Checking out my history and island man comparison. “Checking out me history is all about the writer wanting to learn about his past. Instead, he Is being taught all about the history of white people. He keeps erecting facts that he has learnt. Some of the facts most English children would have learnt whilst they are in school, and some of the facts he has been taught outside of school, probably by his parents. The poem seems Like It Is a rant to the schooling system and the politics of the country.
This may be why there is no punctuation in this poem. It is a way to rebel against the teachers. At school, the teachers are always telling you to check your spelling and punctuation, and he is disagreeing with the way and things he is being taught. Having no punctuation suits the informality of the whole poem and it adds to the song-like form of it. The short lines in the poem make it seem quite powerful, although also quite childlike. The rhyme In “checking out me history’ holds the rhythm together. It seems Like the poem is meant to be told, or sung, rather than to be read.
The rhyme in some verses has a regular rhyming pattern, whereas the verses ion italics (verse four, six and nine) have no rhyming pattern. These are the facts that he has learnt so it seems right that the rhyming In these are different. The poet often repeats the phrase “deem tell me”. This emphasizes the point about him being taught things that he does not want to learn because it seems like he cannot be bothered to write proper English. When the poem Is spoken aloud, the phonetic spelling makes It sound Like you have the Caribbean or South American accent.
This makes you think of one of the British colonies, where they would be made to learn about white people’s history. The phonetic spelling is non-Standard English and it adds to the fact that the poet is rebelling against the way he is taught. It makes the poem seem more Informal Like he Is simply talking to you as part of a conversation. “Island man” has five different verse, all with completely different line lengths, the length of each stanza varies and there in no punctuation.
This, along with a large amount of enjambment makes the poem flow easily. It seems like It Is a few longs lines, rather than five stanzas! When you read the poem aloud the sound makes you think of waves in the sea, going back and forth. In the first stanza, there is a lot of balance – repeating of the sound “s”. This sounds a lot Like the waves. In the first stanza, the fourth line Is slightly different to the other lines. It tells you he Is not In real life, because it is in his head, which suggests he is dreaming.
In the second and FIFO because without the fourth line, he is actually on his island, but when you read the fourth line you realism he is dreaming. The confusion reminds me of waking up in the morning when you think you are still dreaming but then you realise you are not dreaming. At the end of the first stanza, the poet says “the steady breaking and Wyoming”. Steady breaking reminds you of the waves breaking on the beach on a nice clear morning, which implies it is a good memory. The word “Wyoming” is very rarely used in everyday life.
It means to be doing nothing, being oblivious to the outside world. In addition, it implies protection and comfort. Before a baby is born, it lives in the mother’s womb, where the mother protects it and comforts. The womb is the baby’s home, although only for a short while. When the poet uses the word, “Wyoming” it implies a place where the man was safe, and where he did not think of anything else going on in the world. The island seems like his home, whereas London is a place where he is staying.
On the other hand, a baby only stays in a mother’s womb for 9 months, and then goes out and lives life for many years, so maybe the island man could only stay at the island for a small amount of time. The third stanza is where he wakes up in London. There are still some words that are linked to the island – sands and roar. When you read out the first line “sands” can sound like “sound”, but it makes a small connection to the island. “Roar” is like the roar of waves on a bad day. This makes London seem like a depressing day because it will probably be bad weather.
