Compare the Methods Poets Use to Present an Interesting Characters in 'Singh Song!' and in One Other Poem

During the course of the poems ‘’Singh Song!’’ and ‘’Checking Out Me History’’, both personas show a strong link to their cultural heritage through both the content of the poems and the use of nonstandard English to emphasise their accent. The speaker in ‘’Checking out Me History’’ seems to feel irritated that he has been ‘’blind[ed]’’ to his own roots and cultural background, using simple rhyme to emphasise the silliness of the white history he’s been taught rather than his own. Whereas in ‘’Singh Song!’’ the individual seems to be more keen to adapt his culture and traditions to his life in Britain. This is indicated in two places of the poem: firstly when he refers to the ‘Sikh love site’’, which could be a reference to online dating and a modern, western version of an arranged marriage and then when he refers to the ‘’brighty moon’’ which could link to the colloquial term ‘’Blighty’’ for Britain, indicating that his life in Britain is ‘bright’. In contrast, the speaker in COMH feels that ‘’dem’’ – an unspecified authority figure, possibly a parent or teacher – have stopped him from seeing and learning about his own culture, making the overall tone of the poem much angrier. The use of Caribbean Creole dialect is also used, ‘’wha dem want to tell me,’’ to show how the strong sense of the narrator’s voice links to his identity. Introducing cultural heritage makes the poems main characters interesting as it enables the character to pass knowledge of their history onto the reader; whilst the use of phonetic language and dialect shows the influence of different cultures on the persona, and how two cultures are able to merge together through their languages.
The sections of ‘’Checking Out Me History’’ on individual black historical figures contain strong imagery, with the use of nature metaphors for powerful effect. Toussaint L'Overture - who led slaves to victory in the Haitian Revolution - is described as being a "thorn" and a "beacon", providing the image of light and vision compared with the blindness of his previous education. Similarly, Mary Seacole is described as a "healing star" and a "yellow sunrise" to the patients she treats. Such explanations show how passionate the character is about his own history, as when describing significant white figures he lacks passion and enthusiasm. During ‘’Singh Song’’ Nagra uses imagery to suggest the shopkeeper’s wife is dangerous and powerful. After suggesting that his wife runs an online dating agency (‘’her Sikh lover site’’) he sates how ‘’she book dem for di meat at di cheese ov her price’’, indication how the customers are her ‘’meat’’ which she temps with ‘’cheese’’.

The ‘shoppers’ in ‘’Singh Song!’’ provide an italicised commentary on the characters abilities as a shopkeeper. Structurally, this creates a divide between their views on the apparent ‘’worst Indian shop on di whole Indian road’’ compared to his own self-perception. This presents the idea that the opinions of the wider community do not affect or influence him. On the other hand, the italicised words in ‘’Checking Our Me History’’ are used to indicate when the pace of the poem slows down – suggesting that the persona is recalling a memory. During such speech the name Toussaint is repeated making the extract sound like a chant.