94 Unit 06 | All men are created equal Benjamin Zephaniah is a British writer who has produced books, films and a lot of dub poetry2. Read one of his poems and answer the questions. READING 14 The British (serves 60 million) Take some Picts, Celts and Silures3 And let them settle, Then overrun them with Roman conquerors. Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years Add lots of Norman French to some Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously. Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans, Trinidadians and Bajans4 with some Ethiopians, Chinese, Vietnamese and Sudanese. Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians And Pakistanis, Combine with some Guyanese And turn up the heat. Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians, Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese And Palestinians Then add to the melting pot. Leave the ingredients to simmer. As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish Binding them together with English. Allow time to be cool. Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future, Serve with justice And enjoy. Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste. Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all. 2 dub poetry: a kind of performance poetry originating in the West Indies, often political in nature 3 Picts, Celts and Silures: Celtic peoples that lived in Britain from the Iron Age onwards 4 Bajans: people whose ethnic origins lie in the Caribbean island of Barbados 1 What is the message of the poem? 2 Write down three expressions that come to mind when you hear the word ‘British’. Compare them with a partner. How do these expressions confirm or contradict the message of the poem? How representative are they of British culture? 3 Find all the verbs used for cooking in the poem. Use a dictionary to check which ones are neutral and which have a second meaning that indicates conflict. What could the purpose of using these words be? 4 ‘Melting pot’ is a term generally associated with creating one culture out of very many diverse cultures. What could its function be in a poem celebrating cultural diversity? 5 What other ingredients than peoples are mentioned? Why are they important? 6 What does the warning at the end imply? Now write your own ‘recipe poem’ for Austria. WRITING 15 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODE3MDE=