 Hello and welcome to a summary of all you need to know about the poem Halfcast by John A. God. I'll explain the meaning related to this poem as it appears in part 3 of the Pearson-Edexcel International GCSE anthology. Now do bear in mind that in contrast to part 1 of the anthology which featured only nonfiction texts and part 2 which was a mix of fiction short stories and poems, part 3 of the anthology exclusively features poems alone. So in this video I will highlight a key language and literary devices used in the poem and you will learn how to analyse it. So let's get started. Now I'll begin by reading the first two stanzas and stopping every so often to explain key literary techniques. So let's begin. Excuse me standing on one leg. I'm half-cast. Explain yourself what you mean when you say half-cast. You mean when Picasso mixed red and green is a half-cast canvas. Explain yourself what you mean when you say half-cast. Now these opening stanzas are really interesting and especially when you look at the title itself. So firstly when we think about the title half-cast. Now contextually do bear in mind that John A. God is an Afro-Gyanese poet. Therefore he is mixed race and he moved to the UK in the 1970s. So this title explores the use of this derogatory word which refers to mixed race people as half-people. So this is a very racist term. Now the first stanza is just a terset. It's a three-line stanza and initially he begins, the speaker begins by stating excuse me. Now what this shows is that this whole poem is written in a dramatic monologue and this is shown through the use of enjambment throughout the poem which speeds up the pace of the poem. Now in line two he states standing on one leg and this is a really sarcastic and literal interpretation of what it means to be half a person. If he's half a person therefore he has one leg. And so A. God is mocking this title but also mocking this term but showing how silly it really is. Now the speaker says I'm half-cast and the first person pronoun I'm refers to A. God himself who's mixed race but of course you can interpret it more widely as just essentially broadly stating that the narrator who might not be A. God himself is stating that he is mixed race. Now again the title itself is repeated half-cast and the repetition of this title forces us to ponder the meaning of this very racist racial slur. Moreover the term within it cast. Now this word is associated with purity therefore do bear in mind when understanding this racist term the idea of caste and being half-cast means that you are impure your half of purity and of course purity is associated historically with being Caucasian and so this is seen as something that is quite today a very racist way of referring to somebody who's perhaps half Caucasian and half another mix for example half African half Caribbean. Now in stanza two he states explain yourself what you mean. Now this declarative sentence is quite confrontational so the speaker is seemingly quite incensed and angered perhaps somebody has called him half-cast or somebody has called her half-cast and they've turned around and said explain yourself what you mean. And the repetition moreover of the second person pronoun you which is written phonetically with why you this repetition emphasizes how absurd this racist term is. So presumably somebody has called this narrator half-cast and they're turning around and confronting them. Moreover there's a repetition again of half-cast this is anaphora and this continuously used throughout this poem reminds us of this really ugly racist term. Furthermore there's the reference to you mean one Picasso. Now Picasso is an extremely famous Italian painter whose mixed colours enhance the beauty of his masterpieces. So this idea of mixing leading to impurities creating something inferior is actually challenged because actually when you look at it in the artistic world in the world of art mixing something can actually enhance the beauty of some masterpieces. So Picasso mixed red and green. Now Picasso mixes these colours to create a masterpiece again reinforcing the idea that actually mixing anything enriches that thing in this case it enriches his art. Then he asks quite sarcastically does this therefore make it half-cast canvas and this is a really humorous and sarcastic question and a sarcastic interpretation of this term half-cast. Moreover A God deliberately as a poet flaunts standard English in this poem and he flaunts standard punctuation rules. In many ways he speaks he writes the way he would speak in the Caribbean. This is a direct reference to the language the Creole dialect and this Creole dialect is now what influences spoken English in the Caribbean. So he employs this too. Now in line 10 again he states explain yourself and in line 11 what you mean again a repetition and a reference to line 4 and 5 and this repetition of the declarative sentence shows the speaker's anger. So let's carry on. You mean when light and shadow mix in the sky is a half-cast weather. Well in that case England weather nearly always half-cast in fact some of them cloud half-cast till them overcast. So spiteful them don't want the sun pass or wrasse. Explain yourself what you mean when you say half-cast. You mean one Tchaikovsky. So I'll pause here within this stanza. Now he's also talking about light and shadow in the sky. Now the oxymoron here emphasises how natural it is for things even in nature to mix. This is part of the life process. Moreover he references the that them and this phonetic writing as I've mentioned before reflects the Creole Caribbean way of speaking English. Now 915 he sarcastically again asks okay if the light and shadow in the sky mixes that make it a half-cast weather. So this of course shows just how silly and absurd racism is and especially this racist slur. Moreover he refers to the England weather and bear in mind that especially if you live in England the English sky is always a mix of sun and clouds. It's sometimes rainy but also sometimes sunshine. So he's asking hang on does that therefore mean English weather is half-cast? Does it mean that it's inferior? And of course the answer is no because that's very silly to think that. Moreover in line 19 he states in fact some of them cloud and in line 20 half-cast till them overcast. Now this is a very sarcastic and humorous interpretation because essentially what a goddess trying to show is that humans are far more complex than just being black and white. Racism is just way too reductive and if we apply it to other areas of nature we can see just how silly this very black and white thinking can be. Moreover in line 21 he says them don't and this alliteration shows he's very passionate in his speaking and also of course growing in anger. Then there's a rhyming couplet pass and wrasse. Now this rhyming couplet and also the expletive are wrasse which is a swear word it shows the speaker's growing anger. Then there's then the refrain. Explain yourself what you mean when you say half-cast and this repetition throughout the poem is like a refrain. He's challenging his listener and the listener's racist ideas. Moreover there's a reference to Tchaikovsky and he's a famous Russian classical composer and of course you're going to see this. So he's talked and referenced to a famous Italian artist Picasso. Now he's alluding to a famous Russian classical composer and we'll see how even his mixing of black and white keys actually creates a masterpiece of music. So let's carry on. Sit down at the piano and mix a black key with a white key. It's a half-cast symphony. Explain yourself what you mean listening to you with a key in half of my ear looking at you with a key in half of my eye and when I'm introduced to you I'm sure you'll understand why I offer you half a hand. Now of course in the ending of that stanza he's referring to Tchaikovsky who sit down at the piano and mix a black key with a white key. So of course this is just referring to when people are playing the piano you have the black keys and the white keys and this oxymoron again here shows that a god or the speaker is reclaiming this term of being half-cast by associating being mixed-race with actually very highly respected art and music. Also once more he sarcastically asks if Tchaikovsky mixes the black key and the white key does that create a half-cast symphony? Does that mean the symphony is inferior? And of course the answer is no showing and highlighting how superficial such a simplistic and racist term like half-cast is. Then he states in the following stanza listening to you with a key in half of my ear now here he's saying that if he's only half a person then therefore he's only able to half listen to the racist person's close-minded reason justifying this term half-cast. Moreover he repeats the idea of half and the repetition of the term half emphasises how the speaker's racist listener only deserves half of his respect and attention. Furthermore he references the ear, eye and hand. Now the semantic field of body parts here emphasises the speaker's humanity and of course do you remember that when there's these racist terms used to rob people of their humanity they reduce them to just the colour of their skin but actually the semantic field of body parts reinforces that just because his mixed race doesn't mean he's any less of a human than other people. So let's carry on. And when I sleep at night I close half of my eye consequently when I dream I dream half a dream and when moon begins to glow I half-cast human being cast half a shadow but you must come back tomorrow. Now in this part of the poem he further reinforces just the absurdity if he's half-cast does that therefore mean not only does he have half a body with half a ear when he sleeps at night does he close half an eye? Now this is a really sarcastic and very humorous interpretation once more of this idea of being half-cast and the connotations related to half-cast does that therefore mean when you dream you dream half a dream? Now here again the repetition of dream emphasises that the racist person's view is somewhat lacking. It's very, very contradictory this idea of somebody who's mixed race being half a person. Therefore if the half a person does that therefore mean they have half dreams? Moreover in line 45 he says I half-cast human being now the alliteration here shows the speaker is really incensed and he then states you must come back tomorrow. Now the imperative sentence here says rather shows that the narrator is taking back power from the narrative and historically always remember that racist labels have always taken power away from ethnic minorities but this person who is mixed race is now taking back this power and is saying you come back tomorrow I'll control this narrative and I'll teach you what it means to be mixed race perhaps open your mind to what mixed race people are like. Let's carry on with the whole of your eye the whole of your ear and the whole of your mind and I will tell you the other half of my story. Now this final part of the poem he's essentially telling this racist person to come back only if they are willing to have an open mind and only if they're willing to listen with the whole of their eyes ears and mind. Now the repetition of whole shows the importance of being open-minded and going beyond very simplistic racist labels. Moreover the semantic field of body parts here where the speaker is addressing the racist person actually echoes their reference to his half-caste body and this shows again he recognizes that this racist person is just the same human being as he is and this is interesting because it shows that actually the person who has been aggressed, the person who's speaking who has had a racial slur against him still sees the racist person as a human being and is willing to educate him and to open his mind. Then he states I will tell you the other half of my story now this shows that the speaker's race is not his full story, there's more depth to him than just the color of his skin. He is three-dimensional, he's not only just about his skin color. So that's all if you found this video useful, note that we have an in-depth extensive course covering all the texts and poems in Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Pearson, Edexcel International GCSE anthology. So make sure you sign up for this course for explanations in the text as well as model answers. Also check out our website which is www.firstreadcheaters.com with plenty of English revision worksheets, model answers and online courses covering all the major English syllabuses including Edexcel, AQN, IGCSE. Thanks so much for watching.