The Emigrée

Question 1

Lacking specifity

Answer 1

So it applies to everyone

Question 2

How does it link to power and conflict

Answer 2

The power of place: despite leaving dangerous place, the speaker loves it

Conflicting emotions between place and people

Positive overpowers negative

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

Free verse: no rhyme or regular structure
Enjambment : ‘I carried her
Like a hollow doll.’

Caesura: ‘but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.’

Reflects chaos and danger in the place she loves + lack of power the speaker has in that she can’t go there.

But there’s a regular stanza length (8,8,9)
Speakers way of imposing order on the chaos and refusing to be overcome by the negativity of the conflict or the power imposed on her.

Last stanza is the longest because she doesn’t want to leave.

Battle between chaos of the war zone and the love she has for the place.

Question 4

Caesura in final stanza vs imagery

Answer 4

Sense of chaos and powerlessness but this is contrasted with the deliberate use of positive imagery:
‘Sunlight’ ends the poem- positivity

Question 5

Repetition of ‘they’ in the final stanza

Answer 5

Repetition- threatening
People are threatening but the place wins through the ending of ‘sunlight’

People vs place

Question 6

Sunlight quotes

Answer 6

‘Sunlight-clear’
‘Branded by an impression of sunlight’
Juxtaposition of negative and positive
Place is powerful- can’t think of it negatively

‘It tastes of sunlight’
‘Evidence of sunlight’

Happiness+ positivity
Her passion for the place overpowers the negativity.

Question 7

‘The bright, filled paperweight’

Answer 7

Power of place

‘Paperweight’ - stability, holds her steady.

Question 8

Personification of the city as her lover.

Answer 8

‘Sick’
‘Comes to me’
‘Lies down’
‘Takes me dancing’
‘I comb its hair’

Shows how much she loves the place- power of the place.

Question 9

Positive vs negative

Answer 9

‘Tanks
‘tyrants’
‘Banned’

‘White streets’
‘Graceful slopes’

Contrast
Constant conflict between place and people or memory vs reality
Memory of place wins

Question 10

Compare well with

Answer 10

Extract from, the prelude
Child like love of the place can’t be defeated because the place has power in the speakers heart vs power of nature teaches speaker a lesson.