Checking Out Me History

'Checking Out Me History' is written in which kind of form?

• The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet

• The poem is written in free verse form

• The poem is written in a highly structured form

• The poem is written in an unstructured form

Which of the following interpretations of the poem's unstructured, free verse form is most accurate?

• This may represent the narrator’s desire to craft their own place in the world

• This could represent the refusal to engage in the tradition meters/structures that were hallmarks of European poetry

• Both of these interpretations are equally accurate

List one example of enjambment (an absence of punctuation at the end of a line) in 'Checking Out Me History' and explore its effects.

Which country did John Agard grow up in?

• Guyana

• British Guiana

• South Africa

• United Kingdom

• United States of America

What is colonialism?

• Control by one power over a dependent area or people

• Shared control of power by two or more countries

• Giving financial aid to other countries to help them develop their economies

• Where countries form relationships to share resources and technology equally

The poem is set...

• Before Guyana was colonised

• During British colonisation

• After British colonisation

In the poem, John Agard criticises...

• How the British colonised Guyana and brought their language and history, teaching this at schools instead of local history

• The harsh and unjust treatment of local people by the British

• How local people lacked equality

• How local people were violently forced out of their traditional neighborhoods

Why does Agard use non-standard phonetic spelling (written as a word sounds - e.g., ‘what’ is ‘wha’)?

• To represent his own accent

• To challenge 'standard' forms of English

• To reclaim his identity

• All of these

What does the repetition of ‘dem tell me’ at the beginning of the poem portray?

What could you refer to in an essay if you made a reference to ‘Bandage up me eye' and 'blind me’?

• Metaphorical

• The way this suggests the intentional blinding to the truth when colonisers considered their British history to be more important than that of Guyana

• The implication that Agard was previously powerless to discover his more relevant reality

• All of these