{"id":680,"date":"2013-01-15T11:22:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T11:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=680"},"modified":"2023-11-17T10:22:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T10:22:16","slug":"inglan-is-a-bitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"Inglan is a Bitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"left-column\">\n<h3>By Linton Kwesi-Johnson<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"470\" height=\"353\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zq9OpJYck7Y\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>W\u00b4en mi jus\u00b4 come to Landan toun,<br \/>\n Mi use to work pan di andahgroun<br \/>\n But workin\u00b4 pan di andahgroun<br \/>\n Y\u00b4u don\u00b4t get fi know your way around<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no runnin\u00b4 whey fram it<\/p>\n<p>Mi get a lickle jab in a bih \u00b4otell<br \/>\nAn\u00b4 awftah a while, mi woz doin\u00b4 quite well<br \/>\n Dem staat mi aaf as a dish-washah<br \/>\n But w\u00b4en mi tek a stack,<br \/>\nmi noh tun clack-watchah<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\n Dere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\n No baddah try fi hide fram it<\/p>\n<p>W\u00b4en dem gi\u00b4 you di lickle wage packit<br \/>\nFus dem rab it wid dem big tax rackit<br \/>\nY\u00b4u haffi struggle fi mek en\u00b4s meet<br \/>\nAn\u00b4 w\u00b4en y\u00b4u goh a y\u00b4u bed y\u00b4u jus\u00b4 can\u00b4t sleep<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nA noh lie mi a tell, a true<\/p>\n<p>Mi use to work dig ditch w\u00b4en it cowl noh bitch<br \/>\nMi did strang like a mule, but bwoy, mi did fool<br \/>\nDen awftah a while mi jus\u00b4 stap dhu ovahtime<br \/>\nDen awftah a while mi jus\u00b4 phu dung mi tool<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nY\u00b4u haffi know how fi survive in it<\/p>\n<p>Well mi dhu day wok an\u00b4 mi dhu nite wok<br \/>\nMi dhu clean wok an\u00b4 mi dhu dutty wok<br \/>\nDem seh dat black man is very lazy<br \/>\nBut if y\u00b4u si how mi wok<br \/>\ny\u00b4u woulda sey mi crazy<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nY\u00b4u bettah face up to it<\/p>\n<p>Dem a have a lickle facktri up inna Brackly<br \/>\nInna disya facktri all dem dhu is pack crackry<br \/>\nFi di laas fifteen years dem get mi laybah<br \/>\nNow awftah fifteen years mi fall out a fayvah<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no runnin\u00b4 whey fram it<\/p>\n<p>Mi know dem have work, work in abundant<br \/>\nYet still, dem mek mi redundant<br \/>\nNow, at fifty-five mi gettin\u00b4 quite ol\u00b4<br \/>\nYet still, dem sen\u00b4 mi fi goh draw dole<\/p>\n<p>Inglan is a bitch<br \/>\nDere\u00b4s no escapin it<br \/>\nInglan is a bitch<br \/>\nIs whey wi a goh dhu \u00b4bout it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"right-column\">\n<h3>Commentary by Will Hoare<\/h3>\n<p>Linton Kwesi Johnson is a renowned Jamaican poet living in London, who creates a unique genre of performance poetry recognised as dub-poetry which grew from the rhythm\u2019s used in reggae music in the 1970\u2019s. One of Johnsons most recognised poems is <em>Inglan is a bitch<\/em>. \u2018Inglan is a bitch is another classic piece of performance poetry which focuses on the struggles of an immigrant living in London. Johnson moved to London to live in Brixton in 1965. On moving to London he has said that is was cold and ugly and that\u2018it wasn\u2019t the picture book idea one has of the mother country\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson performances are easily recognisable by the distinguished Jamaican accent he reads in. Inglan is a bitch in particular is published and written phonetically when read as a text for example \u2018W\u00b4en mi jus\u00b4 come to Landantoun Mi use to work pan diandahgroun\u2019, this is because his accent is integral to this poem in particular, as a foreign accent it stresses the speakers status as an immigrant. <\/p>\n<p>The poem essentially describes to the reader a list of poorly paid jobs he was forced to do whilst living in London ending each stanza with the phrase \u2018Inglan is a bitch, there\u2019s no escaping it\u2019. The repetition of this phrase throughout the poem keeps the audience reminded of his subject, essentially saying \u2018it\u2019s a horrible life but there\u2019s no better option\u2019. The phrase is followed in each stanza by another line such as \u2018No baddah try fi hide fram it\u2019 and \u2018Y\u00b4uhaffi know how fi survive in it\u2019. This last line appears somewhat comforting each time and hinders the effect of the irate \u2018inglan is a bitch\u2019 line. The repetition of this stanza also means it acts almost as a sort of chorus within the poem.<\/p>\n<p>The structure of the poem is fairly simple with the \u2018chorus\u2019 stanza adopting an ABAB rhyme scheme whilst the rest of the verses which describe the particular jobs the speaker is undertaking uses an AAAA rhyme scheme which accommodates the text as a piece of performance poetry. The rhythm, which Johnson adopts when performing, is fairly calm and rhythmic, although his Jamaican dialect is particularly strong he annunciates the words that are most integral to the poem. This is a feature, which is helped by the Iambic trimeter which is used, benefiting the rhythm and thus the annunciation of the strongest words such as \u2018bitch\u2019. Johnsons choice to use \u2018bitch\u2019 specifically in this poem is interesting, the taboo nature of the word renders the line powerful. Repeating exclaim the word \u2018Bitch\u2019 creates an overtone of anger and disappointment emphatically expressed through in his performances.<\/p>\n<p>The poem does not just focus on employment alone but more specifically the exploitations of immigrant workers. He refers in one stanza saying \u2018me know demav work, work in abundant\/yet still demmek me redundant\u2019, this is referring to being asked to leave his job as he is \u2018fifty-five, getting quite old\u2019, an unfair dismissal with which he struggles to argue against. The jobs which Johnson lists in the poem shows the journey he undertakes in the foreign country the speaker has moved to. The opening stanza describes the tribulations he experiences working on the London underground. The speaker explains that \u2018 workin pan the undergroun, ye don\u2019t get fi no your way aroun\u2019, this exemplifies the lack of knowledge which the speaker has of the culture and the country he is trying to integrate in to, and has the sense of being lost or disorientated. As he continues the speaker falls in to several other jobs such as working in a hotel and in a \u2018Faktri up in a Brakly\u2019. When talking about these jobs the speaker appears to  be becoming more optimistic about his future in the UK \u2018afta a wile me was doin quite well\u2019 however when talking specifically about the factory he was working in he refers to being made redundant after fifteen years, even though he appears sure that they still have work for him. It could be suggested that he was simply made redundant because he was no longer of any use to them as he had grown quite old, John is highlighting the exploitation of immigrant workers who are paid very little for laborious jobs which have often have no prospect for promotion, only to be laid off and sent to go on the dole, explained in the line \u2018dem sen mi fi goh draw dole\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dere\u00b4s no escapin it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,15,21,22,25,27,28,29,30,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2012-2013","category-2016-2017","category-2017-2018","category-2018-2019","category-2019-2020","category-2020-2021","category-2021-2022","category-2022-2023","category-2023-2024","category-pessimism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1718,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/1718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}