2015-1 Abiturprüfung NRW – Englisch

Abiturprüfung NRW – Englisch Leistungskurs 2015
Aufgabe 1
Aufgabentyp: Literarischer Text (Gedicht); Textaufgabe mit wahlweise analytischinterpretierendem oder anwendungs- / produktionsorientiertem Schwerpunkt
Unterrichtsinhalte: Post-colonialism and migration: Ethnic communities in 21stcentury Britain
John Agard: “Remember the Ship”
John Agard was born in British Guyana (West Indies) in 1949. He moved to England
in 1977.
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As citizen
of the English tongue
I say remember
the ship
in citizenship
for language
is the baggage
we bring –
a weight
of words to ground
and give us wing –
as millennial waters
beckon wide
and love’s anchor
waiting to be cast
will the ghost of race
become the albatross
we shoot at our cost?
I’m here to navigate –
not flagellate
with a whip of the past
but again I say remember
the ship
in citizenship
for is not each member
of the human race –
a ship on two legs
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charting life’s tidal
rise and fall
as the ship
of the sun
unloads its light
and the ship
of night
its cargo of stars
again I say remember
the ship
in citizenship
and diversity
shall sound its trumpet
outside the bigot’s wall
and citizenship shall be
a call
to kinship
that knows
no boundary
of skin
and the heart
offer its wide harbours
for Europe’s new voyage
to begin
(158 words)
From: John Agard, “Remember the Ship”, in: Writing Black Britain 1948 –1998,
James Procter (ed.), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000, p. 258 f.
Annotations:
l. 12 millennial: the poem was written in 1998 and published two years later
l. 17 albatross: here allusion to S. Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798):
a mariner shoots the albatross that has shown his ship the way out of dangerous waters; the
other sailors on board think this leads to a curse that will kill all of them
ll. 40 /41 sound its trumpet outside the bigot’s wall: here allusion to the biblical story where the
Hebrews destroy the walls of the city of Jericho only with the sound of trumpets
l. 49 offer: here shall offer
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Aufgabenstellung
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Punkte
Outline the speaker’s view of himself and his fellow human beings.
(Comprehension)
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Analyse how the speaker’s views are presented. Focus on structure, use
of language and poetic devices. (Analysis)
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3. Choose one of the following tasks:
3.1 Discuss what has become of the speaker’s appeals in 21st-century
Britain. Refer to work done in class. (Evaluation: comment)
3.2 A youth conference in London dealing with migration in the 21st century
has chosen “Europe’s new voyage begins” as its motto, alluding to
Agard’s poem (cf. ll. 50 /51). You as an exchange student are invited to
give a debate statement discussing the topic. Refer to ideas of the poem
and work done in class to write your statement.
(Evaluation: re-creation of text)
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Lösungsvorschläge
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Zunächst werden Sie gebeten, die Selbstwahrnehmung des lyrischen Ichs in John
Agards Gedicht und seine Sicht auf seine Mitmenschen genauer zu betrachten.
Auffällig ist, dass das lyrische Ich seine Zugehörigkeit zur sozialen Gemeinschaft
Großbritanniens (aber auch Europas) über seine Sprache definiert. Es wünscht
sich eine Welt, in der Liebe und Vielfalt regieren und die Menschen unabhängig
von Rasse und Herkunft zusammenleben.
Diese Punkte sollten Sie in Ihrem Text ansprechen:
– the speaker sees himself as part of a group that speaks the same language
– his conduct of this language defines him as a “citizen”
– just like his fellow human beings he carries his load of experiences, abilities
and values
– he wants to navigate into a future of tolerance and open-mindedness
The speaker in John Agard’s poem “Remember the Ship” defines himself as a
member of a specific community of human beings, a kinship that is bound together by English as a common language. In other words: his utilising of this language makes him a “citizen” (l. 1) of this community. It favours and disadvantages him at the same time as it makes people put him in pigeon-hole (cf. ll. 9 –
11, 16 –18, 45 – 47). Another aspect is that he sees himself as a “ship” (ll. 25 –
27), as a vessel that sails through the seas of life carrying its load of memories,
cultural background, frustrations and successes – just like his fellow human beings do.
Without harping on the past he wants to navigate into a future that is characterized by mutual understanding, racial equality and diversity. The journey towards this end has just begun and leads the people into new waters. By exploring
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unknown grounds, new relationships could be established, between immigrants
and host society. Until all this has been achieved, however, the speaker feels
forced to make himself heard every day and convey his message to his fellow
human beings: “remember the ship in citizenship” (ll. 3 – 5, 22 – 24, 36 – 38).
(204 words)
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In dieser Aufgabenstellung werden Sie gebeten, sich genauer mit der formalen
und inhaltlichen Struktur sowie dem Einsatz von Sprache und dichterischen
Mitteln zu befassen, die die Sichtweise des lyrischen Ichs transportieren. Es bietet sich bei der Bearbeitung an, der Struktur des Textes zu folgen und die sprachlichen Aspekte entsprechend nacheinander zu betrachten, dabei geht der Lösungsvorschlag folgendermaßen vor:
– Concerning the structure: the poem is divided into four distinctive parts that
each provide a different insight into the speaker’s mind:
• part I: to him, a nation is not constituted by territory but by a common language (cf. ll. 1– 5)
• part II (cf. ll. 6 –18) explains the chances and difficulties language and
race bring about and employs the metaphor of the albatross to show the
inherent ambition of each person
• in part III (cf. ll. 19 – 38) the speaker claims that he has the mission to
warn and navigate in order to make “heart” (l. 48) win over “skin” (l. 47)
• part IV (cf. ll. 39 – 51) provides readers with a prospect for the future in
the case that the speaker’s recommendations are put into practice, with the
formally separated run-on line at the end of the poem (cf. l. 51) marking a
new beginning that focuses on Europe as a sailing vessel
– The use of language and poetic devices represent the author’s views more
vividly and tangibly:
• the metaphor of the ship is central to the meaning of the poem (cf. ll. 4, 23,
27, 30, 33, 37)
• play on the words “ship” and “citizenship” (ll. 3 – 5, 22 – 24, 36 – 38)
• metaphors such as the “albatross” (l. 17), “a ship on two legs” (l. 27),
“boundary of skin” (ll. 46 /47)
• references to the trumpets of Jericho mentioned in the Bible (cf. ll. 39 – 41)
The poem “Remember the Ship” can be divided into four parts, each of which
adds a new dimension of the speaker’s views and feelings. All these parts constitute a complex attitude towards modern society. The ambiguous metaphor of
the “ship” (ll. 4, 23, 27, 30, 33, 37) forms the centre of the poem. Other poetic
devices are added to explain where the speaker wants the journey to go.
In the first part (cf. ll. 1– 5) the speaker introduces himself by simply referring to
the most important fact, which is that he is a “citizen of the English tongue”
(ll. 1 /2). Additionally, he indirectly appeals to the reader (“I say”, l. 3). To him
the feeling of being one nation is not a question of territory but of language – a
language that enables a person to express him- or herself and thus to be in touch
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