Form

• How does the use of free verse in The Emigree reflect the speaker’s experience of displacement?

  The poem’s free verse—lacking consistent rhyme or rhythm—mirrors the chaos and instability of a country torn by conflict or without a stable government. This lack of structural control reflects the speaker’s dislocation and emotional turmoil. However, the absence of constraint in the form can also symbolise freedom and the limitless nature of memory, suggesting the speaker’s refusal to be confined by political or physical boundaries.
• What is the effect of the consistent stanza lengths in a free verse poem like The Emigree?

  Despite the poem being in free verse, Rumens uses similarly structured stanza lengths, which introduces a subtle sense of control. This structural regularity could reflect the speaker’s attempt to impose order over the emotional disruption caused by emigration. It represents how the speaker clings to memories and identity as a way to stabilise herself in a fractured world.