stanza 3 - Line S, Jeanette, Signe, Luna

1. Rewrite stanza 3 to standard english:

I do not have a gun
I do not have a knife
but stealing the Queen's English
is the story of my life.

2. find grammatical errors in stanza 3, and explain the problem in Danish:

I ent have no gun
I ent have no knife
but mugging de Queen's English
is the story of my life

Sproget i digtet indeholder fejlagtige stavelser, det vil sige at nogle ord er stavet forkert men lyder på udtale rigtige.

i linie 1-2 står der ent hvor der skulle stå ain't. ain't er en sammentrækning af ordet am not, men ordet kan også betyde på visse dialekter "do not, does not & did not"

i linie 3 står der de hvor der skulle stå the.


3. answer the three questions:

A) what facts are we given about the I - characterise the I based on the facts:

Stanza 1:
The I is an immigrant.
The I lives in Clapham Common.
The I have no graduation.

Stanza 3:
The I have no gun and no knife.
The I is spending his life mugging the Queen's English.

Stanza 5:
The I is a wanted man.
The I is dangerous.

Stanza 6:
The I is accused of assault of the Oxford dictionary.
Stanza 7:
The I does not see himself as a violent man.
The I is only armed with his human breath.

Stanza 8:
The I will not serve his sentence in jail.


B) "I'm a man on de run" the I says. What is his offence?
The I is a man on the run, meaning he is an immigrant from British Guiana - an British colony on the northers coast of South America.  The I's offence is the way he speaks and acts, according to the British population.   

C) "human breath / is a dangerous weapon." How does the I threaten British society?
The I threaten the British society by using his voice to tell how he feels. He is expressing his anger towards the British dictionary, with poetry and rhymes and the British society might see this as a threat. 

Stanza 2 Rune Laursen

1.
But, I am warning you mr. Oxford don.
I am a man, fleeing, im am a man fleeing
It is a dangerous one
I do not have a gun


2.
"I warning you" - I am warning you.  I skulle skiftes ud med I am ellers giver det ikke mening.
"i´m a man on "de" run" - de skal være the. Det er ikke det korrekte ord. Det er stavet/udtalt forkert.



3.a
Han er klar over at han er et individ og gør det klart for andre, ved at bruge det ukorrekt.
I´et gør det også mere tydeligt at han ikke er født og opvokset i England.

3.b
He does not act or speak like a "normal" Brit.

3.c
Han truer samfundet ved at gøre det klart for dem at han har en stemme han kan bruge, til dem der kommer imod ham. Han vil snakke for sin sag, hvis der skulle opstå problemer.

Stanza 7, Listen Mr. Oxford don

Gruppe: Lene, Vicky, Line P., Martin.

7. strofe skrevet på ”almindelig engelsk”

I am not a violent man mr. Oxford Don

I am only armed with my human breath

But human breath is a dangerous weapon

 

1.       grammatisk fejl: 7. strofe, vers 1

Der mangler et komma efter ”man”

2.       grammatisk fejl: 7. strofe, vers 2

”I only” skal være ”I am only”

3.       grammatisk fejl: 7. strofe, vers 2

”wit” staves med ”h” til sidst = with

4.        grammatisk fejl: 7. strofe, vers 2

”mih” staves ”my”

The ”I” is not violent but armed with a dangerous weapon and that weapon is his human breath.

 

The ”I”s offence is not speaking English, correctly. He makes a virtueof not speaking correctly, and making a muggery of the Queens English.

 

The ”I” is a bad influence on the English snobbish perfectionism. He is threatening the English language, by not being grammaticly correct in his writing and speaking.He is not violent physically, but in his way of speaking the words.

'Stanza 5: Double AA - Drinking Bayer - Free Villy!!

'Stanza 5: Double AA - Drinking Bayer - Free Villy!

1. Rewrite the stanza you are responsible for into Standard English (using no contractions, slang or any kind of ‘oral’ language).

• I warning you Mr Oxford don

I'm a wanted man

And a wanted man

Is a dangerous one

• I am warning you Mr Oxford don

I am a wanted man

A wanted man

And a dangerous one.

2. Afterwards find between 1-3 grammatical errors in the stanza you have been assigned and try to explain in Danish what the problem with each error is (so, remember you grammar book).

• I warning you Mr Oxford don

I'm a wanted man

And a wanted man

Is a dangerous one

1 fejl. 1 person i nutid - I am (Jeg er) så man kan altså ikke sige "i warning you mr oxford don" men i stedet skrive "I am warning you Mr. Oxford don"

2 fejl: 3 person i nutid - It is (Den er) så man kan altså ikke sige "is a dangerous one" men skal i stedet skrive "it is a dangerous one"

3. Answer these three questions:

a) What facts are we given about the I? Try to characterise the I briefly based on the facts.

He is a man on the run. He is a wanted man. He is not a violent man. He is a immigrate.

He is a well-educated man, but because of the way he talk a lot of people are offended and does not understand what he is saying.

b) I'm a man on de run, the I says. What is his offence?

His offence is his language against the British dictionary.

c) Human breath / is a dangerous weapon. How does the I threaten British society?

He treats the British society well.

Stanza 1: Morten P., Henrik & Jakob

Task 1:

I am not an Oxford professor
I am a simple immigrant
from Clapham Common
I did not graduate
I immigrated


Task 2:

"Me not no Oxford don."
Han anvender et forkert personligt stedord: "me" kan ikke anvendes som subjekt. Yderligere er der ikke noget verballed i sætningen.

"I immigrate."
Der er spring i tid. Han går fra datid til nutid.


Task 3:

a)
He is not an Oxford professor.
He did not graduate.
He is an immigrant.

He is an immigrant in Southern London. The society wants him to get an education and to integrate into the British culture and thereby the society.


b)
He does not want to be a part of the British society. He does not care about language or grammar or any other aspect of the British culture.


c)
Freedom of speech is his weapon of choice. He humiliates the upper class England. He includes the Oxford professor and the Queen of England as examples of the British upper class. He wants dissimilarity in the society. He wants the British people to acknowledge other cultures all over the world.

Stanza 4 Jesper- Morten A -Philip

Stanza 4


1.
I do not need any axe
to spilt up your syntax
I do not need any hammer
to mash your grammar

2.
Dont (sammentrækning) talesporg
Spilt/up( PGA. den skråstreg ) det giver ingen med en skråstreg.
Yu (you)(your) stavet forkert. YU giver ingen mening
No axe (an or any axe) eller nej økse, det kan man ikke sige.


3.
a1: Et opgør med den ris Engelske korrekte måde at skrive på, og i samme forbindelse, er de billede sammenligninger også et opgør. Du kan ikke smadre en sætning med en økse.

a2: Det er at han godt ved han(I) selv står alene udenfor en flok, han har sin måde at skrive på, velvidende at dette ikke er korrekt skrevet, set ud fra den flok han står udenfor.

b: Han kommer nøgen, som den Mand han er som menneske, ikke som Englænder men med det Engelske sprog, dog på en måde så det tydligt indikere at han ikke er Englænder.

c: Tænk jer om, der er andre mennesker i verden udover jer Englændere. "I er ikke verdens navle"

Stanza 6: Tina, Christian, Jan, Kristoffer

1) They accuse me of assault
on the Oxford dictionary
imagine a concise peaceful man like me
they want me to serve time
for inciting rhyme to riot
but I am taking it easy
down here in Clapham Common

3a) The man is an immigrant with no education. He considers himself peaceful and non-violent. He is certainly unarmed by conventional means, insofar that he has no actual lethal weapons. Society, however, still thinks he is dangerous.

b) He speaks and acts different from the "proper" British people, and has no desire to conform to others expectations.

c) He threatens British society with his voice. He is speaking his mind with words and poetry. By expressing his opinion and anger this way, he displays the hypocrisy of being considered "dangerous" in a constructive manner.

Listen Mr Oxford don: Virtuel undervisning

In groups listen to the following reading of the poem by John Agard himself. Afterwards read it aloud to each other and look up any words you do not understand. The poem is written in non-Standard English (Caribean dialect) so you may have to guess the meaning of some words.

In your groups: 

1. Rewrite the stanza you are responsible for into Standard English (using no contractions, slang or any kind of ‘oral’ language).
2. Afterwards find between 1-3 grammatical errors in the stanza you have been assigned and try to explain in Danish what the problem with each error is (so, remember you grammar book).
3. Answer these three questions:

a) What facts are we given about the I? Try to characterise the I briefly based on the facts.

b) I'm a man on de run, the I says. What is his offence?

c) Human breath / is a dangerous weapon. How does the I threaten British society?

 

Write all your answers in a post here on the blog under the label (etikette) 'Listen Mr Oxford don'. The title of your post should be what stanza your are responsible for and the names of your group members. For instance 'Stanza 6: Tina, Christian, Jan, Kristoffer'.

Post in the blog by the end of business Tuesday (that is 15.35 by the latest).

 

Groups

Stanza 1: Jakob, Morten P., Henrik

Stanza 2: Kamilla

Stanza 3: Signe, Luna, Line S., Jeanette

Stanza 4: Morten A., Jesper, Philip

Stanza 5: Alexander G, Alexander H., Villy

Stanza 6: Tina, Christian, Jan, Kristoffer

Stanza 7: Vicky, Line P., Lene, Martin