“Half Caste"
By John Agard
The poem “Half Caste” is an incredible representation of the sufferment and anger from those who where mixed race, son of an English father and an African mother, for example. John Agard was born in British Guiana in 1949, now known as Guyana. Agards’ parents were of different races, which gave him the surname of “Half Caste”. “Half Caste” was a phrase used to represent, differentiate people of mixed races, this was usually used as a racist term. The poem describes Agards’ intentions to make the people understand that they should not only be ashamed of using such a phrase, but to think twice about it and reason in order for other people to change and so eliminate this racist term.
The language used in the poem is strictly set to the reader. The language is mainly phonetic which gives an accent similar to the one black people had in the old England. “Wha”, “yu”, “dat” and “dem” are some brilliant examples of the use of phonetic language. This represents a mixed race person, in this case John Agard. The words “ “Explain yuself” are directed to the reader in order to make them feel guilty and to think about the phrase “Half Caste”, this is repeated throughout the poem and every time its power increases. John also uses lots of imagery and similes like “yu mean when light an shadow/mix in de sky/is a half-caste weather?/ well in dat case england weather/nearly always half-caste” and “yu mean Tchaikovsky/sit down at dah piano/an mix a black key/wid a white key/is a half-caste symphony?”. Not only does he mock the phrase “half-caste”, but also he shows that it is stupid and ignorant to name someone half pure. At the start of the poem he defines half in a very pure way, “Excuse me/standing on one leg/I’m half-caste”. This shows that it is cruel to refer to someone as “half-caste”. At the end of the poem, John Agard finishes with a personal and strong answer to the term “half-caste”, “but yu must come back/tomorrow/wid de whole of yu eye/an de whole of yu ear/an de whole of yu mind./an I will tell yu/de other half/of my story.” John knows refers to you as a “half-caste” since = he tells you that you must come back with the whole of your eye and the whole of your ear and the whole of your mind, meaning that you must know understand the term “half-caste".
The rhythm and rhyme in the poem is very Caribbean and marks John Agards routs. The rhythm helps the poet show his anger and frustration; also it helps get the accent to work fluidly with the phonetic language. From my point of view, I’m sure that John Agard wanted to mock the people using the term rather than showing how he feels. He wants to teach throughout this poem, but also he wants to state why he did this poem. The poem should be heard rather than read, since that’s how the effect gets into the reader. The rhythm and rhyme help this in every way. For example, “I’m sure you’ll understand/why I offer yu half-a-hand/an when I sleep at night/I close half-a-eye/consequently when I dream/I dream half-a-dream” There is rhyme in understand and hand, night and eye and in dream. Also you can feel the rhythm growing in your tong.
Finally, John portrays his feelings into the poem producing his anger to mix with his sarcasm and ideas in order to show how fool and ignorant is the person whom dares to use or abuse from this racist term. His use of phonetic language and rhythm produces the reading of the poem to be vivid and real. It shows the incredible strength in the voice of Agard and mocks the phrase every single time. At the end of the poem, however, he forgives the people who have used this term, giving them a second chance to think over. This is why this poem is so incredible; it shows someone that apparently for “pure races” was useless and impure still manages to have a greater maturity and morality towards the situation making them look like fools and still manages to make them regret and move on from what happened.
