The Emigree Flashcards
What does the quote “There once was a country … I left it as a child but my memory of it is sunlight-clear” Show
Rumens’ opening line establishes a fairy-tale quality to highlight the fact that the speaker’s home is described as a memory rather than reality. The memory is “sunlight clear” but is romanticised by the idealism of youth, and establishes the key theme of the unreliability of memory.
What does that quote “The worst news I receive of it cannot break my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.” Show
The speaker claims nothing can diminish the innocence, child-like memories of home, a metaphorical “bright paperweight”, but accepts there may be a disconnect between her memory and her home country’s present reality.
What sows the quote “That child’s vocabulary I carried here like a hollow doll…” show
The poet explores the speaker’s struggle to reconcile her past with her present, highlighting the internal conflict between the innocence of childhood memories and the complexities of adulthood. The language she left with had nothing of substance, as the simile “like a hollow doll” suggests.
What does the quote “I have no passport, there’s no way back at all but my city comes to me in its own white plane.” Show
The speaker has travelled from her home city and has no way of returning, but instead her city comes to her in the form of innocent memories and nostalgia, represented by the colour white.
What does the quote “I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.” Show
Through personification, the poet portrays the speaker’s deep affection for her homeland, transforming it into a cherished companion, symbolising the longing for connection and belonging amidst feelings of alienation and displacement.
What does the quote “They accuse me of absence, they circle me. The accuse me of being dark in their free city.” Show
The speaker feels trapped, persecuted and different in her new city, and Rumens uses the pronoun “they” to signify “otherness”. No specific cities or countries are mentioned, creating a sense of the universality of the conflicts and difficulties emigrants can experience when forced to leave their homes.
What does the quote “My city hides behind me. They mutter death, and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight” show
Through symbolism, the poet illustrates the speaker’s protective stance towards her homeland, portraying it as a source of strength amidst external threats and hostility.
What is the form of the poem
-the 1st two stanzas contain lots of enjambment but there’s more end stopping in the final stanza
-This reflects the speakers feeling of confinement in her new “city of walls”
What is the structure of the poem
-the speaker’s memory of the city grows and solidifies as the poem moves on
-the city becomes a physical presence for the speaker in the final stanza
-each stanza ends with sunlight reinforcing that the speaker sees the city in a positive light
