"The Emigrée" was written by the British poet Carol Rumens. A first-person speaker describes how as a child she was forced to flee her homeland and emigrate to another country because of war and tyranny. Though the speaker can never return to her home, it still occupies an important place in her heart. She keeps it alive through memory, which is compared to sunlight throughout the poem—suggesting warmth and vitality. The poem deliberately avoids tying itself to a particular context, instead looking more generally at the emigrant experience—with all its trauma and nostalgic longing for home.

• 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.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-11

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-16

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

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

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-25

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

    

    

    

    

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• “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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

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

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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

    

    

    

    

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    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." 

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