For the highest grades my exam board suggest that you include alternative interpretations to language analysis. I feel like the line "I carving out me identity" works well with this. Carving is an action that takes time and effort, so one interpretation is that you can only find out your identity if you remove the unrelated parts (perhaps what John Agard was taught in England), as you would with wood if you were carving a shape out of it for example. In contrast however, carving is also a form of art, and it can be viewed as the process of making something more beautiful, suggesting that now that he has looked more into his identity, his view about his culture is more beautiful. These are just my interpretations, but I think that they are very important to add, especially as you can get marks from them as long as you are able to justify them :)
Hello Mr Bruff, I just recently found your Channel and I wanted to let you know just how helpful your videos are. I never realised how much information I was missing on poems and now I feel so much more confident in talking about the ones I've seen your videos for. My teachers didn't really make links and after watching your videos I can actually talk about the authors messages in poem. Thank you so much
Would the Emigree be a good comparison. As both talk about identity and how society tries to limit them. To add both talk about identity but The Emigree is more so about holding onto this identity, while COMH is more about the difficulty of finding it. Another thing is the freeing nature of this passion and culture on the lives of peopel as it frees them from struggles e.g the emigree the use of sunlight, and then through the image of nanny de maroon and her affects like that of a "stream" + "dream" which present image of freedom and tranquility.
I predicted it to do with power or nature due to what's occurring in Ukraine at this moment in time, and due to the last two years being conflict poems.
I would definitely consider comparing to The Emigree. The lack of identity and acknowledgement from those in power. Not sure how others would see this but that’s where I’m going if this is our poem🤷♂️
Agard employs rhyming quadruplets in each four line stanza to almost lead to a climatic build up. Each stanza closes on a historical ethnic figure to emphasise their importance to the writer and the brilliance of their character. The closing stanza again mimics the previous rhyme schemes to add to the anticipation and closes on the writer as a person. Is it possible he is implying since education did not enlighten me about relevant history about his past, it is his duty to discover and uncover the depth of his family roots and his true identity
Additionally I was thinking that The Title reveals that the poem is a political allegory for the troubles in Northern Ireland because as you said Stormont is the Irish Parliament which is presented in the first few words and additionally Island is a homophone for Ireland - thus emphasising how the storm is a metaphor for the conflicts in Ireland. Thank you for another great video!
Yes this is something I go into in the longer video, although you are obviously writing about 'Storm on the Island' but have left this comment on 'Checking Out Me History'.
furthermore carving has connotations of cobbling and tailoring showing agards response to creating an identity that he is happy to be associated with thus showing his willingness to pursue his own identity
