The Emigree

Question 1

Who wrote the emigree?

Answer 1

Carol Rumens

Question 2

What is the opening line of the poem, which makes it sound like a story but also suggests loss?

Answer 2

“There once was a country…”

Question 3

What quotation suggests that the memory is clear and happy?

Answer 3

“sunlight-clear”

Question 4

What does “it seems” and “i am told” suggest?

Answer 4

Hints at another voice telling her about her past

Question 5

What does “November” represent?

Answer 5

Difficult times, when things are cold, dark and gloomy

Question 6

What metaphor suggests that the narrator’s memories are bright and positive but also solid and fixed?

Answer 6

“the bright, filled paperweight”

Question 7

What quotation suggests that the country has been invaded and that the speaker’s positive view of it isn’t accurate?

Answer 7

“It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants”

Question 8

What does “i am branded by an impression of sunlight” mean?

Answer 8

The negative “branded is juxtaposed with the positive “impression of sunlight”. “Branded” also suggests a permanence to her view - it can’t change

Question 9

What does “white” and “glow” suggest about the city?

Answer 9

That it is pure - heavenly

Question 10

In what quotation is time personified as an enemy, which can’t affect the speaker’s memories?

Answer 10

“time rolls its tanks”

Question 11

What does “child’s vocabulary” and “every coloured molecule” suggest?

Answer 11

It is a reference to the language of her childhood. The metaphor makes the language seem bright and precarious

Question 12

What quotation uses gustatory imagery to increase the vividness of the experience?

Answer 12

“It tastes of sunlight”

Question 13

What is the first line of the last stanza which sounds hopeless?

Answer 13

“I have no passport, there’s no way back at all”

Question 14

In what quotation is the city personified to represent the speaker’s memories?

Answer 14

“but my city comes to me in its own white plane”

Question 15

What quotation uses childlike joy?

Answer 15

“I comb its hair and love its shining eyes”

Question 16

What do the quotations “city of walls” “they accuse me” suggest?

Answer 16

They’re contrasting perceptions of the city the speaker is now in. She see it as restrictive but “they” se it as “free”

Question 17

What does the quotation “they accuse me” suggest?

Answer 17

It is unclear who “they” are but they’re menacing and the repetition reinforces their threat to the speaker

Question 18

What does “dark” imply?

Answer 18

The speaker is accused of being “dark” in her current city but this contrasts with the brightness she associates with her old city

Question 19

What is the effect of the final line “evidence of sunlight”?

Answer 19

The poem ends on a positive note, despite the threats of death, the city is still associated with “sunlight” just as it is at the end of the first two stanzas

Question 20

What is the context of the poem?

Answer 20

The poem is based on modern examples of emigration, where people have to flee their homes because of war, corruption, tyranny or dictatorship

Question 21

What is the form of the poem?

Answer 21

The poem is written in the first person, with 3 eight-line stanzas but no regular rhythm or rhyme scheme. Lots of enjambment in the first 2 stanzas but lots of end-stopping in the 3rd stanza, reflecting the speakers feeling of confinement in hew new “city of walls”

Question 22

What are the tone/mood of the poem?

Answer 22

Nostalgia and threat