Explore the Ways in Which Language Is Shown to Be Important in 'unrelated Incidents' and one Other Poem

In 'Unrelated Incidents' and 'Half-Caste', language is shown to be very important. Both Agard and Leonard, use a variety of language styles, underneath the surface of the poem. Studying it very closely, you can see many similarities and differences and you start to see there perspective of life and the dramatic monologue that portrays the importance of language. Cultural and ethnic background is expressed through their language; to show that there culture is very important to them. The language helps to bring out the meaning of the poem so more people worldwide can empathise with the writers.

In 'Half Caste', John Agard uses repetition throughout the poem especially the word 'Half'. For example, "half of mir ear, half of mih eye". The repetition of the word 'half' emphasises the importance of how and what he thinks of people calling him a 'half-caste' meaning he is very angry as to other people he is considered as half a person rather than a whole. This consequently is shown in his language, which makes the poem important, as through the use of his words, he is saying that he hates this type of discrimination against him. He is said to be not as good as a whole person just because he is a 'half caste'. However, 'Unrelated Incidents' the word 'trooth' is repeated quite often. The poem is written phonetically to represent the speakers' accent which is where he talks about the truth and calling the reader scruff. The use of repeating these words is to make you think about the language and the reason why he is speaking phonetically. You don't really understand the poem until you read it a couple of times out loud. The word 'trooth' appears three times during the course of the poem, which makes you think what the poet is trying to say. He is making you think about the reliability of the news being read on TV and how you would only believe the BBC English speakers that speak with a Received Pronunciation (RP).

In both of the poems, a very little amount of punctuation is used. In 'Half Caste', only a forward slash and dashes have been used otherwise there is no sign of punctuation. This is evident as it states "...weather/... and half-a-eye". These form of punctuation have been used to break up one stanza to another as the poem is one long argument that is put across all in one go. The forward slashes makes you read on until you get to the end of the poem so you can get Agard's point. His frustration and anger is let out through the poem but in more depth. In 'Unrelated Incidents' there is more punctuation. This shows the importance of the language because we know when we need to take rests and when to speak again. For example, "...nyooz. belt up." The way the poem is set out is like an autocue used in television when the newsreaders report the news all around the world. The style of language is used deliberately, to show how people believe in BBC RP speakers and not normal people speaking in their different accents and styles.

Non-Standard English has been used in both poems. In 'Half-Caste', the actual form of the poem relates to its subject. Agard uses Non-Standard English in the form of a Caribbean accent. This makes the poem stand out from any other normal English poet, in the way he has added culture to his anger and frustration. There are no signs of any formal rhyme scheme but it does have some rhyming words, but it wasn't intestinally. For example: "wha yu mean...mix red an green". The 'mean' and 'green' clearly rhyme as you can tell. The spelling used, is written in both Standard and Non-Standard form. This is used for pronunciation, so that we say it correctly. The verbs in the actual words are missed