Emigrée Quotes And Ideas

Question 1

The opening makes it sound like a story, but it also suggests loss due to the tense of the sentence.

Answer 1

“there once was a country”

Question 2

The metaphor suggests that the narrator’s memories are bright and positive, but also solid and fixed.

Answer 2

“the bright, filled paperweight”

Question 3

The negative adjective “branded” is juxtaposed with the positive “impression of sunlight”. “Branded” also suggests a permanence to her view - it can’t change.

Answer 3

“I am branded by an impression of sunlight”

Question 4

Time is personified as an enemy, but it can’t affect the speaker’s memories.

Answer 4

“as time rolls its tanks”

Question 5

It’s unclear who “they” are, but, they are menacing, and the repetition reinforces their threat to the speaker and the anaphora of ‘they accuse me’ reflects on the community’s negativity.

Answer 5

“They accuse me of absence, they circle me. They accuse me”

Question 6

The poem ends on a positive note - despite the threats of death, the city is still associated with “sunlight”, just as it is at the end of the first two stanzas.

Answer 6

“evidence of sunlight”