The Emigrée Flashcards
How do you spell the title?
Emigrée
Describe the poet?
She is British
It appeared in her 1993 “Thinking of Skins” collection
What is an emigrée
Someone who left their country
And migrant is someone who has moved to a different coutry
Start of the poem suggesting loss
“There once was a country…”
Elipsis suggests loss
The start of the powm sounds like a story
Form and Structure
In first person making it feel personal
Has 3, 8 lines stanzas with no regular rythm or rhyme scheem. This could show that the narrator doesn’t feel at home or that she can’t control her memories
There is lots of enjarbment (specialy in the first 2 stanzas) and caesuras (in the last paragraph) this could show how she was unrestricted in her old country but now she is more restricted
The reflection of her old city becomes more and more solid as the poem progresses but is alway linked to sunlight
Feelings and attitudes
Nostalga (missing her old city)
Threat - of not being part of the new city
Who wrote the poem
Carol Rumens
Negative verb followed by positivity
“I am branded by an impression of sunlight”
Branded is negative but is a paradox as she is branded by a positive thing
However the word impression may suggest that the sunlight is fading and this could represent her memories (especialy as ll she can repember is posotive things
Showing how time is attacking her memories (forgetting)
“As time roles it’s tanks”
Personification
(Isn’t a simile)
Showing how she is missing a part of herself
“Like a hollow doll…”
Simlie
Repetition of good memories
“Sunlight”
Used to shiw how her city could be more free. It was more reliable as the sun always comes up
…
Start of last (3rd) stanza showing how she feels restricted in the city
“I have no passport, there’s no way back at all
Showing how she loves the city even still
“I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.”
Repetition creating threat
Explain
“They accuse me”
“They circle me”
“They accuse me”
They mutter death”
It it unclear who they are it could be people who she has left behind or the new city she is in
End of the poem
Explain
“evidence of sunlight.”
Poem ends on a psitive note and re-enforces that they city is still associated with sunlight
