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For this activity, you will need to turn to the poem 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard and  'London' by William Blake. Both poems can be found in the Power and Conflict section of your anthology.

 


Both 'Checking Out Me History' and 'London' are poems that express the poet's anger towards the misuse of power by those with authority, but the main difference is that while Agard presents a solution, Blake does not, showing how they have different viewpoints on the possibility of change. Both poems create a sense of unfairness to those who are less powerful or wealthy and show that the place where you live can have a huge impact on your happiness. 


In the following questions, you will compare and evaluate the ideas expressed in both poems.
 

BeachHouses of Parliament

 

You should always refer to your own text when working through these examples.  These quotations are for reference only.

10 questions
The quotations/text used in this exercise are from the copyrighted works of John Agard, 'Checking Out Me History' and William Blake, 'London'.