The emigree

• " There once was a country..."


  Elipses ~ creates a fairytale opening with an idyllic, childlike tone. Narrator romanticises the country she's from ~ memory can be unreliable
• Enjambment


  Vague memory of the country the left behind
• Semantic field of light


  Nostalgic memories of her home country
• "Time rolls its tanks"


  Metaphor & alliteration ~ time is the enemy. The more time passes the less she remembers about her home country.
• "That child's vocabulary I carried here like a hollow doll"


  Simile ~ she was young when she emigrated - forgetting language of her country/culture. Memory holds comfort of who she was
• "It may by now be a lie, banned by the state"


  Accepting that perhaps her memory isn't accurate but holds it dearly for comfort

  Hints she had to leave due to the creation of a dictatorship ~ creates tension
• "Sunlight"


  Repeated reference to "sunlight" suggests narrator has an idealised image of the past where it is always sunny (perfect) - associated with happiness - place is not as perfect ("dark") but imperfections are ignored in the process of remembering
• Light vs dark


  Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

  Light - sunlight, bright, white, graceful, shining.

  Dark - November, dark, death

  ~ contrasts nostalgia of the past & harsh reality of the present.
• "City"


  Whole city is an extended metaphor ~ a symbol of lost childhood to which an adult cannot return to
• Structure.


  No rhyme scheme

  Free verse