Steve agard s half caste and tatamkhulu afrika s

Category: Food and drink,
Published: 03.04.2020 | Words: 2080 | Views: 378
Download now

My personal essay is approximately two poems that we have recently been studying. John Agard’s ‘Half-Caste’ and Tatamkhulu Afrika’s ‘Nothing’s Changed’. The objective of this composition is to show the differences as well as the similarities of the two poetry as well as to check out the poet’s feelings about racial injustice. Furthermore I am going to explain the poet’s purpose and attitude to the society that encompases them. Let me also illustrate the different impressions that each poet is trying to give to the audience.

Both poets depict an excellent view and concept regarding the concept of the racism.

Need help writing essays?
Free Essays
For only $5.90/page

To begin with I am going to talk about the poet’s background information and what each poem is usually briefly regarding. The initial poet; David Agard was born on the 21st of June 1949 in British Guiana (now Guyana). He came to England via Guyana in 1977, where he became a touring lecturer. From there he spread his Caribbean tradition and racial around the UK.

Like many Caribbean’s, he him self is of merged race. The 2nd poet; Tatamkhulu Afrika was born in Egypt in 1920 and came to South Africa (Cape Town’s District 6) as a young child and lived generally there for a long time. He began writing poetry when he was at his sixties and features published 4 collections of poems about his experiences in S. africa. The composition I are looking at ‘Nothing’s Changed’ is definitely from his third publication called Magabane. Unfortunately Tatamkhulu Afrika died on 23/12/2002.

Firstly the poem ‘Nothing’s Changed’ is around racism within just South Africa and just how nothing is promoting for black people, though apartheid features legally finished. Tatamkhulu himself was not actually black but he classified himself while coloured. In the poem he writes of black people and how the white federal government had an influence towards racediskrimination in the location he occupied at that time (District 6). This individual wrote this kind of poem soon after the end of apartheid. The poem is around a divided society. On a single side from the division there exists a bulldozed township, ‘bunny chows’ and ‘plastic tables’ while on the additional there is a fresh hotel, ‘haute cuisine’ and ‘fine table linen’. The poet reveals through a youthful boy’s child years and how he goes through his everyday life. I suppose that this could be an life written as being a poem, hence the poem is around him seeking back in his own childhood. Many things such as identity, politics, poverty, anger and a lot of thought continues to be integrated with this poem. This individual also includes his feelings towards white people and the description of locations and its environment.

Secondly compared to the poem ‘Half-Caste’, it is also regarding racism, but this has a different sort of expression and structure. This talks about a man who is half-caste and it is crafted in a colloquial way. This individual uses sarcastic schemes to compare that to the likeness of other stuff for instance in lines 13-20 ‘yu mean when light an shadow as well as mix in de sky / is a half-caste weather / well in dat case as well as england climate nearly always half-caste / in fact some o dem impair half-caste until dem overcast¦’ I feel that he can criticising Britain, and its weather. Additionally this individual uses a lower case notice for the word ‘england’ which in turn also demonstrates that he’s making Great britain inferior. In ‘Half-Caste’ Agard is sarcastic in the poem yet still significant since he begins your conversation, right up until certain key phrases such as, ‘explain yuself / wha yu mean / when yu say half-caste’ are repeated. I think this kind of repetition accumulates anger in the poet, for that reason from a conversation that turns into an argument.

This is displayed in line twenty two ‘ah rass/’ where he works on the rude phrase to show his feelings and also to emphasise his anger. I guess that this poem is solemn in develop. In lines 37-40 ‘¦and when I’m brought to yu as well as I’m sure likely to / appreciate / so why I offer yu half-a-hand¦’ What Agard is trying to show is that he is half-caste so by him giving half a hand it can mean the listener are certain to get half the respect from him. Therefore in lines 48-51 this individual gives an imperative command to the fan base ‘but yu must revisit tomorrow / wid de whole of yu vision / an de whole of yu ear / an para whole of yu mind¦’

The impression that the audience gets from this is that he could be ordering anybody to come back down the road and give their particular full attention and to set out to think within a more-open oriented way. The similarity among ‘Half-Caste’ and ‘Nothing’s Changed’ is that both equally poet’s are angry but in ‘Nothings Changed’ the poet’s anger can be revealed in the face rather than in the tone of voice, since Afrika is very obvious about what he is feeling in fact it is as if he knows that it truly is hopeless expecting a change to happen, therefore I think about this poem to become read within a submitting and deprived sculpt. According to the develop that the poems are go through, both poets deal with the theme of racism in an totally different frame of mind.

In ‘Nothing’s Changed’ Afrika has a distinct perspective of life within ‘Half-Caste’. The poet’s main focal points in ‘Nothings Changed’ are identification, politics and folks. He discusses the white colored ruling get together and the government’s views of the country plus the people and also showing the way they make not any genuine difference. Initially, id plays the key role in this poem, since colour of skin, splitting up and being aware of where you fit in is obviously exposed through this poem. This really is according to the end of stanza 3 plus the beginning of stanza 4 ‘guard on the gatepost, / whites simply inn. as well as No sign says it can be: / but we know wherever we fit in. ‘ The guards have been completely purposely positioned to protect dark-colored people from coming in and that these areas are only to get white people. Such as; ‘new, up-market, haute cuisine, ‘ He information this moment and demonstrates upon it. Regardless of the change (end of apartheid), there is still discrimination against blacks from white wines.

Albeit the problem is supposed to possess changed, Afrika knows that the brand new restaurant is actually ‘whites just inn’. This individual feels that nothing has really changed in South Africa. Referring to how absolutely nothing has changed relates to the title ‘Nothings Changed’. It suggests that when he returned back to South Africa his life would still be the same as well as the conditions were unchanged. Regardless if he uses anger within just him to show his feelings things would never change. The deep rage contained inside him that he is suffering from makes him want to destroy because shown in stanza six lines 45-47 ‘Hands lose / for a stone, a bomb, / to shiver down the cup. ‘.

This individual feels thus angry that he would like to commit against the law by awesome the a glass with a rock or hopes for a blast to blow up the area, but instead of using violent behaviour this individual uses terms and wants to15325 be read. However every there is to get him is the anger inside him., which in turn he is wanting to let out. For instance in the second stanza, range 15 and 16 ‘¦and the hot, inwards turning / anger of my eyes. ‘ This celebration is comparable to Agard, where he declares a impolite phrase ‘ah rass/’, this kind of shows that this individual also gets angry and in turn of employing violence he shows it in his reply to the listener at the end from the poem. Where he offers an essential demand for the listener ‘but yu need to come back tomorrow / wid de entire of yu eye / an para whole of yu ear / an de complete of yu mind¦’ In conclusion I think that Agard and Afrika have many similarities when discussing about anger and identity.

The things i have discovered by reading the poem ‘Nothing’s Changed’ is the fact between the divided societies there are many differences in how a surrounding has been described. For instance in the initial stanza lines 7 and 8 ‘¦purple flowering, as well as amiable weeds. ‘ This provides the effect of a peaceful and friendly place even though weeds are around him and that he is surviving in a waste materials land. This imagery produces an inferior presence of the dark-colored neighbourhood, although also a place where life e. g. (seeds) flourish. Compared to the 4th stanza lines 30-32 it is a completely different location. ‘crushed ice white goblet, / bed and bath falls, as well as the single increased. ‘ This is certainly a posh and superior picture of the white colored area in which white people live, and the poet wishes that he was living in that kind of situation. I think that the writer specially separated the descriptions and pictures, since he wants someone to get the impression that there is a division and it gives someone a chance to go through the differences.

Agard and Afrika both change when it comes to examining the language. Agard has naturally decided not to make use of Standard English language in this composition, to how that he’s standing intended for the way he speaks, so he publishes articles the composition in that way. The poet publishes articles in a Carribbean dialect, in which he uses a large number of words that I may appreciate, but are certainly not in formal English. For example ‘yuself’ rather than yourself, ‘de’, ‘dat’ and ‘dem’ instead of the, that and them etc . Furthermore when you appear deeply in to the poem you will observe that there is not any form of punctuation.

What I likewise became mindful of was the way Agard isolates the paragraphs with a as well as and the lines in every paragraph are certainly not constant. This can be continuous through the whole poem. As I have got stated ahead of Agard uses lower circumstance to create the result of being substandard. Even renowned artist this individual uses reduced case for their particular names including ‘picasso’ and ‘tchaikovsky’. Where as in ‘Nothing’s Changed’ Afrika has used six paragraphs every of them is made up of 8 lines. The poet also finishes the composition with a incredibly short word ‘Nothing’s altered. ‘ compared to the rest of the content in the poetry. This word is the same as the title and I believe Afrika intentionally did this to give you his last thought and the effect it has on the reader is that they think deeper about his poem and his message.

Heading back to id in ‘Nothing’s Changed’ the poet uses many icons to show the separation among blacks and whites. One example is in stanza 3 line 18 ‘name flaring such as a flag’, like a flag symbolises distinctiveness, this line represents that this location or place is for white wines. Compared to ‘Half-Caste’, Agard uses humour to symbolise his identity, just like in stanza 5 lines 45 and 46 ‘I half-caste individual cast half-a-shadow’, stanza one particular lines 7-9 ‘¦when picasso mix red an green is a half-caste canvas’, Towards the reader this kind of shows just how unintelligent it is to propose that someone is half-caste and to assess them by their colour of skin and their characteristics. He expresses his feelings sarcastically yet with a lot of relevance.

In conclusion I believe that everybody should be cared for with similar eminence and groups must not be formed with diverse ideological beliefs, seeing that that is what may cause these conflicts. As a result I feel that Agard’s poem ‘Half-Caste’ has more of an impact on me and in my opinion it is more effective since the impression I got from this is that John Agard beyond doubt acquires the hilarious and sarcastic yet significant side of the differences that half-caste persons go through in every day existence.

you