Speaker

The speaker is a Caribbean immigrant

The poem “Listen Mr Oxford don” by John Agard is written from a first-person perspective by a speaker who identifies as an immigrant: “Me not no Oxford don/me a simple immigrant/from Clapham Common.” (p. 69, ll. 1-3). Moreover, the poem’s language reflects the Caribbean English dialect, suggesting that the speaker is a Caribbean immigrant. 

John Agard himself is an immigrant to the UK from British Guyana, a former British colony that is classified as a Caribbean country. The speaker’s words might, therefore, reflect Agard’s own experience in the UK.

When presenting himself in the first stanza, the speaker emphasizes one of the main perceived differences between him and white English people: “I didn’t graduate/I immigrate” (p. 69, ll. 4-5). He is not a well-educated man, as opposed to the Oxford don. This could also suggest that some Englishmen simply assume he is uneducated because he is...