The Emigrée - Carol Rumens

CONTEXT
Carol Rumens is an English poet, lecturer and translator. 
She has published over 15 collections of poetry, as well as several novels and plays

THE STORY OF THE POEM
The narrator talks about a city in a country she left as a child. 
She has a completely positive view of the city 
The city seems to be under attack and unreachable
But in the 3rd stanza, it appears to the speaker
An unknown 'they' accuse and threaten the speaker
But she still sees the old city in a positive way 
The city may not represent an actual place - it could represent a time, person or emotion that the speaker has been forced to leave 

KEY THEMES IN THE POEM
Loss and Absence 
Memory 
Identity 
Individual Experience

FORM 
The poem is written in the 1st person 
Three stanzas of equal length, but no regular rhythm or rhyme scheme 
First two stanzas contain alot of enjambment, but less in the final stanza -refelcts the narrators feelings of confinement in her new 'city of walls' 

STRUCTURE
The narrators memory of the city grows and solidifies as the poem progresses - the city becomes a physical presence for the speaker in the final stanza
Each stanza ends in sunlight, reinforcing thefact that the speaker sees the city in a positive light

LANGUAGE…