How Do The Two Poets HighlightThe Difficulties Of Living In A Different Culture In the two poems 'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard and 'Half-Caste' by John Agard?

‘n thi reason I talk wia BBC accent iz coz yi widny wahnt mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice lik wanna yoo scruff.’

As the poem progresses the language becomes more and more dialect-like, this is to make it seem as though the poet is translating the ‘BBC accent’ into his own way of speaking. The words run together to convey the characteristics of colloquial language.

 Te poet ends the poem with ‘belt up.’ It seems that either he is disinterested with anyone who labels him because of their accent or he’s directly telling them to shut up. The poet is proud of his heritage and this is an exhibition of this as his boldness and aggressiveness builds up.

Tom Leonard uses the word ‘scruff’ which suggests a lack of credibility and an unsavoury type of person, this idea of prejudice is also shown in John Agard’s poem  ‘Half-Caste’. He is highlighting the stupidity of those who use the derogatory term as if the person is only half and therefore isn’t a whole person. In the same way that Leonard uses humour Agard suggests that simple things such as a piano are half-caste because of the different coloured keys.

Agard taunts his opposers challenging them to explain their use of the word and his words are pouring with contempt for the ignorance of others. What makes his point effective is that he refers to some geniuses such as Tchaikovsky suggesting that some well-known masterpieces are in fact ‘half-caste’.

Agard uses imagery of paint, light and music to describe the situation so that his poem can appeal to those who have no experience of racism. Agard also speaks about the mixing of colours to create a masterpiece, which is significant as he refers to Picasso who is an celebrated artist. He is explaining that he is half of nothing.

The poet uses the words of the title ‘Half-Caste’ ten times through the poem, this is to emphasise the point he is making and that the idea of having half of something is ludicrous, if anyone is half of a person then it is the person using the term.

‘…an de whole of yu mind…’  

The entire poem seems to be a direct response to the first paragraph which is not written phonetically which suggests that this is ideal for performing and this would enhance the argument as the words are full of feeling and effective repetition.

In both poems the poets use humour to convey an argument, they mock the views of those who are more ignorant and use comparisons to everyday things such as shadows and famous people to destroy the mentality behind racism. However it is clear that behind the humour is a serious notion.

        They are both written in a colloquial manner with phonetic writing and incorrect grammar to highlight the difference between the English culture and their own. The poets highlight the stupidity and use aggressive sounding language to punch home the strength of their opinions.

        The use of phonetic language is successful because it is like a translation into the poet’s own dialect. It shows that they are unique and different but that is no reason to discriminate against them whether it is by using derogatory terminology or distrust of an accent.

        Even though the poet has been victim of discrimination by the end of the poem there is a clear proud boldness as they both display their contempt for racism and that the people who are not to be trusted or are only half-minded are the racists.