Themes and message
Immigration
One of the main themes of the poem “Remember the Ship” by John Agard is immigration. Agard explores this theme throughout his poem by referring to the ships that often bring immigrants to Europe.
In the first line of the poem the speaker refers to himself as a “citizen of the English tongue” (ll. 1-2), which shows he does not define his identity by the country he was born in or the country he lives in now, but by the language he speaks. The title and the repetition of the words “remember the ship” throughout the poem links all sections back to the theme of immigration. Moreover, the poem also explores immigration in relation to race, as the speaker wonders whether race will prevent the integration and acceptance of immigrants in their new country.
