{"id":2839,"date":"2021-01-30T22:36:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T19:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/?p=2839"},"modified":"2021-01-31T02:18:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T23:18:01","slug":"is-inglan-a-bitch-really-according-to-linton-kwesi-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/is-inglan-a-bitch-really-according-to-linton-kwesi-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Inglan a “Bitch” really according to Linton Kwesi Johnson ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linton Kwesi Johnson- Inglan is a Bitch<\/a>\"\"<\/h3>\n

Linton Kwesi Johnson is a British poet, born in Chapeltown, Jamaica in 1952. He moved to London in 1963, and he was educated at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Among other poets, he has worked as an Education Officer, together with Benjamin Zephaniah and John Agard. Linton Kwesi Johnson is one of the foremost dub poets, all of whom write poetry primarily for performance. Political and social protest, with accompanying demotic rhetoric and articulate anger, are strong elements in Johnson\u2019s poems. He is also successful in adapting English rhyme to West Indian speech patterns. His collections include V\u0131ices of the Living and the Dead (1974), Dread Beat an\u2019 Blood (1975), and Inglan Is a Bitch (1980). His recorded works included Forces of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980) Making History (1984), Tings and Times: Selected Poems (1991) was released as both a book and a recording.<\/p>\n

In Johnson\u2019s poetry, oppressive life (of black) in Britain is an important theme. He gives place to experience black people and black youth, and is a strong defender of black identity. Johnsons intentionally uses the sub-standard English which is called Creole (postcolonial issues). His poetry includes a severe and harsh criticism of Britain, the police, discrimination, violence towards the black.<\/p>\n

You can find accusation and complaining in the background of the poem, Inglan is a Bitch. Racism is the dominant theme of the poem. Also, we see the history of black people in Britain. Moreover, he talks about the specific experience of black people. Black workers coming from the colonies were maltreated, and they were earning little money. L\"\"inton Kwesi Johnson doesn’t use punctuation mark intentionally because he wants to harm the language. The persona, the speaker of the poem is hungry and he cannot sleep, but white people call the black workers lazy. Johnson is trying to reconstruct the general ideas about black people.\u00a0 The black workers in the poem are presented as doing the least desirable jobs and getting the lowest payment. there is also betrayal, beating, selling people for money in the period.\u00a0 In the poem, Bitch refers to England as a female dog and it is an insult to England.<\/p>\n

The poem:<\/h4>\n
\r\n\r\nInglan Is a Bitch<\/a>\r\nw'en mi jus' come to Landan<\/a> toun\r\nmi use to work pan di andahgroun\r\nbut workin' pan di andahgroun\r\ny'u don't get fi know your way aroun'<\/em>\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no runnin' whey fram it\r\n\r\nmi get a lickle<\/a> jab in a big 'otell\r\nan' aftah<\/a> a while, mi woz doin' quite<\/a> well\r\ndem staat<\/a> mi aaf as a dish-washah\r\nbut w'en mi tek a stack, mi noh tun clackwatchah!<\/em>\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\nnoh baddah<\/a> try fi hide fram it\r\n\r\nw'en em gi'you di lickle<\/a> wage packit\r\nfus dem rab it wid dem big tax rackit\r\ny'u haffi<\/a> struggle fi meek en's meet\r\nan' w'en y'u goh a y'u bed y'u jus' cant sleep\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch<\/a> fi true\r\na noh lie mi a tell, a true<\/em>\r\n\r\n\r\nmi use to work dig ditch<\/a> w'en it cowl noh bitch\r\nmi did strang<\/a> like a mule, but, bwoy, mi did fool\r\nden awftah<\/a> a while<\/a> mi jus' stap dhu ovahtime\r\nden aftah<\/a> a while<\/a> mi jus' phu dung mi too\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch  \r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ny'u haffi<\/a> know how fi suvvive<\/a> in it\r\n\r\nwell mi dhu day wok an' mi duh nite wok\r\nmi duh clean<\/a> wok an' mi duh dutty<\/a> wok\r\ndem seh dat black<\/a> man is very lazy\r\nbut it y'u si mi wok y'u woulda<\/a> sey mi crazy\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ny'u bettah<\/a> face up to it\r\n\r\ndem have a lickle<\/a> facktri up inna Brackly\r\ninna disya<\/a> facktri all dem dhu is pack crackry\r\nfi di laas fifteen<\/a> years dem get mi laybah\r\nnow awftah<\/a> fiteen years<\/a> mi fall out a fayvah\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no runnin' whey fram it\r\n\r\nmi know dem have work, work in abundant\r\nyet still, dem mek mi redundant\r\nnow, at fifty-five mi gettin' quite<\/a> ol'\r\nyet still, dem sen' mi fi goh draw dole\r\n\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\ndere's no escapin<\/a> it\r\nInglan is a bitch\r\nis whey wi a goh dhu 'bout it?<\/pre>\n
\n
So, he is talking about a specific experience he had in Britain as a black person. He is talking about racism towards black people. He is earning little money. He is therefore accusing the system and British people. Johnson’s poetry is an attempt to define blacks, claims cultural uniqueness. Finding a good job is difficult for black people.<\/p>\n
( Kut Belenli, Pelin. \u201cBlack British Poetry- Linton Kwesi Johnson\u201d CBP. Dumlup\u0131nar University, K\u00fctahya )\"\"<\/p>\n
The New Type of Poetry of the Late 20th Century; Black British Poetry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Linton Kwesi Johnson- Inglan is a Bitch Linton Kwesi Johnson is a British poet, born in Chapeltown, Jamaica in 1952. He moved to London in 1963, and he was educated at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Among other poets, he has worked as an Education Officer, together with Benjamin Zephaniah and John Agard. Linton Kwesi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[293,13,16],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-2839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-literature-literature","category-history","category-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2839"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2995,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions\/2995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mozartcultures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}