The Emigrée Flashcards
1
Q
Structure
A
- Use of reoccurring image of “sunlight” throughout the poem as a motif for hope
2
Q
Context
A
- An “Emigree” is a female migrant that had to leave their country due to hard ship
3
Q
First quote
A
“There once was a country… I left it as a child but my memory of it is sunlight-clear”
4
Q
First quote analysis
A
- “once was a country” - suggests that country no longer exists with its identity, lost its identity due to “tyrants”
- symbolism of “sunlight-clear”- because she was a child and happy there all her memories of that country appear permanently happy like sunlight
- throughout this poem this idea of sunlight is repeated as an image of hope that her country is still the same “sunlight-clear” country that she “left” “as a child”
5
Q
Second quote
A
“It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants but iI am branded by an impression of sunlight”
6
Q
Second quote analysis
A
- Symbol of sunlight again suggests happiness and hope in her country to be the best as it was in her memories and hope for her country to not be “sick with tyrants” and to recover from war
- Heat is also dangerous - alluded to with the use of the verb “branded” , this is a mark of ownership, she is owned by her childhood memories, can’t escape the past. Are we all unable to escape the experiences we had in our childhood?
7
Q
Third quote
A
“That child’s vocabulary I carried here like a hollow dill, opens and spills a grammar”
8
Q
Third quote analysis
A
- “child’s vocabulary” has a double meaning:
the child’s vocabulary is the language that the persona has carried with them to their new country, but also it is the childish way of looking at the world, it is a much more innocent perspective - Described vocabulary as a “hollow doll” - simile - she is referring to the Russian doll, possibly as a way to locate this city to the east of the Berlin wall in 1989 as a symbol to the political division between the west and the communist east.
- Also describing it as a doll shows that these
memories arent actually real which is she is
beginning to realise that these” sunlight-
clear” memories were actually just hollow
and not full - “grammar” shows there is now structure in her memories through the language she spoke as a child, holding onto that “grammar” gives her a idea of her upbringing and past and she in clinging onto that even though it may be false
9
Q
Fourth quote
A
“It lies down Infront of me, docile as paper; I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.
10
Q
Fourth quote analysis
A
- Personifies the city to be “docile as paper” - she is recreating the city in this poem. The poem is a way to get those memories back and re-establish that city in her mind.
- She is also aware that she may be controlling those memories in a way that may not be true as she “combs its hair” shows how much attention she is giving to those memories but is also almost as if the country and her memories are a doll and she is in control of them which shows that she is aware that her memories of the “sunlight-clear” city are not true but she is deluded by her identity and only wants to remember that version of her city
- The “shining eyes” of a doll are not actually seeing eyes, could convey that the image of her past are a false projection.
- Loneliness - no one from the other city has came with her she is alone and that’s why there is a repetition of this symbol of the doll as she can only recreate these people in her head as they aren’t real. She loves those shining eyes but they cant return that to her as they arent real and neither can the city return its love as she is cut off from it forever
11
Q
Fifth quote
A
“My city hides me. They mutter death, and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight”
12
Q
Fifth quote analysis
A
- “They” - may be tyrants in the city reaching out to punish her for leaving her country and abandoning her identity. However, “they” may also refer to citizens of her new country not accepting her identity and rejecting her. Either way, she feels as if she is protecting her memories and her city by holding onto her “vocabulary”
- Juxtaposition of “shadow” and “sunlight”- the fact that she can cast a shadow is proof that her past memories and upbringing was a positive thing as she still carries that happiness and hope with her at all times and that shows that her memories of the past are positive memories.
- Form: the poem has no form- the 8 line stanza pattern is broken in the last stanza where it has 9 lines to emphasise the importance of “sunlight”. If the poem would’ve followed an 8 stanza pattern the last word would have been “death” but instead it is “sunlight” to have a positive ending, could use that to interpret the poem as a celebration poem for migrants cultures, as they offer “sunlight” to us rather than killing it off.
