“The Emigrée” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Emigrée”

“The Emigrée” Summary

“The Emigrée” Themes

• 

  The Nature of Memory

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-16
  • Lines 17-25
• 

  Exile and Home

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-6
  • Lines 7-8
  • Lines 9-16
  • Lines 17-25

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Emigrée”

• Lines 1-4

  There once was ...
  ... the mildest city.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-8

  The worst news ...
  ... impression of sunlight.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 9-11

  The white streets ...
  ... close like waves.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 12-16

  That child’s vocabulary ...
  ... tastes of sunlight.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 17-20

  I have no ...
  ... its shining eyes.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 21-25

  My city takes ...
  ... evidence of sunlight.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“The Emigrée” Symbols

• 

  Light

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “sunlight-clear”
  • Line 6: “bright, filled paperweight”
  • Line 8: “an impression of sunlight”
  • Line 9: “white streets”
  • Line 10: “glow even clearer”
  • Line 16: “tastes of sunlight”
  • Line 18: “white plane”
  • Line 20: “shining eyes”
  • Line 23: “dark in their free city”
  • Line 25: “my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight”

“The Emigrée” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “o,” “w”
  • Line 2: “m,” “m,” “s”
  • Line 3: “s,” “n,” “s,” “N”
  • Line 7: “m,” “b,” “m,” “b”
  • Line 8: “b,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 9: “s,” “c,” “g,” “s,” “l”
  • Line 10: “g,” “l,” “cl,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 11: “cl”
  • Line 15: “b,” “b,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 16: “b,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 17: “n,” “n”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “There once was a country… ”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “o,” “a,” “o,” “e,” “i”
  • Line 2: “u,” “y,” “e,” “o,” “i,” “i,” “u,” “i,” “ea”
  • Line 3: “ee,” “I,” “e,” “i,” “i,” “o,” “e”
  • Line 4: “I,” “o,” “i”
  • Line 5: “e,” “ea”
  • Line 6: “i,” “i,” “ie,” “i,” “a,” “ei”
  • Line 7: “I,” “a,” “e,” “i,” “e,” “i,” “i,” “y”
  • Line 8: “I,” “a,” “a,” “y,” “a,” “o,” “u,” “i”
  • Line 9: “ee,” “y,” “o”
  • Line 10: “o,” “e,” “ea,” “i,” “o,” “a”
  • Line 11: “ie,” “i,” “ee,” “o,” “a”
  • Line 12: “a,” “i,” “o,” “a,” “y,” “I,” “a,” “ie,” “e”
  • Line 13: “o,” “o,” “o,” “o,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 14: “a,” “a,” “o,” “o,” “o,” “i”
  • Line 15: “I,” “a,” “y,” “ie,” “y,” “a”
  • Line 16: “I,” “i,” “o,” “I,” “u,” “i”
  • Line 17: “a,” “o,” “a,” “o,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 18: “y,” “y,” “e,” “i,” “i,” “i,” “a”
  • Line 19: “I,” “ie,” “i,” “o,” “o,” “a”
  • Line 20: “I,” “i,” “i,” “e”
  • Line 21: “y,” “y,” “e,” “i,” “y”
  • Line 22: “ey,” “e,” “ey,” “e”
  • Line 23: “ey,” “e,” “ei,” “ee,” “y”
  • Line 24: “y,” “y,” “i,” “e,” “i,” “e,” “ey”
  • Line 25: “a,” “a,” “a,” “o,” “u”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “country… I”
  • Line 4: “which, I,” “told, comes”
  • Line 6: “view, the,” “bright, filled”
  • Line 7: “war, it”
  • Line 9: “city, the”
  • Line 11: “us, close”
  • Line 13: “doll, opens”
  • Line 15: “lie, banned”
  • Line 16: “tongue. It”
  • Line 17: “passport, there’s”
  • Line 19: “me, docile”
  • Line 22: “walls. They,” “absence, they”
  • Line 24: “me. They”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “o,” “nc,” “w,” “s,” “n,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “t,” “s”
  • Line 2: “m,” “m,” “m,” “t,” “s,” “s,” “l,” “t,” “l,” “r”
  • Line 3: “r,” “t,” “s,” “s,” “n,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “n,” “N,” “m,” “r”
  • Line 4: “m,” “t,” “ld,” “m,” “s,” “t,” “m,” “ld,” “st,” “c,” “t”
  • Line 5: “r,” “s,” “n,” “s,” “r,” “c,” “t,” “nn,” “t,” “r”
  • Line 6: “r,” “b,” “r,” “t,” “p,” “p,” “r,” “t”
  • Line 7: “t,” “m,” “b,” “w,” “t,” “m,” “b,” “s,” “w,” “t,” “ts”
  • Line 8: “b,” “t,” “m,” “b,” “n,” “d,” “d,” “b,” “n,” “m,” “n,” “n,” “t”
  • Line 9: “t,” “st,” “ts,” “t,” “c,” “t,” “g,” “c,” “l,” “s,” “l,” “s”
  • Line 10: “gl,” “l,” “s,” “t,” “lls,” “ts,” “t,” “s”
  • Line 11: “n,” “n,” “t,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “s,” “l,” “s,” “l,” “s”
  • Line 12: “l,” “c,” “l,” “r,” “c,” “rr,” “r”
  • Line 13: “l,” “ll,” “ll,” “p,” “s,” “s,” “lls,” “r,” “r”
  • Line 14: “ll,” “v,” “v,” “c,” “l,” “l,” “c,” “l,” “t”
  • Line 15: “t,” “b,” “n,” “b,” “b,” “nn,” “b,” “st,” “t”
  • Line 16: “b,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “st,” “s,” “s,” “t”
  • Line 17: “n,” “p,” “ss,” “p,” “s,” “n”
  • Line 18: “m,” “c,” “m,” “s,” “m,” “n,” “t,” “s,” “n,” “t,” “n”
  • Line 19: “d,” “n,” “n,” “n,” “d,” “c,” “s,” “p,” “p”
  • Line 20: “s,” “s,” “n,” “n,” “s”
  • Line 21: “M,” “c,” “t,” “t,” “s,” “m,” “c,” “th,” “th,” “c”
  • Line 22: “s,” “Th,” “cc,” “s,” “m,” “s,” “c,” “th,” “c,” “c,” “m”
  • Line 23: “Th,” “cc,” “s,” “m,” “r,” “k,” “th,” “r,” “r,” “c”
  • Line 24: “M,” “c,” “t,” “h,” “d,” “s,” “h,” “d,” “m,” “Th,” “m,” “tt,” “d,” “th”
  • Line 25: “lls,” “s,” “n,” “c,” “s,” “n”

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where diacope appears in the poem:

  • Line 7: “It may be,” “it may be”
  • Line 17: “no,” “no”
  • Line 21: “My,” “city,” “me,” “city”
  • Line 22: “They,” “me,” “they,” “me”
  • Line 23: “They,” “me”
  • Line 24: “My,” “me,” “They”
  • Line 25: “my”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “my memory of it is sunlight-clear”
  • Line 6: “my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.”
  • Line 7: “it may be sick with tyrants”
  • Line 8: “I am branded by an impression of sunlight.”
  • Lines 9-10: “The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes / glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks”
  • Line 14: “Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it.”
  • Line 16: “It tastes of sunlight”
  • Line 19: “It lies down in front of me,”
  • Line 20: “I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.”
  • Lines 21-22: “My city takes me dancing through the city / of walls.”
  • Line 24: “My city hides behind me.”

• Personification

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Line 7: “it may be sick with tyrants”
  • Line 9: “the graceful slopes”
  • Line 11: “us”
  • Lines 18-22: “my city comes to me in its own white plane. / It lies down in front of me, docile as paper; / I comb its hair and love its shining eyes. / My city takes me dancing through the city / of walls. ”
  • Line 24: “My city hides behind me.”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Line 11: “the frontiers rise between us, close like waves.”
  • Lines 12-13: “That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar.”
  • Line 19: “docile as paper”

“The Emigrée” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Sunlight-clear
• Tyrants
• Frontiers
• The state
• Docile

• (Location in poem: Line 2: “sunlight-clear”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Emigrée”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Emigrée” Speaker

“The Emigrée” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Emigrée”

More “The Emigrée” Resources

• External Resources

  • Rumens In Her Own Words — An insightful interview with the poet.  

  • Rumens's Picks — Carol Rumens selects her favorite poetry of 2017.  

  • Poems about Emigration and Exile — A great selection of poems on similar subjects from the Poetry Foundation.

  • Poems by Anna Akhmatova — Works by the Russian Poet Akhmatova, cited by Rumens as an influence on "The Emigrée." 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Rumens

  • Carpet Weavers, Morocco