HALF-CASTE

Quick revise
Half-Caste is a poem about defending your identity against others who would ‘cast you down’.
Half-Caste is a term from colonial history and is considered an offensive term to describe someone
whose parents are of different races. It deals with one of the central themes of his writing: the
condition of being mixed race (his father was Caribbean and his mother Portuguese), as well as
living as a non-native in Britain. The anthology deals with issues those of mixed race were facing
in the United Kingdom. Contextualized in England, the poem explores the use of the word ‘half-
caste,’ a derogatory term referring to people of mixed race.

In ‘Half-Caste’, John Agard deals with the condition of being mixed as well as living as a non-
native in Britain. The writer expresses his dislike of prejudices he has suffered because of his
mixed-race or, in his words, ‘Half Caste’. It is an offensive and dehumanizing word used to
describe people of mixed race. The title directly reflects the focus of the poem.

In Portuguese, the word ‘casta’ means lineage or line of inheritance, while ‘casto’ means pure or
unmixed. As Agard’s mother is Portuguese, it may be that this meaning of purity also forms part
of his perception of the word. By adding the prefix ‘half’ to ‘caste’ the term becomes one of
abuse, suggesting that a mixed-race person is only half-formed, half made and half pure. The word
‘half’ in the title pictures the speaker’s incompleteness, and ‘caste’ is derived from the Latin
Castus which means purity, so the title details that the speaker is distinguished by his purity or title
pictures his social standing in the society.

The poem’s content starts by sarcastically ‘apologising’ for being half-caste – ‘Excuse me’. This
is a direct satire to the discriminative society – although the poem starts by apologizing for being
half-caste, Agard means exactly the opposite. On the surface, this sounds like a polite and humble
request, but this does not seem to fit with the confrontational feel of the rest of the poem. Agard
comments on the absurdity of this dehumanization by offering the reader a scornful physical
interpretation, whereby he compares it to him ‘standing on one leg’ as though he is in some way
half a human being.

In the next section of the poem, he demands an explanation from the racial society ‘Explain
yuself’ for the dehumanizing term. This is the key line of the poem which forwards his
challenging demands. Through this imperative line, he demands a genuine and reasonable
explanation from society for their condescending attitude. It is a forceful expression that allows his
suppressed emotion to flow. The phrase ‘Explain yuself’ is repeated four times throughout the
poem. In this way, it forms a refrain.

In the next line, he argues that mixing colours in art, weather and symphonies do not make a half-
thing. The speaker wonders whether the artist Picasso mixing red and green paints creates a "half-
caste canvas," or if the classical musician Tchaikovsky playing both the black and white keys of a
piano is "a half-caste symphony." No one would ever refer to painting or music as being "half"
of anything. In addition, he brings a familiar natural phenomenon of English weather to convince
and prove that mixing is a natural process and it is ridiculous to decry the people of mixed

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nationality. The same is applicable for blood and cultures. He uses an analogy to question how the
mixing of ‘Half – Caste’ can initiate racial segregation.
Agard makes use of metaphor, comparing ‘half-caste’ to art, weather and music, which makes the
poem a kind of parable. He also uses scathing humour – including the joke: ‘in dat case england
weather nearly always half-caste’ – because humour can also help to give a point more impact.
A split occurs at “Ah listening to you’, and from here the rest of the poem turns to focus on the
poet himself and relates to his own body to show the absurdity of giving the label ‘half-caste’. He
forcefully questions how he must be able to listen with half-a-ear, look with half-a-eye, offer us
half-a-hand, etc. – a sarcastic, even an angry denunciation of the word ‘half’ in ‘half-caste’. He
writes: ‘I half-caste human being cast half-a-shadow’ – here, ‘half-a-shadow’ has a sinister
vampire-like tone, and the author points out that by using the word half-caste, people are saying
that he is not human, but inferring that there is something sub-human, even evil about him. Here
the poet ridiculously points to the impossibility of being a ‘half-caste’.
He finishes by saying: ‘but yu must come back tomorrow wid … de whole of yu mind’ – here he
is pointing out that it is us who have been thinking with only half-a-brain when we thoughtlessly
use the word ‘half-caste’. In this way, he challenges the readers to change their thinking, and come
up with a better word or he expects reformed thoughts from society.
He objects to being called half a human being and asserts that there is much more to him than we
realize. The words: ‘I half-caste human being’ show that he is insulted by the term ‘half-
caste’. His tone is challenging, even threatening (e.g.: ‘Explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say
half-caste’) as he asserts his identity as a whole human being and demands the readers to change
their attitudes. Repetition of the imperative tells the reader to give a logical explanation for the
phrase ‘half-caste.’ It is a simple but clever way of making the reader question something, but
literally asking them a question.
In later recordings, Agard does not sound as angry – he even makes a joke of it, and he brings out
the humour of phrases such as: ‘Excuse me standing on one leg’. Perhaps this is because fewer
people use the term half-caste nowadays. But it may also be that he sees the funny side of it
himself.
The poem is also notably written using a mixture of standard English and Caribbean Creole, ‘Ah
lookin at yu wid de keen half of mih eye’, but at another in standard English: ‘Consequently
when I dream I dream half-a-dream’; and its form thus reflects the multifaceted identity of the
poet himself. This very powerfully gets across the fact that Agard is of mixed heritage. Agard uses
direct speech (e.g. ‘I’/ ‘yu’) and many commands (such as ‘Explain yuself’) to point his thoughts
directly at the reader, and to make the poem challenging and confrontational.
The poem has four sections, each with a different message so that – even though it is funny and
angry – the poem gradually builds up its argument, step by step, that ‘half-caste’ is an
unacceptable phrase and we ought not to use it.

After the first stanza, the language switches to phonetic Caribbean-English dialect, embodying
Agard’s mixed racial heritage and he demands an explanation for the use of the term; an
intelligent justification, that he knows the person he is speaking to will be unable to provide.

Agard goes on to utilize several metaphorical examples to convey the idiocy of the term to the
reader and undermine those that label him in this way: When painting, Picasso mixes different
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colours to achieve one closer to what he desires in his pieces. Agard comments on how ridiculous
it would be to label a piece of art created in this way as a separate, less valuable entity – which
contrasts with racial stereotypes.

The speaker compares the state of being "half-caste" to cloudy weather via a pun on a sky being
called ‘overcast.’ The speaker notes that if such weather is "half-caste" then ‘england weather’—
notoriously cloudy and rainy—is "nearly always half-caste." English weather often mixes sun
and cloud; this analogy brings out the idea of a half-caste.

Agard once again uses the term in the context of art, like he did previously with Picasso, to relay
its irrationality. Interestingly, as is the case for Picasso, “Tchaikovsky” is not capitalised. It fits
the colloquial, unsophisticated tone of the poem. This metaphor also links more directly to mixed-
race in humanity, with the image of the black and white keys corresponding to black and white
skin tones. The use of black and white mirrors the idea of mixing colours; the result of the mix is a
beautiful piece of art.

The refrain of this direct address throughout gives the poem a very personal tone, reiterating to the
reader the extent to which the derogatory term offends Agard, which may otherwise be overseen
due to the poem’s colloquial, sarcastic tone. Compared with great works of art, he is trying to
reinstate his idea of a half-caste.

Both sarcasm and poignancy are escalated in this section of the poem. Agard, again, undermines
the term half-caste by emphasizing the absurd way in which it likens him to being half a human
being by in some way being less ‘pure’ compared to those of one ethnicity. The imagery of Agard
looking with half an eye to shaking hands with half a hand are comical, although saddening upon
reflection.

It’s then very sarcastic how, having described himself as half a person, he describes the person he
is speaking to as a complete person, with a whole eye, ear, and mind. Through this sarcasm, he is
mocking the term and those that address him with it by accentuating its absurdity, thereby
undermining it.

In the final stanza, Agard dispels the idea that he is half a person (an idea that he created to
undermine the term), saying that he does indeed have another half to his story. He will only tell
this to the person he is addressing, however, if they see him as their equal, disregarding all
stereotypes. Agard writes, “an I will tell yu/de other half/of my story.” These words are quite
powerful: Agard tells his reader that his race is not his full story—there is so much more to him
than what one sees at first glance. The poem ends, however, with the repetition of “whole” which
concludes by providing the resolution of the speaker becoming at ease with their identity. He is
giving the racist a second chance to find out the whole individual.

Structure
The poem begins with a three-line stanza tercet to emphatically introduce the key theme, it also
ends with a three-line stanza which reminds the readers to eradicate their spiteful thoughts,
moreover, it creates a sense that the speaker has found some sort of resolution in the process of
writing the poem. The middle stanzas are much longer, suggesting that their content is more of a
passive stream of consciousness than anything else, unrestricted by the speaker.

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Agard is able to reinforce the idea of being a half-caste by dividing the poem into two sections.
The first section sarcastically asks for an explanation of what the reader means when they say
‘half-caste’. In the second half, he attacks the reader for lacking the vision to see and know him
properly. The poet uses short lines (e.g. ‘Excuse me’) and almost no punctuation (he uses ‘/’
instead of a full stop) to convey the direct and confrontational nature of the message.
It involves an inventive and informal use of language which does not conform to the rules which
govern Standard English. Instead, it uses colloquial speech patterns. One line is devoted to the
Caribbean phrase: ‘ah rass’ – an expletive meaning ‘my arse’ – a strong word which makes this
line of the poem very angry and aggressive, as though Agard has just got so angry explaining his
argument that he can no more withhold his anger. He repeats key phrases such as ‘Explain yuself’
(four times) and ‘half-caste’ to hammer home his message.
The poem does not rhyme, but the words do have a Caribbean rhythm which is reinforced by the
repetition of phrases like: ‘Wha yu mean’ and: ‘de whole of’; this reminds of Caribbean limbo
dancing and sense of rhythm – perhaps Agard is asserting his Caribbean heritage, or perhaps it just
comes naturally from his childhood in Guyana.
The colloquial speech pattern gives the sense that it is spoken rather than written. The idea of
being a half-caste is reinforced by mixing the language that is split between England and the
Caribbean. The poem is written largely without punctuation, forming one large sentence. This
means that all the lines run on from each other, using the technique of enjambment. This could
suggest that the poet is breaking the rules of modern society and doing something different by
standing up for himself. It could also underline the idea that his anger has made him speak without
pause.
The poem is spelt phonetically. This means many of the words are spelt in the way a person with a
Caribbean accent would pronounce them. It is a clever technique. First, it makes clear that the poet
is not ashamed of who he is and what his voice sounds like. Secondly, by writing the words
phonetically, the poet forces the reader to speak with his voice. This places us completely in his
shoes; we cannot help but empathise with him. We are made to imagine what it feels like to be
mixed race and to be called ‘half-caste.’

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