the emigree

Page 1

THE EMIGREE CAROL RUMENS

TRANSLATION

There once was a country I left as a child

I still remember it very well

I never saw it in difficult times

Which every place experiences

Even the worst things I hear about it

Don't change my view

It maybe filled with war and invaded by evil people

But i refuse to think of it as anything but positive

The white sreets of the city and the slopes

That glow even brighter over time

And the divisions rise between where i currently am and that place

The childish vocabulary

The words I learnt as a child

Come out at times

And that language is banned now

But I can't stop speaking it. Amazing place

I don't have a passport I can't go back

But my memories stay with me

I look at it in the paper / see it in my memories

They accuse me for not being there

They persecute me

They want to kill me but

I still feel positively about the place

country is never named

lack of specification makes it seem like the poet wants it to be relevant to as many as possible

emigree - woman forced to leave her country because it is no longer safe

refuses to be specific

very general

POWER

power of place

passionately loves the place even though its very dangerous

positive overpowers negative

STRUCTURE

written in free verse + enjambment + caesura

caesura - mid line punctuation to help you reflect

mixture of language devices show lack of power speaker had

reflects the danger

danger is shown through chaotic disorganised structural feature

regular stanza length

speakers way of imposing order

refusing to succumb to the negativity her way of imposing power

loving dance with the city stanza - longer because maybe she doesn't want to leave

chaos and disorder of the place yet she loves it

lot of caesura in final stanza

commas, full stops within the lines

sense of chaos and powerless

contrasted through positive imagery

sunlight recurring image of positivity

repetition of 'they' nuclear who they is

threatening people

conflict of power and people

but the threat is overpowered by the positive imagery - sunlight

final word of stanza

IMAGERY

'sunlight-clear'

'branded by and impression of sunlight'

'it tastes of sunlight'

'evidence of sunlight'

sunlight is a simple image of happiness

continued throughout to show her positivity

repeated to show her passion and love and how this continually overpoweres the negativity

'branded' painful, aggressive image but the sunlight overpowers - shows there is negativity but she chooses to ignore it

'bright, filled paperweight' stability holds her steady and still

personification - love relationship 'comb its hair' and 'takes me dancing'

just how much she loves this place - a romance story

'white streets' heavenly image