the emigreé Flashcards
title ‘the emigreé’
the (english) emigreé (french)
suggests the conflicting cultures and identities
summary
speaker had to leave their country as a child
looking back fondly, whilst lamenting the discrimination they face in their new country
context- rumens and travelling
born in london, but also lived in Belfast and Wales, and travelled widely throughout Russia and Eastern Europe
poem - from what collection
from 1993 collection “thinking of skins’, centred on political consciousness in russia and e. europe and a focus on the relationship between identity and culture
the opening- ‘there was once a country’
fantastical tone mimicking a child- highlights the fact that it is a memory, not reality
suggests that the lace the speaker remembers is romanticised by the idealism of youth
opening- ellipsis
further suggests the vulnerability of the memory
creates a pause, allowing the reader to gather their thoughts
last stanza structure
description of new city
- enjambment ‘through the city// of walls’
- separates ‘of walls’ to suggest that walls are what isolate the speaker, cremating connotations of being trapped.
- also contains caesura and free verse (mimicking the sense of chaos in the readers mind, or perhaps how the speaker feels at unrest in the new city)
form
predominantly in free verse, no rhyme or rhythm
- represents chaos in her old country that has no stable government
-juxtaposes the positive imagery in the poem to show underlying chaos in the old country
epistrophe (stanzas ending with references to sunlight)
demonstrates how no matter what she hears in the news, the speaker will always view her city positively
‘but i am branded by the impression of sunlight’
metaphor- emphasising positivity of homeland (left a lasting positive impression/mark on her)
juxtaposition- between ‘sunlight’ connotations and ‘branded’
suggests her love for her country will overrule any feelings of pain caused by it
extended metaphor - lost childhood
as shown also by ‘ i comb its hair and love its shining eyes’
shows a maternal relationship between the speaker and the homeland through her unconditional love and protective tendancies
‘the bright, filled paperweight’
metaphor for her memories- suggesting both their weight and impact on her identity but also the way that they anchor her to her past: so that it is never forgotten
‘it may be sick with tyrants’
portraying her city as a vulnerable, diseased body suffering under political oppression
‘it tastes of sunlight’
gustatory imagery (add more here)
