Post Colonial Revision

The New Poetry

·      David Dabydeen was born in Guyana – at the age of 13 he moved with his dad in London – very famous poet and writer.

·      Out of all the poems, this is the one that explains Neo-Colonialism the best – the theory of how we never got independence from our colonisers because we are still depended on them for many basic things – defense, science, medicine, etc – or at least made to believe so.

·      The poem talks about a world after the Industrial Revolutions – slavery has been abolished – not on humanitarian grounds – but because machines have replaced workers.

·      The “she” in the poem could be a female representing a country – who is fed up of the being under constant surveillance of the colonizer – she wants to be left alone.

·      She doesn’t want to hear about the violence from the colonial texts – or the strange tales of “anthropophagi” – cannibalism.

·      The new poetry is not about human problems – the time of physical torture has ended and nobody writes about that anymore.

·      “Brittanica” – Britain now has new machines to the relief of the aborigines and slaves – but its not easy to get rid of the colonisers.

·      The ancient stories are observed by “the new poetry” without being affected – the world goes on naturally.

·      “She” hears the confessions of the colonizer in his weird language – apologizing for whatever they have done.

·      Now observe the objects mentioned :

o  Sofa

o  Television

o  Everything she sees on the television shows

·      These things show how she is depended on the colonizer for her entertainment, her livelihood and her day-to-day life.

·      They don’t show programs of slavery anymore – natives are singing – everything seems to have been restored – but it actually hasn’t – “bone shaped…” – program telecasted by the colonisers.

·      The poem subtly shows how we are still depended on the Western countries – be it science, technology, defense, policies, government, education, politics, anything – we are still bound by the Western countries.

·      The tag of slavery is gone – so have the colonisers - torture – agony – all is gone – and we have our freedom – or do we?