AQA ‘POWER AND CONFLICT’ POETRY

‘THE EMIGRÉE’ BY CAROL RUMENS

STARTER: WRITE THE INTRODUCTION TO TODAY’S
LESSON

‫درس اليوم هو عن قصيدة دعا‬

‫المغتربين‬
How successful were you at writing down the information?
What was the biggest challenge?
How did it make you feel?
Today’s key questions:
1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
 CONSIDER THIS

Look at the title of the poem we will

be studying today: it is a version of
the word ‘emigrant’, which means
someone who leaves their birth The
country.

How do you think your experience of

Emigrée
writing in Arabic might fit in with the
theme of this poem?

Today’s key questions:

1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
 EMIGRANT OR IMMIGRANT?

He is an emigrant upon leaving his homeland and

an immigrant upon arriving at his destination.

My grandparents immigrated to the United States.

My grandparents emigrated from Norway.

The prefix e- (or ex-) usually means “out of” or

“from.” The prefix im- (or in-) often means “in” or
“into.” Therefore, emigrate means “to move out of”
and immigrate means “to move into.”

Today’s key questions:

1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
 YOUR TASK

Stick the information

about the poem into
your exercise book.

Underneath, list four

things that you learn
about the poem and its
subject matter.
 YOUR TASK
There once was a country… I left it as a child
but my memory of it is sunlight-clear This poem communicates feelings rather
for it seems I never saw it in that November
which, I am told, comes to the mildest city. than a story or description. These feelings are
The worst news I receive of it cannot break
my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.
often mixed, reflecting the conflict the
It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants, speaker feels.
but I am branded by an impression of sunlight.

The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes Types of words: make a list of words/phrases that fit
glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks into the categories below and comment on their effect
and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves.
That child’s vocabulary I carried here
on the reader.
like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar. Words/phrases Effect
Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it.
It may by now be a lie, banned by the state Negative
but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.

I have no passport, there’s no way back at all Positive

but my city comes to me in its own white plane.
It lies down in front of me, docile as paper;
I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.
My city takes me dancing through the city
Repeated
of walls. They accuse me of absence, they circle me.
They accuse me of being dark in their free city.
My city hides behind me. They mutter death,
and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.
 YOUR TASK
There once was a country… I left it as a child
but my memory of it is sunlight-clear
for it seems I never saw it in that November Which of the words you have chosen
which, I am told, comes to the mildest city.
The worst news I receive of it cannot break show:
my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.
It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants,
but I am branded by an impression of sunlight. • the city as ideal?
The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes
glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks • the city she left as plagued by conflict?
and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves.
That child’s vocabulary I carried here
like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar.
Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it. • her affectionate and possessive feelings
It may by now be a lie, banned by the state
but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.
towards her home city?
I have no passport, there’s no way back at all
but my city comes to me in its own white plane. • a sense of threat?
It lies down in front of me, docile as paper;
I comb its hair and love its shining eyes.
My city takes me dancing through the city
of walls. They accuse me of absence, they circle me. Is there a change in the number of positive and
They accuse me of being dark in their free city. negative words as the poem progresses?
My city hides behind me. They mutter death,
and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.
 STANZA ONE
There once was a country… I left it as a child
Consider the effect but my memory of it is sunlight-clear Consider how the
of the punctuation for it seems I never saw it in that November stanza looks on the
used. How does it which, I am told, comes to the mildest city. page. What could
influence our you say about the
reading of the text?
The worst news I receive of it cannot break structure?
my original view, the bright, filled paperweight.
It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants,
Locate any but I am branded by an impression of sunlight.
What are the
language devices,
connotations of key
label them and
Stuck? Consider this! words in the stanza?
comment on WHY
Remember to use
they have been
What is the speaker’s view of the city where she grew up? How does the subject terminology
used. What is the
speaker use language to present this view? in your discussion.
impact?

Today’s key questions:

1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
 STANZA TWO
The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes
Consider the effect glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks Consider how the
of the punctuation and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves. stanza looks on the
used. How does it That child’s vocabulary I carried here page. What could
influence our you say about the
reading of the text?
like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar. structure?
Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it.
It may by now be a lie, banned by the state
Locate any but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight.
language devices, What are the
label them and connotations of key
comment on WHY Stuck? Consider this! words in the stanza?
they have been Remember to use
used. What is the What is the speaker saying about language here? What does she want to subject terminology
impact? say about her city? What can we infer about the current state of her city? in your discussion.

Today’s key questions:

1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
 STANZA THREE
I have no passport, there’s no way back at all
but my city comes to me in its own white plane.
Consider the effect Consider how the
of the punctuation It lies down in front of me, docile as paper; stanza looks on the
used. How does it I comb its hair and love its shining eyes. page. What could
influence our My city takes me dancing through the city you say about the
reading of the text? of walls. They accuse me of absence, they circle me. structure?
They accuse me of being dark in their free city.
My city hides behind me. They mutter death,
Locate any and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.
What are the
language devices,
connotations of key
label them and
words in the stanza?
comment on WHY Stuck? Consider this!
Remember to use
they have been
subject terminology
used. What is the Who or what could ‘they’ be?
in your discussion.
impact?

Today’s key questions:

1. Can I read, understand and respond to the text?
2. Can I analyse language and structure, explaining WHY the writer has used a particular technique and its effect?
3. Can I discuss the social and historical context of the poem?
RESOURCES
A displaced person pictures the country and the city where he or she was born. Neither
the city nor the country is ever named and this lack of specific detail seems intentional. It
is as if Rumens wants her poem to be relevant to as many people who have left their
homelands as possible.

Emigrants are people who have left the country of their birth to settle elsewhere in the
world. The spelling of the word Rumens chooses - émigrée - is a feminine form and
suggests the speaker of the poem is a woman.

The exact location of the city is unclear and precise details of it are sparse. Perhaps it only
ever really existed in the émigrée’s imagination.

Rumens suggests the city and country may now be war-torn, or under the control of a
dictatorial government that has banned the language the speaker once knew. Despite
this, nothing shakes the light-filled impression of a perfect place that the émigrée’s
childhood memories have left. This shows the power that places can have, even over
people who have left them long ago and who have never revisited since. Though there is
a clear sense of fondness for the place, there is also a more threatening tone in the poem,
suggesting perhaps that the relationship with the past and with this place is not
necessarily positive for the speaker.