a star and the sunrise	Despite being mapped and owned (“chartered”), the Thames continues to “flow” naturally. It cannot be controlled

Topic sentence	Both Agard and Blake use simple language to convey their criticisms of social and cultural inequality
Evidence and analysis	Checking Out Me History	London
	Agard uses simple stanzas and references to folk tales and nursery rhymes	Poem takes a simple, four stanza form using standard English
	These contrast with the free verse and rich imagery employed in the stanzas dealing with black history	Blake wanted his poetry to feel accessible to all members of society
	The poem is also a form of oral poetry, designed to teach by being performed, in order to convey a message	The language is almost conversational in tone
	Both poets’ message is one of social change, so both poems have tones of frustration and anger

Differences:

Topic sentence	While both poems focus on how the disenfranchised within society have very little power, Agard offers a solution to reclaim control and ownership of one’s own identity. Blake suggests the control and oppression is imposed not only by authority, but also by people themselves not rising up against oppression, and therefore he implies that nothing will change
Evidence and analysis	Checking Out Me History	London
	Agard focuses on prominent people in black history, using a change of font to italics and a change of style to emphasise them	London has a cyclical  structure, as suffering is the focus at the start and at the end of the poem
	This also suggests he is breaking the confining and controlling structure of the colonised education system	The quatrains and regular ABAB rhyme scheme imply that the suffering is repetitive and never-ending - he does not offer a solution
	Agard uses imagery of light to show a contrast and hope, emphasising the “them” and “us” and the fact that people can overthrow oppression	Blake uses bleak imagery, such as “mind-forg’d manacles” to illustrate the hopelessness of the situation, and that people are trapped

Checking Out Me History and The Émigrée

Comparison in a nutshell:

This would be an interesting comparison because the speaker’s reflections in The Émigrée are on her own sense of identity, in a similar way as Agard does in Checking Out Me History. Both speakers suffer a loss of identity as a result of circumstances, or what they have or have not been told.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both Agard and Rumens attach a great deal of emotional significance to their cultural identity
Evidence and analysis	Checking Out Me History	The Émigrée
	The violent language connotations used by Agard, such as “Blind me” and “Bandage up me eye” imply the conflict between the speaker’s culture and the one being imposed on him by colonial rule	Conflict is shown by Rumens with the aggressive undertones of her choice of language, such as “I am branded by” and “They accuse me”
	The importance of language to identity is evidence through Agard’s use of Creole to represent the different cultures which have influenced him	In Rumens’s poem, the speaker carried “That child’s vocabulary”, suggesting the strong connection to the language of their childhood and their sense of identity
	Agard uses light imagery to represent hope, freedom and inspiration	Rumens also uses light imagery to represent a dreamlike, idealised childhood, representing all that was good
	For example, “Toussaint de beacon”, “A shining star” and “A yellow sunrise”	For example, “an impression of sunlight”, “the graceful slopes glow” and “It tastes of sunlight”
	The speaker in this poem is longing for a better sense of his history and identity	The speaker in The Émigrée is also longing for a return, but she has “no passport, there’s no way back at all” suggesting that even though she feels a sense of cultural belonging and a desire to return to her childhood home, there is a barrier there
	In this way, both poems have barriers to identity

Differences:

Topic sentence	Both poets explore conflict and identity in different ways. Rumens’s poem is reflective and suggests one’s identity and strength comes from the past and memory, whereas Agard places emphasis on the relevance of facts and history on the person in order to form a sense of identity
Evidence and analysis	Checking Out Me History	The Émigrée
	The speaker in Agard’s poem is angry and frustrated about the education imposed on him in his childhood, and what was left out	The speaker reminisces fondly about her childhood - uses light imagery in “an impression of sunlight” “the white streets” and “it tastes of sunlight”
	He is discussing the historic omittance of a large chunk of history that was never taught to him	The speaker in Rumens’s poem is reflecting on somewhere she has left, but knows her own personal history
	The speaker in Agard’s poem does not remember the past he was taught fondly	The speaker reflects with fondness and nostalgia on the relationship between where she is now and where she wants to be
	He wants to forge ahead with “carving out” his own history and identity	Her memory of the past is stronger than where she is now
	These differences demonstrate that identity is very individual