the emigrée Flashcards
What is an overall summary for the emigrée
The speaker reminisces over her homeland which she was forced to flee to escape warfare and tyranny. She recounts solely of positive memories of her home and romanticises it through an extended metaphor of warmth and sunlight, yet she explains she can never return. She acknowledges her new city as threatening and unwelcoming, she seeks her past city as a solace to provide refuge from the adversity she now experiences.
What is the context of the emigrée
- Originally born in London and lived around UK and Russia
- Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam was her influence, two Russian poets
- her work is centred around the social political customs within foreign countries, and the emigrée particularly investigates the emotional aspects of this
- city/country never identified so it allows to universally focus on the emotional aspects of emigration
How is sunlight and warmth shown through the emigrée
• “Sunlight” runs as an extended metaphor throughout the poem. It is emblematic of the warmth and comfort she associates with her city of birth.
• Rumens employs epistrophe (a repeated word at the end of each stanza) by closing each stanza with the noun “sunlight”. This characterises “sunlight” as an irrepressible force which will break through despite anguish and tyranny.
• The phrase “it tastos of sunlight uses synaesthesia (the blending of emotions) to depict how strong her memories are, they encompass all of her senses. Synaesthesia is the blending of senses. Alternatively, the excessively figurative language reinforces how the city she remembers is now very much theoretical and not real
• The phrase “but I am branded by an impression of sunlight” juxtaposes the speaker’s positive romanticised view with the reality of the city now as the verb “branded” has connotations of aggression and pain. Moreover, the plosive ‘b could convey the nature of the speaker’s memory it is forceful and indestructible.
How is the metaphor of a lover shown in the emigrée
• In the third stanza there is an extended metaphor of her past city as a lover. Rumens paints the archetypal images of romance through phrases such as:
“It lies down in front of me”
“I comb its hair”
“my city takes me dancing”
This explores the way in which the speaker has romanticised the memory of her city, it is so powerful it has almost become personified in her mind. If you look closely at the transitions in language her city shifts from being passive, to being active. It now ‘takes her dancing’ suggesting that she transitions into a position of comparative weakness within her new city, she uses her old city as a source of support
How is there an allusion to fantasy in the emigrée
The poem opens with a temporal phrase “there once was a country” which is reminiscent of a fairy-tale. This imbues the text with a childlike sense of fantasy.
• This could lead us to question the reliability of the speaker’s testaments, it is clear she has allowed her perception of her past home to be gripped by a fantastical and imaginative quality.
• This phrase is followed by caesura in the form of ellipses, this reinforces the unreliability of her memories as she installs a pause as if she was retrieving her thoughts. Alternatively, it could portray how her idyllic childhood was interrupted and cut short as her home descended into warfare.
How is exile shown in an emigrée
• The idyllic description of her past city is strongly juxtaposed with her current city. Rumens explores the theme of exile as the speaker seemingly exits as a paradox within her new city
- the oxymoronic phrase ‘my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight’ portrays an impossible image. She now exists in a liminal fantasy realm as she is not welcomed as a citizen of her new home.
How is a regular structure shown in an emigrée
The poem is comprised of 3 stanzas, the first two have 8 lines, and the third has 9. This maintains a somewhat regular structure, which may be the speaker’s attempt to impose a sense of order over her city which we learn has descended into chaos- she is trying to preserve its image.
How is emigrée presented in first person
It is written in the first person as it explores the inner emotions of The Emigrée speaker in the poem, Rumens is exploring the effect of war on people. The stanzas are written in free verse with no regular rhythm or rhyme scheme, this could expose the true nature of her city, which is rife with disarray. This also helps to make the poem feel conversational, presenting it as a slowing stream of consciousness, it does not seem contrived.
How is repetition used in an emigrée
There are multiple examples of repetition within the poem, notably the detached pronoun ‘they’ punctuates the final stanza as the speaker discusses her new city. This imposes a belligerent tone and creates a separation between her and ‘them’ depicting her struggle to assimilate with the citizens of her new city
This repetition also establishes a threatening quality to the people of her new city, it creates the suffocating impression of them closing in on her.
How is enjabment and end stopping used in an emigrée
The frequency of enjabment depletes throughout the poem, this could depict the initial freedom of her old city in comparison to the claustrophobic confinement she now feels. This reinforced the threatening tone and emulates a sense of finality to mourn the thrush that she can’t leave and return home
- Alternitavely, the enjambement could represent the speakers lack of control, the words are flowing away, much like the city she remembers which is fleeting into tyranny
