Poems (paper 2)

• The poem is contained in the collection "Thinking of Skins" which is centred on political consciousness in Russia and East Europe


  1993
• The title "The Emigreé" contrasts the English "the" with the French "Emigreé", establishing the idea of two conflicting cultures and identities
• Her father embarked at sunrise


  Japan is known as the land of the rising sun. Embark means to get on but also to begin something - he is beginning a new chapter of his life - both choices lead to a type of death
• a shaven head full of powerful incantations


  He is under the spell of patriotism and propaganda Not making his own decisions - his decision would be to keep living
• one-way journey into history


  Painful irony to his search for remembrance Sought death to be remembered and immortalised by respect.
• bunting

  celebrating the honour he will bring to his community
• a green-blue translucent sea


  Connotations of peace and tranquillity in the colour imagery. Doesn't want to deny himself - nor those he will kill - the beauty of nature and the beauty of life. Associating nature with precious possessions
• figure of eight


  Figure of eight the symbol for infinity. This may be used to imply the eternal nature of nature - continue indefinitely - nature is infinite in comparison to the transience of humanity, and life is brief, transient and precious. War and honour will be forgotten - nature will remain. Nature is more powerful than mankind.
• shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun


  Sibilance implies a sense of grace and peacefulness, as well as suggesting an elegant and graceful tone, also works to increase the pace to make the poem sound more emotional.
• waiting on the shore


  How leaving the family in order to provide for them was something required by every generation, just in different capacities. The father feels a responsibility to return to them. This is a selfless reason to return, rather than just a fear of death.
• cairns

  Stacks of pebbles that mark graves, shows the father is starting to consider the consequences of death and reminds readers that all the beauty of nature is undermined by the role he's about to play- will lose his ability to enjoy nature
• pearl-grey pebbles


  Nature's beauty is precious and valuable Life is valuable and sacred - shouldn't be ended prematurely Nature presented as powerful
• safe

  Repetition of safe - it is safety and life he is focusing on
• a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.


  Imbalance of power between humanity and nature. Even a kamikaze pilot - the epitome of bravery - sense the danger of it. Pilot (symbol of military power and determination) is not the most dangerous thing in the poem - a fish is! Metaphor - it is a prince - important and significant - deserving of respect and honour (like a soldier) Emphasise its significance by using first punctuation in poem (first full stop) Signal it is deserving of notice.
• nor did she meet his eyes


  Wouldn't "meet his eyes" - eyes are the windows to the soul. Doesn't want to see the person he has become - ashamed of her own husband. Doesn't want to communicate with him - distance herself from him as her daughter will. Thus the impact of conflict is ongoing - passed down from generation to generation. OR doesn't want to face what she is doing - feels guilty - painful to give up her husband but has no choice because her culture demands it
• too learned

  Learning about cultural values
• to live as though he had never returned,


  By living he traded this for being forgotten and ignored. Story is not told by historians but by a daughter who never knew him - the whole poem is speculative. Suggests the father physically survives but dead to the community and society he returned to
• which had been the better way to die.


  Both options offer a kind of death and this line implies that soldiers are controlled by indoctrination and propaganda, and used as tools of the government. Written in a detached third-person viewpoint which might suggest the speaker doesn't agree with this cultural view.

  
  

  "die" chosen as the last word of the poem, which creates a sense of futility and inevitable fate: the soldier was destined to die one way or another. The reader is also forced to reflect on their own mortality and life which will end the same way as the soldiers. In a more overarching societal application, the writer may be suggesting that conflict and patriotism denies humanity the enjoyment of life and nature.
• "There was once a country...I left as a child


  The poem opens up into the past tense and seems to be structured like a story - it suggests loss
• "My memory of it is sunlight - clear"


  Metaphor - This conveys that the memory is happy and innocent as well as a vivid and bright childhood
• "I never saw it in that November"


  'November' is symbolic of difficult times where everything is dark, cold and gloomy - contrasts the the sunlight.
• "I am told, comes to the mildest city"


  Shows that even the most 'mild' and innoceny places can be plagued and infected. It also suggests that another voice is telling her about her past
• "The worst news I receive of it cannot break/my original view, the bright, filled paperweight"


  Metaphor 'bright,filled paperweight' suggests that the memories of the narrator are bright and positive but solid, fixed and unmoving. She also has an attitude that she only sees her country in positive light and that she cannot bear seeing her country in a bad state.
• "It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants"


  May show that the country has been invaded and ruled harshly - the country is personified to be 'sick' with all this evil
• "I am branded by an impression of sunlight"


  It shows her positive and promiting view of her nation is permanent - the 'branded' is juxaposed with the 'impression of sunlight' - repetition of sunlight once again.
• "The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes/glow even clearer"


  The soft sounds of the 'g' and the descriptions of it being 'white' convey that she sees the county as almost heavenly and pure.
• "As time rolls it's tanks"


  Time is personified to be the enemy, the military language makes it seem powerful and have an army however it is not powerful enough to change her memories and opinion.
• "Like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar."


  Similie conveying all of the early, good memories. The words and opinions she was forbidden to speak have built up inside of her. It also represents that she has lost her identity and what she is left with is like a puppet-like doll.
• "I shall have every coloured molecule of it"


  Her memories are being collected one by one to form her childhood again. It may also convey her nost precise and considered thoughts and political views.
• "It may now be a lie, banned by the state"


  The language of her home provides her with comfort and happiness in dark times - the harsh 'b' on the banned expresses the opressiveness of the government/regime there.
• "I can't get it off my tongue. It taste of sunlight"


  The caesura implies that she had been silenced, just like the government silence those who also speak it. The metaphor 'it tastes of sunlight' combines sight and taste (synaesthesia) which shows that her culture is joyful and comforting.
• "I have no passport, there's no way back at all"


  It makes her situation seem hopeless and feel as if she doesn't belong there.
• "My city comes to me in its own white plane"


  The city is personified and the 'white plane' could represent her memories as well as hope and innocence.
• "I comb its hair and love its shining eyes"


  There is childlike joy within this description - it shows thay she is taking care of her innocent memories.
• "They accuse me of absence, they circle me."


  The 'they' are not identified but they are made to sound menacing and the repetition makes it sound like they're threatening her.
• "City of walls"

  "Their free city"


  The first quotation makes it sound restrictive and oppressed and the second quotation shows that the government make it out that they are 'free' however are inhumane and oppressive.
• "My city hides behind me. And they mutter death"


  Her city hides behind her and looks to her for comfort as if it is her duty to protect it. It is personified as if it is fleeing the government and being shielded by her innocence. 'They mutter death' also may represent that the government are genocidal, brutal and oppressive.
• "My shadow falls as evidence of sunlight"


  The fact that you can't have sunlight without a shadow conveys that every bright and clear thing will also have a dark and dirty side/past to it. It shows that not everything is 'pure'.