Benjamin Zephaniah

 

Who is this? What is he doing? What do you think his job is?

This is Benjamin Zephaniah, a British poet who died last week aged 65 and is being remembered as a titan of British literature.

"A titan of British literature" what does that mean? 

What is a poet? How do you become a poet? What sort of education do you think Benjamin had to become a poet, what do you think his childhood was like, how well do you think he did at school?

Benjamin was born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham. He was dyslexic (what is dyslexia?) and left school at 13 with no qualifications and unable to read or write.

As a child, Benjamin experienced domestic violence and thought it was the norm; he recalled, "I once asked a friend of mine, 'What do you do when your dad beats your mum?' and he went: 'He doesn't'

I said, 'Ah you come from one of those, like, feminist houses. So what do you do when your mum beats your dad?"

Why did Benjamin think parents fighting was the norm? What did he learn that day?

He started to write dub poetry, a Jamaican style of work and when he was 22 he moved to London and published his first poetry book, called, “Pen Rhythm”.

He has spoken out on many issues such as racism and education and become famous for using his voice. In 2008 he was named as one of the top 50 post war British writers.

There are so many poems and performances to explore, I have chosen four because I couldn’t pick just one. The first is called “Who’s who”

I used to think nurses
Were women,
I used to think police
Were men,
I used to think poets
Were boring,
Until I became one of them.

What is Benjamin saying in this poem? Listen to the rhythm in these lines; what do you notice, how does using rhyme affect the poem? 

What do you think makes this a good poem? 

How might this poem be about No Outsiders?

This poem was written as  response to Covid and Black Lives matter in 2021:

Benjamin Zephaniah poem 'people will always be people' (UK/Global) - BBC - 5th June 2020 - YouTube

This poem is called “Talking Turkey’s”

Benjamin Zaphaniah poem from Literacy Evolve for Primary Literacy pupils - YouTube

And finally, possibly the best No Outsiders poem ever written! "The British" 

https://youtu.be/dZ1yYOAwvvo?si=Npwol63Q20bpAwvy

Thank you, Benjamin.