The poem is about a woman who was forced to leave her home country as a child for political reasons. She fondly remembers her homeland and native city in bright, positive terms. While her homeland may now be experiencing war and tyranny, her memories remain fixed as a "bright, filled paperweight". In her new country, she is accused of being "dark" and faces threats for speaking her native language and connecting to her culture. Despite this, her city and memories of it continue to be associated with "sunlight".

1. The Emigrée by Carol Rumen
Emigrée – a woman forced to leave her native country,
often for political reasons.

2. There once was a country… I left it as a child
but my memory of it is sunlight-clear
for it seems I never saw it in that November
which, I am told, comes to the mildest city.
The worst news I receive of it cannot break
my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.
It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants,
but I am branded by an impression of sunlight.
Opening sounds
like a story, but
also suggests loss
Suggests that the
memory is happy
and clear
This hints that
somebody has told
her about her past
Represents difficult
times, when things
are cold, dark and
gloomy.
Metaphor – speaker’s
memories are bright and
positive, but also solid
and fixed.
Suggests that the
country has political
problems – the
speaker’s positive view
isn’t accurate. It’s
idealistic.
“branded” is negative.
“impression of sunlight” is positive – this creates a
contrast.
“branded” suggests that this memory is permanent.

3. The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes
glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks
and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves.
That child’s vocabulary I carried here
like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar.
Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it.
It may by now be a lie, banned by the state
but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.
Personification – time is an
enemy but it can’t affect the
speaker’s memories.
Refers to the
language of childhood
– the METAPHOR
makes the language
seem bright and
precious.
Using another sense (taste)
increases the vividness of the
experience.
Description of city makes
it sound heavenly
It seems that the speaker
wishes to speak in her native
language, but it is banned by
the state. She can’t forget the
language she used to speak.

4. I have no passport, there’s no way back at all
but 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. They accuse me of absence, they circle me.
They accuse me of being dark in their free city.
My city hides behind me. They mutter death,
and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.
The first line of the stanza
sounds hopeless, but the
next line changes the
mood again.
The city is personified –
the “white plane” could
represent the speaker’s
memories.
There’s a childlike joy in
this description – it
sounds like a child
playing with a pet.
Represents difficult
times, when things
are cold, dark and
gloomy.
The poem ends on a positive note – despite the threats
of death, the city is still associated with “sunlight”, just
as it is at the end of the first two stanzas.
It’s unclear who
“They” are, but they
are menacing, and the
repetition reinforces
their threat to the
speaker.
Contrasting perceptions
of the city the speaker is
now in – she sees it as
restrictive, but “they” see
it as “free”.
The speaker is accused of being
“dark” in her current city – this
contrasts with the brightness
she associates with her old city.

5. Meaning: The speaker’s old city is under attack and she can’t reach it. In the final stanza, the city appears to the
spaker as she protects it from a mysterious “They”. The city could represent the speaker’s history in the
country that she was forced to leave. When talking about the city, she is trying to reconnect with her
culture, but the people who have taken over her city and those in the new country prevent her from
doing so.
Subject: The poem is about a woman has been forced to leave her home country, possibly due to war. She is now
in a new country, but she thinks back positively about her old home and tries to reconnect with it.
Imagery: War, sunlight, darkness, violence, childhood, freedom, love, oppression.
Language: Conflict – vocabulary of war, invasion and tyranny. Defiance of authority – talking in her mother tongue.
Light – city is described in bright, colourful terms emphasising the positivity.
Personification – The city is personified, as is time (“time rolls its tanks.”).
Emotion: Nostalgia – the speaker remembers the past fondly. She wished to go back there.
Threat – the city may have been invaded by tyrants. The new city threatens her.
Structure: Three stanzas, no rhyme scheme. Each stanza ends with sunlight, suggesting that the speaker’s positive
view of her home country will never change.