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39 views2 pages

Half Caste 0

t

Uploaded by

z
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Overview

This is a poem about asserting your identity against others who would ‘bring you down’. John Agard
was born in Guyana in 1949, with a Caribbean father and a Portuguese mother (he is of mixed race). In
1977, he moved to Britain, where he became angry with people who referred to him as ‘half-caste’.
Realising that most people who say this do so without thinking about what it really means, he tells off
people who use this term without thinking.
The poem’s content starts by sarcastically ‘apologising’ for being half-caste – ‘Excuse me standing on
one leg I’m half-caste’. He is not really apologising. This is satire – although the poem starts by
apologising for being half-caste, Agard means exactly the opposite.
The next section of the poem argues that mixing colours in art, weather and symphonies does not make
a half-thing. When he says: ‘Yu mean when Picasso mix red an green is a half-caste canvas’, he is arguing
that mixing colours is a good thing, and makes things better! You could say the same for blood and
cultures.
He then writes how he must be able only to listen with half-a-ear, look with half-a-eye, offer us half-a-
hand, etc. – a sarcastic, even angry, denunciation of the word ‘half’ in ‘half-caste’. He writes: ‘I half-caste
human being cast half-a-shadow’ – here, ‘half-a-shadow’ has a sinister vampire-like tone, and the
author seems to be pointing out that by using the word half-caste, people are saying that he is not really
human, but inferring that there is something sub-human, even evil about him.
He finishes by saying: ‘but yu must come back tomorrow wid … de whole of yu mind’ – here he is pointing
out that it is us who have been thinking with only half-a-brain when we thoughtlessly use the word ‘half-
caste’. In this way, he challenges the readers to change their thinking, and come up with a better word.
Feelings
As for the poet’s feelings, in early recordings of the poem, Agard sounds angry and bitter. ‘Excuse me
standing on one leg…’ is said in an aggressive tone.
He objects to being called half a human being, and asserts that there is much more to him than we
realise.
The words: ‘I half-caste human being’ show that he is insulted by the term ‘half-caste’.
His tone is challenging, even threatening (e.g: ‘Explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste’) as he
asserts his identity as a whole human being and demands that readers change their attitudes.
In later recordings, Agard does not sound as angry – he even makes a joke of it, and he brings out the
humour of phrases such as: ‘Excuse me standing on one leg’. Perhaps this is because fewer people use
the term half-caste nowadays. But it may also be that sees the funny side to it himself.
Structure
For the poem’s structure, the poet uses short lines (e.g. ‘Excuse me’) and almost no punctuation (he
uses ‘/’ instead of a full stop) to convey the direct and confrontational nature of the message. It makes
the poem go quickly so it feels like someone ‘kicking off’ at you - pouring out his feelings at the reader.
One line is devoted to the Caribbean phrase: ‘ah rass’ – an expletive meaning ‘my arse’ – which makes
this line of the poem very angry and aggressive, as though Agard has just got so angry explaining his
argument that he cannot contain his anger any more.
He repeats key phrases such as ‘Explain yuself’ (four times) and ‘haaaalf-caste’ to hammer home his
message.
The poem does not rhyme, but the words do have a Caribbean rhythm which is reinforced by the
repetition of phrases like: ‘Wha yu mean’ and: ‘de whole of’; this reminds you of Caribbean limbo dancing
and sense of rhythm – perhaps Agard is asserting his Caribbean heritage, or perhaps it just comes
naturally from his childhood in Guyana.
Language
The language of the poem is a mixture of Caribbean dialect and formal British English – the poet at one
point says in Caribbean dialect: ‘Ah lookin at yu wid de keen half of mih eye’, but at another in standard
English: ‘Consequently when I dream I dream half-a-dream’. This very powerfully gets across the fact
that Agard is of mixed heritage.
Agard uses direct speech (e.g. ‘I’/ ‘yu’) and many commands (such as ‘Explain yuself’) to point his
thoughts directly at the reader, and to make the poem challenging and confrontational.
Agard makes use of metaphor, comparing ‘half-caste’ to art, the weather and music, which makes the
poem a kind of parable – many teachers use analogy in their teaching to get the point across.
He also uses scathing humour – including the joke: ‘in dat case england weather nearly always half-
caste’ – because humour can also help to give a point more impact.
Key Message
The poem has four sections, each with a different message so that – even though it is funny and angry
– the poem gradually builds up its argument, step by step, that ‘half-caste’ is an unacceptable phrase
and we ought not to use it.

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