The Emigree Poem Analysis GCSE

The Emigree Structure

The Emigree - the being derived from English and Emigree being derived from French - indicated conflict of identity

2 stanzas are 8 lines long, the conclusive stanza is 9 lines long - portraying how she never truly wants to let go of her previous identity and personality

Semantic field of opression juxtaposed with semantic field of innocence - inner conflict of the emigrant

The Emigree Context

Rumens has been described as having a 'fascination with elsewhere'

The Emigree Key Quotes

'There once was a country...'

'my memory of it is sunlight-clear'

'the bright, filled paperweight'

'It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants,'

'but I am branded by an impression of sunlight'

'The white streets of that city'

'It tastes of sunlight'

'I comb its hair and love its shining eyes'

'my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.'

'There once was a country...' analysis

Alludes to a fantasy, child-like fairytale world

Her country is portrayed through a lens of innocence, as a child she would have not took heed to the negative aspects of her country

Fairytale tone - reflects how this is a romanticised, idyllic memory from her youth rather than the reality

Ellipsis - a pause, a flashback, to retreive and reflect on idyllic memories

Reverting to a childlike tone - showcases how she finds comfort and stability in her old identity

'the bright, filled paperweight'

Metaphor - paperweights keep paper in place,

Bright - hope, joy, comfort

Paperweight - these memories of her city hold her steady and keep her calm and at peace

Moreover it could show how her views of her city of origin are unchangeable and she will always have an impression of joy and warmth despite how it was in 'that November' - pathetic fallacy, harsh, negative, bitter

'It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants' analysis

Lexical field of illness and sickness - she believes the country is merely suffering from a temporary illness which is plaguing its beauty

Repetition of may - reflects how she is in denial, her country being flawed is merely hypothetical and unbelievable to her because she was branded by a naive perspective of it

Personification of her country being sick reflects her love towards it, so much she views it as a vital part of her identity

'but I am branded by an impression of sunlight' analysis

Epistrophe - repetition of sunlight at the end of each stanza - highlights how how the warmth and affection of her old country will never be repressed despite the anguish now associated with it - she constantly is hopeful she can return

Branded - highlights how her memories are permanently impressed on her, unchangeable

Branded - a metaphorical mark left on her that identifies her as an outsider to her new country, she is attached to her country through the impact it has created on her

'The white streets of that city' analysis

Imagery of heaven - adored, beautiful, angelic

'I comb its hair and love its shining eyes' analysis

Tactile imagery - feels a maternal instinct to care and adore her country

Personification of her country as a child - reflects how she feels affectionate and protective over her country as if she were its guardian

Iambic pentameter - crafts a rhythm that sounds like a heartbeat - symbolic of her emotional and physical attachment to her country and her identity

'They accuse me of being dark in their free city.' analysis

Reptition of they - threatening, foreboding, unwelcome

'My shadow falls as evidence of sunlight' analysis

Her physical existence is proof of her fantasised and romanticised country

Sunlight - motif permeates the text - despite segregation and lack of acceptance from her country she will always have an emotional attachment to it