FlagJohn Agard

John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in Guyana (a British colony at the time), on the coast of north-east South America. Guyana gained independence from the UK in 1966, the year before Agard moved to

London. He is a poet, playwright and children’s author, who often writes about issues of identity and racial conflict. He is well known for his eccentric and lively poetry readings, his poems benefitting greatly from being performed by their author. He likes to perform his poems, and believes humour is an effective way of challenging

people's opinions.

In this poem, Agard questions why people are so patriotic. The flag is a symbol of allegiance to one’s

country and he wonders why it has

such power over the decisions people make.

In 1916 the British government felt it necessary to introduce military

enlistment, because reliance on men to join up voluntarily could not keep

pace with the ever-increasing casualties of the First World War. Those who had a ‘conscientious objection to bearing arms’ were

freed from military service, but they had to plead their reasons in a tribunal and life was made very

difficult for these mens who were either against war in general

(pacifists), or did not believe the government of Germany to be their

enemy, or would not fight for religious reasons.

The poem is about the power of a national flag. It's presented as a conversation between a naive questioner and a more sceptical responder. One character asks

questions about the flag, and the other character responds,

explaining that the flag has the power to make people fight wars

and die.

You should compare this poem with other

poems about the same themes: causes of

conflict: 'The Yellow Palm’: patriotism:

'Charge of the Light Brigade’, 'next to of

course god america i’.

Flag What’s that fluttering in a breeze?It’s just a piece of cloththat brings a nation to its knees. What’s that unfurling from a pole?It’s just a piece of cloththat makes the guts of men grow bold. What’s that rising over a tent?It’s just a piece of cloththat dares the coward to relent. What’s that flying across a field?It’s just a piece of cloththat will outlive the blood you bleed. How can I possess such a cloth?Just ask for a flag, my friend.Then blind your conscience to the end.

What’s that fluttering in a breeze?

It’s just a piece of cloth

that brings a nation to its knees.

What’s that unfurling from a pole?

It’s just a piece of cloth

that makes the guts of men grow bold.

Flags are highly symbolic objects. However, here Agard juxtaposes his simple description of a flag as

a 'piece of cloth' with the powerful symbolism of a flag. In other words, ‘it's just a piece of

cloth’ but has the power to bring ‘a nation to its knees’.

The poem has five three-line stanzas of equal shape — the shorter middle line and two longer

lines giving the appearance of flags ‘fluttering in a breeze’. The first and last lines rhyme in verses 1 and 3, and half-rhyme with long vowel sounds ‘o’

(ll. 4, 6) and ‘ee’ (ll. 10, 12) in verses 2 and 4.

Each stanza begins with a question and goes on to give the poet’s answer. There’s no sense at any time that

somebody else is asking the question. The format allows Agard to put his opinions across in a stronger

way. The sustained letter ‘f’ — ‘fluttering’ (l. 1), ‘unfurling’ (l. 4), ‘flying’ (l. 10) — gives the impression of

a flag’s movements.

This line can be interpreted in different ways: literally to kneel before a flag would mean to

show respect, to worship what the flag represents. But the expression ‘to bring to its

knees’ means to force someone into submission or cause someone to beg for

mercy.

The word ‘guts’ has two main connotations. The first suggests injuries of

war and the other suggests bravery. Both of these connotations suggest the flag can evoke emotions that

can cause conflct.

What’s that rising over a tent?

It’s just a piece of cloth

that dares the coward to relent.

What’s that flying across a field?

It’s just a piece of cloth

that will outlive the blood you bleed.

In this stanza the flag is 'rising' over a tent, but what kind of tent? The

image certainly suggests a campaign tent although peculiarly it is a

somewhat old fashioned image. In this instance the flag personifies

courage and antagonism, daring the coward to relent, but relent to

what? To fight? To surrender? Again this image connotes conflict.

The speaker is presenting the flag as a dangerous object and one that changes the way people think and see. The word ‘relent’

means to run away and therefore this stanza suggests the flag is a powerful symbol that

can inspire men to fight despite their natural

fear.

Here the flag is flying across a field which carries a

colonial connotation as if the field is being claimed on

behalf of someone. The field could be a battlefield or even the green pastures of a rural and agricultural nation. what

is important is that the speaker offers something of a guarded warning in saying

that the flag with outlive 'you'.

The word ‘outlive’ suggests some

personification of the flag indicating it doesn’t care how many people will die, the symbol will exist for longer than any

soldier’s life.

Alliteration of the letter ‘b’ further emphasises Agard’s anger and highlights

the violence and reality of war.

How can I possess such a cloth?

Just ask for a flag, my friend.

Then blind your conscience to the end.

Then the rhyming pattern changes in the last verse, where ‘cloth’ (previously at the end of the second line in each

verse) sits at the end of the first line, leaving the last two lines as a rhyming couplet. The last two lines sum up the

poet’s feelings about patriotism. The strong rhyming couplet at the end emphasises Agard’s dislike of

patriotism, when there is the conviction that one’s own country is superior to all others and therefore must

always be in the right.

Agard feels that ‘blind patriotism’ can make people do what they would personally believe to be morally

wrong. Instead of letting their conscience guide them, they support their country and its government

at all times.

The last stanza stands out from the rest of the poem. Note how the tone of the poem has changed from direct

questioning to a more open, philosophical tone - 'how can I possess such a cloth'? During the course of the poem the speaker has warned how this simple piece of cloth possess a power

and symbolism of its own.

When the second speaker asks how they can possess such power the speaker warns that should you want to possess such power you must 'bind your conscience to the end.' Your conscience is your sense of justice, fair play

and right and wrong, so to 'bind' or handcuff your conscience is to prevent it from

working.