Checking Out Me History

John Agard
 Title
• Checking out – to look over and question
things
• ‘Me’ the history in the poem that he is taught
is not his.
• History – relates to your past, the irony here is
that it is not his past that he is learning about.
 Important things to know…
1066 = crucial to English history as it transported to.
marked the take over of English society by Nanny de Maroon led the maroons to
the French. victory in Jamaica against British rule.

Dick Whittington = a poor boy with nothing Lord Nelson = famous English admiral who
but a cat who became Lord Mayor of inflicted a massive defeat on the French
London – mentioned in fairy tales and which meant the British Empire was
pantomimes strengthened.

Touissant L’Ouverture = the black leader of The Battle of Waterloo 1815 = the final
the Haitian revolution against French defeat of the French army led by Napoleon
Colonial rule. He abolished slavery in Haiti which made Britain a world super power
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
Shaka = an influential leader of the Zulu from the rich to give to the poor.
nation. He united the Zulu people against
other tribes and the increasing presence of Mary Seacole was a Jamaican woman who
the white settlers looked after soldiers in the same way that
Nightingale did – a black woman who
Caribs and Arawaks = the original made a unique contribution to our history
inhabitants of the West Indies at the time but has been forgotten.
when Columbus ‘discovered’ the islands.
They were killed off by the war or through Crimean War = 1854-56 Russian Empire vs
exposure to European diseases that they Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire.
had no immunity to. Lots of deaths occurred from fighting bit
also from outbreaks of disease.
Florence Nightingale = a famous British
nurse. Famous for her work in the Old King Cole and The Cow Jumped Over
Crimean War and her innovations in the Moon = nursery rhymes
hygiene.

Robin Hood = legendary English hero

made famous from supposedly stealing
 What do the following mean?
Dem - -Them
Me - -My
Bout - -About
Dat - -That
Lick back - -Defeated
De – -Of
See-far woman – -A woman who
has a vision of the
future
 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
 Stanza one…
These three Dialect reinforces a sense
words are of pride in his culture
used at the
start of all Dem tell me
the stanzas Dem tell me
that rhyme Wha dem want to tell me

Agard believes that if

The repetition highlights the
control that white people have
over history
you control what people
learn about the past,
then you can control
how people think and
what they think about
themselves
 Stanza two… The alliteration on ‘b’ at the
start of these lines shows
that Agard believes that
information has been
deliberately distorted and
The use of the ‘b’ hidden
creates an angry
tone
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity

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
 Stanza three… 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

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

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
 Stanza four…These longer verses serve to
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
concentrate on someone
famous in black history
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion The mocking tone is not
and first Black apparent in these sections.
Republic born They are italicised so that
Toussaint de thorn they stand out visually
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
These section are filled with
metaphor and positive
imagery to convince the
reader about how amazing
these people are
 Note the lack of punctuation in the
Stanza five… whole poem. Agard 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

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

Even fairy tales and nursery rhymes are

more well known/given more importance
than these people
 This language is unusual
Stanza six… and original

Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river

The metaphors create

a positive image of Images of nature used to
Nanny reinforce adventurous
and brave deeds done.
Metaphors suggest her
“fire” for freedom.
Stanza seven…
Question serves as an
accusation of neglecting to
mention great figures when
teaching history.

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

The Native Americans

Stanza eight…
Juxtaposition of real and
fictional heroes
emphasises the
discrepancy in the
teaching of history
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
 Stanza nine…
This metaphor
describes Mary From Jamaica
Seacole in a positive she travel far
light – a yellow sunrise to the Crimean War
is full of hope and she volunteer to go
promise for the dying 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

What’s the stanza about?

 Stanza ten… The repetition of ‘dem tell
me’ could represent how
Agard felt nagged when
he was at school

Dem tell
Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity
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
 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
 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
 Toussaint
L’Overture was
one of the greatest
generals who ever
lived, a self-
educated slave
with no military
training who drove
Napoleon out of
Toussaint L’Overture Haiti and led his
country to
independence.
 Nanny was most likely
an Akan/Asante woman
sold into slavery in the
early eighteenth
century. Along with
other slaves, most of
them African-born,
Nanny escaped into the
mountainous landscape
of Jamaica and helped
to form a community of
free women, men and
Nanny de Maroon children-the Maroons.
 Seacole was a pioneering nurse
and heroine of the Crimean
War, who was a woman of
mixed race .
She approached the War Office,
asking to be sent as an army
nurse to the Crimea and she
was refused.
Undaunted Seacole funded her
own trip to the Crimea where
she established the British
Hotel near Balaclava to
provide 'a mess-table and
comfortable quarters. She
also visited the battlefield,
Mary Seacole sometimes under fire, to
nurse the wounded, and
became known as 'Mother
Seacole'. Her reputation
rivalled that of Florence
Nightingale.