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The emigree
● Context: the writer of this poem,
Carol Rumens, is described as
having a “fascination with
elsewhere”, despite her being
born and raised in South London
...

● “Bright, filled paperweight” this connotes images of a
snowglobe, and the childish fascination and joy this can bring
...
“Filled” also suggests that the narrator is full of
nostalgic memories surrounding this mystical place
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● “Branded by an impression of sunlight” - The word “branded” suggests a
permanency (and perhaps violence?) to this action, almost like she is tattooed
with the identity and memories of this place (and that she, perhaps, cannot
escape these views of her “free” city)
...
The word “branded” also juxtaposes the positive image of
“sunlight”
...
This
may also imply that the narrator wants to return to the simpler and happier
times of her childhood
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The word “sick” seems almost too simplistic for the detailed metaphors of
light that precede it, and could reflect the “child’s vocabulary” which the
narrator used to use before her displacement
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g the conflict in Syria in more
recent years)
...
This portrays the conflict and those involved as evil - perhaps for
tainting the narrator’s view of “the mildest city?”
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● However the narrator also seems at threat from the city and country she used
to think of as home
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● Throughout most of the poem, there is a lot of enjambment (or run-on lines)
which may suggest the freedom the speaker feels
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● Each stanza ends with “sunlight” which may suggest that there is no real
progression to the poem, and in fact the speaker’s opinions are solid
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