the emigree Flashcards
‘there once was a country…’
fairytale like opening:
↳ idyllic, romanticised view of the country
↳ connotes to childhood and how all her memories of the country are from childhood
↳ could be deluded as fairy tales aren’t true
↳ unreliable narrator
‘but my memory of it is sunlight clear’
pathetic fallacy: ‘sunlight clear’
↳ warm, happy, joyful
↳ the sun can be blinding, shows how the sunlight clear memories blind her from her bad memories
‘in that november which, I am told, comes to the mildest city’
november
↳ cold, winter
caesuras:
↳ imitate speech, it’s difficult for the speaker to accept the new state of the city
juxtaposition: ‘sunlight’ v ‘mildest’
↳ the city is now disappointing and has regressed
‘the worst news of it I receive cannot break my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.’
modal verb: cannot
↳ emphasises certainty
adjective: bright
↳ highlights positive, overwhelming outlook on the city
noun: paperweight
↳ a paperweight stops paper from moving, could represent her stagnant views (heavy, inescapable)
‘it may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants’
anaphora: it may be
↳ repetitive, she is stuck in her views
subjunctive form:
↳ refers to hypotheticals, emphasises her resistance to accepting the new state of the city
modal verb: ‘may’
↳ less sure than cannot to show how she accepts the positive & blocks out the negatives
verb: ‘sick’
↳ refers to a temporary ailment -> even if the war is true, it will not have a lasting effect on the beauty of the citt
‘but I am branded by an impression of sunlight’
plosives ‘but I am branded by’
↳ shows passion for city
verb: branded
↳ shows permanence of her beliefs
↳ connotative to slavery & how she is enslaved by the sunlight
noun: impression
↳ idea formed with little evidence
juxtaposition: ‘branded’ vs ‘impression’
↳ conflict between false memories & reality
‘the child’s vocabulary I carried here like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar’
juxtaposition: ‘hollow’ vs ‘spills’
↳ she sees things that aren’t there and is unreliable
‘it lies down in front of me, docile as paper; I comb its hair and love its shining eyes ’
semantic field of caring for a pet:
↳adoration
contrasts to: ‘bright paperweight’
↳ understands the truth of the city and wants to protect it
‘it lies down in front of me’
↳ the fact that she had control over what the country does shows that she is deluded as she blocks out the negatives
‘my city hides behind me. they mutter death, and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight’
(shadows only occur in light)
personification: ‘hides’
↳ the speaker protects the city & the city seems vulnerable & weak in her eyes
death
↳ strict, rigid, no freedom
sunlight
↳ joy, hope
‘the accuse me of absence’
noun: absence
↳ absence of the mind, she is in a daydream rather than fixed into reality
inferences in the title
-immigrant is a phrase that focuses on where the person moved to
-emigrant focuses on where the person moved from
‘the’ is english, while ‘emigree’ is french -> emphasises difference getween identities
context:
-traveled widely & enjoyed other cultures
-part of a collection based on russia & eastern europe
form:
-free verse
↳ speaker is free
-no rhyme
↳ unsettled mind
structure
1st two stanzas = 8 lines
3rd stanza = 9 lines
speaker wants to hold on to memories
extra language
-the poem could be an extended metaphor for lost childhood
epiphora
↳ sunlight (love for country overrides everything else)
