The Emigree- Carol Rumens

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  • Created by: lucyaa
  • Created on: 14-03-17 20:56
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  • The Emigree by Carol Rumens
    • Loss and absence
      • "I have no passport, there's no way back at all"
        • Coming to terms that she will never return. The tone is depressed and negative.
      • "there once was a country...I left it as a child"
        • begins the poem like a story as she's recalling her loss.
        • the ellipses highlights her thinking, and pausing as if it pains her to talk about her city.
      • "I comb its hair and love its shining eyes"
        • she holds on to the memories of her homeland   and tries to comfort her loss.
    • identity
      • "I am branded by the impression of sunlight"
        • branded shows a sense of permanance her city will forever have on her, no matter where she goes.
        • Repetition of sunlight shows how her identity is powerful and her city will always shed light on this.
      • "but I can't get it off my tongue. it tastes of sunlight"
        • She cannot let go of her mother tongue as it reminds her of her home.
        • Repetition of sunlight shows how her identity is powerful and her city will always shed light on this.
      • "my city hides behind me"
    • Power and conflict
      • "my city takes me dancing through the city of wall"
        • everything is now constricted due to the loss of power.
      • she has conflict with accepting her new idenity.
        • "my shadow falls as evidence as sunlight"
          • contrast of dark and light represent her old and new city.
    • memory
      • "my memory of it is sunlight clear"
        • sunlight shows her positive memories from her homeland forever shining brightly.
      • "the graceful slopes grow even clearer as time time rolls its tanks"
        • her love grows for her city with each memory, but it she now making her homeland too idealistic?
        • war like language "tanks" contradicts with the graceful slopes.
          • power of nature vs power of humans.
      • "the worst news I receive of it cannot break my original view"
        • Despite the destruction in the city she only chooses to remember the positive parts.
    • background
      • An emigre is someone who leaves their country. The girl in this poem leaves hers.
        • this is due to policitcal/ social reasons e.g. tyranny, a dictatorship.
      • The city could be a metaphor for memories + growth- the progression from child to adult.
        • "it may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants"
          • personification- the city is infected, but she hopes it can be cured.
    • Alienation
      • "they accuse me of absence, they circle me"
        • in her new city everything is sinister.
      • "my city hides behind me"
        • her inner self is scared of accepting a new identity.
      • "that child's vocabulary i carried here like a hollow doll"
        • Smilies show how everything is different, and how she struggles to fit in.

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