sunlight + warmth

• "Sunlight" runs as a conceit (extended metaphor) throughout the poem.

  • It is emblematic of the warmth and comfort she associated with her city of birth.
• Rumens employs epistrophe (a repeated word at the end of each stanza) by closing each stanza with the noun "sunlight".

  • This characterises "sunlight" as an irrepressible force which will break through despite anguish and tryanny.
• The phrase "it tastes of sunlight" uses synaesthesia (the blending of the senses) to depict how strong her memories are, they encompass all of her senses.

  • Alternatively, the excessively figurative language reinforces how the city she remembers is now very much theoretical and not real.
• The phrase "but I am branded by an impression of sunlight" juxtaposes the speaker's positive romanticised view with the reality of the city now as the verb "branded" has connotations of aggression and pain.

  • Moreover, the plosive 'b' could convey the nature of the speaker's memory - it is forceful and indestructible.