Though the term “half-caste” is rarely heard today, John Agard is perhaps right to attack the idea behind it - that mixed race people have something missing. Also, they often suffer hostility from the racial or ethnic communities of both parents and their backgrounds. Though the poem is light-hearted in tone, the argument of the last six lines is very serious, and has a universal application: we need to give people our full attention and respect, if we are to hear their “whole story”.
The form of the poem is related to its subject, as John Agard uses non-standard English, in the form of Afro-Caribbean English. This shows how he stands outside mainstream British culture. He uses the Afro-Caribbean dialect to get over the point that he is from a different background and also that he speaks differently but why should this affect the way he is treated? There is no formal rhyme-scheme, but the poem does contain rhymes, “wha yu mean...mix red an green”. A technique which he uses a lot is repetition: “Explain yuself/wha yu mean”, for example. He uses this repetition to have the effect on the person because in my opinion more people think that poems are meant to rhyme and they would listen more to his point if it rhymed. The poem is colloquial, written as if spoken to someone with commands like “Explain yuself” and questions like “wha yu mean”. The punctuation is non-standard using no comma nor full stop, not even at the end, he does this to further the fact that he is considered different and outside the ‘normal’ communion. Meaning that he is not even thought of as having any knowledge. Also he doesn’t use a question mark after the questions as if to be commanding and to state that he knows the answer and just wants to get the fact that the people are racist but don’t understand that there is no difference between two colours or two races. John Agard uses ‘common’ letters as apposed to where in normal writing we would use capital letters. Also, when he uses the names Picasso and Tchaikovsky in the poem he does not put the first letters of their names as capitals. He does this to show that all men are the same and not different, no one should be considered higher everyone is of common humanity.
This poem, from, ‘Unrelated Incidents’ by Tom Leonard, uses non-standard English to explore ideas of class, education and nationality. The poem is a phonetic transcript which shows how a Glaswegian Scot might speak. The poet imagines the BBC newsreader smugly explaining why he does not talk “lik/wanna you/scruff” - though in this version, of course, he is doing just this. The writer takes on the persona of a less educated or “ordinary” Glaswegian. The poem is set out in lines of two, three or four syllables, but these are not stopped. The effect is almost certainly meant to be of the autocue used by newsreaders. The poem seems puzzling on the page, but when read out aloud makes better sense. For example, a Scot may find it easier to follow than a reader from London.
The most important idea in the poem is that of truth - a word which appears (as “trooth”) three times, as well as one “troo”. The speaker in the poem suggests that listeners or viewers trust a speaker with a BBC accent. He claims that viewers would be mistrustful of a newsreader with a regional accent, especially one like Glaswegian Scots, which has working-class or even criminal associations in the minds of some people. The people from these different regions and areas are unfair, biased and trust their own dialect only.
The poem is humorous, makes us see our prejudices and explains what we think about other dialects. Leonard may be a little naïve in his argument: bbc dialect gives credibility to people in authority or to newsreaders, because it shows them not to favour one area or region - it is meant to be neutral. The bbc dialect speaker appears educated because he or she is aware of, and has dropped, distinctive local or regional pronunciations. And though the bbc dialect is not spoken by everyone, it is widely understood, much more so than any regional accent in the UK. Tom Leonard's Glasgow accent would confuse many listeners. The bbc dialect has the reward that everyone can understand it.
I believe that John Agard uses his humour to break down the barriers of people’s minds so that his ideas will get through to the person and they will not just have their own opinion and think that other people are inferior. I think he brings his anger of the word and idea of “Half-Caste” into his poems in the last stanza of the poem. He thinks of ‘Halfe-Caste’ as only half of something and uses this with humour i.e. including his body parts and dreams he is angry that people are seen differently. John Agard is proud of his origin and of being who he is. He is celebrating his existence and who he is by saying, even if other people think he’s different he still sees himself as being no different to anyone else. His main argument is that people should not be treated differently.
His poems are similar to Tom Leonard’s in the fact that they are both dealing with the same subject of culture. John Agard is using the culture of skin and Tom Leonard is using the culture of language.
I think that, in the ‘Unrelated Incidents’ poem, Tom Leonard’s point is that other dialects and accents, other than the bbc dialect, are heard as having no value. Tom Leonard stresses the fact that all of the newsreaders and people in authority think that they are better than everyone else is inferior in the way that they speak.
I disagree with Tom Leonard on the fact that people all over Britain have to understand what the newsreaders are saying so it is easier if they all use a bbc dialect so everyone can understand them.
by K.Moore 10C
