12.1.2

Themes

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Love and Fond Memories

The speaker emphasises her love for her city throughout the poem. This ties into the wider themes of memory and place and nostalgia. Rumens uses these techniques to emphasise the speakers' love of her city:

Repeated possessive pronouns

Repeated possessive pronouns

  • Frequent use of possessive pronouns (e.g. “my city”) conveys the speaker’s deep admiration for, and pride in, her city.
Metaphor

Metaphor

  • “The worst news I receive of it cannot break / My original view, the bright filled paperweight”.
  • This metaphor suggests the strength and solidity of the speaker’s positive memories.
  • Enjambment (sentences flowing over the end of lines) also highlights their strength, as the sentence breaks through the first line.
Light and colour imagery

Light and colour imagery

  • Light and colour imagery throughout the poem emphasises the speaker's overwhelmingly positive memories of the city.
  • Examples include:
    • “my memory of it is sunlight-clear…”.
    • ”the white streets…”.
    • “I shall have every coloured molecule of it…”.
Personification (city)

Personification (city)

  • “I comb its hair and love its shining eyes”.
  • This is personification of the city and an intimate, tender image.
  • This intensifies the sense of the speaker’s love and affection towards the city.

Mystery and Identity

The city and the speaker's relationship with the city is quite mysterious. The city is never named. Here are some possible explanations for the mystery:

Symbolism - no name

Symbolism - no name

  • The city is never named.
  • This perhaps suggests that Rumens wants many people to find relevance in her writing.
  • She could be writing on behalf of all people who have been forced to flee their homes and settle somewhere else.
Exile?

Exile?

  • There is a sense of mystery when the speaker describes her city and the reader gets the impression she is an exile of some sort. Examples of mysterious phrases include:
    • “There was once a city...I left it as a child”.
    • “Frontiers rise between us”.
    • “I have no passport, there’s no way back at all”.
    • “They accuse me….”

Memory vs Reality

Rumens draws a contrast between the speaker's positive memories of their former home and their negative impressions of the city now. These are the techniques she uses to draw this contrast:

Positive vs negative images

Positive vs negative images

  • There is contrasting language throughout the poem.
  • Positive, bright images associated with the speaker’s memories of her homeland are juxtaposed (placed together for emphasis) with harsher, negative images of its current, war-torn state.
  • This emphasises the strength of her memories that overpower the far more negative reality.
Irony

Irony

  • Even though the speaker remembers her city fondly, she seems at odds with the people currently controlling the city.
  • There is a certain irony in that “they” see it as “their free city” but the language she uses (e.g. “sick with tyrants”) suggests restriction and oppression.
Repetition and change of tone

Repetition and change of tone

  • Repetition of “they” in the last stanza is significant.
  • The poem takes on a more threatening, menacing tone.
  • The speaker seems to feel distant from those who now control her city.
Jump to other topics
1

Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

1.1

Ozymandias Analysis

1.1.1Summary1.1.2Key Ideas1.1.3Themes1.1.4Irony & Rhythm1.1.5Key Quotes & Comparisons1.1.6End of Topic Test - Ozymandias1.1.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Defining Caesura1.1.8Diagnostic Misconceptions - Identifying Caesura1.1.9Diagnostic Misconceptions - Analysing Caesura
2

London - William Blake (1757-1827)

2.1

London Analysis

2.1.1Summary2.1.2Themes & Structure2.1.3Themes & Structure 22.1.4Key Quotes & Comparisons2.1.5Exam-Style Questions - London2.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Defining Repetition2.1.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Identifying Repetition2.1.8Diagnostic Misconceptions - Analysing Repetition
3

Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

3.1

Storm on the Island Analysis

3.1.1Summary & Structure3.1.2Themes3.1.3Themes 23.1.4Key Quotes & Comparisons3.1.5End of Topic Test - Blake & Heaney3.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Fear
4

Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

4.1

Exposure Analysis

4.1.1Summary4.1.2Personification4.1.3Themes4.1.4Structure, Key Quotes & Comparisons4.1.5End of Topic Test - Exposure4.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Define Personification4.1.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Ident. Personification
5

War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)

5.1

War Photographer Analysis

5.1.1Summary5.1.2Themes5.1.3Imagery5.1.4Comparisons & Key Quotes5.1.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Defining Similes5.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Identifying Similes
6

My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

6.1

My Last Duchess Analysis

6.1.1Summary6.1.2Characterisation & Themes6.1.3Structure, Key Quotes & Comparisons6.1.4End of Topic Test - Duffy & Browning6.1.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Cheating Wife
7

The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

7.1

Extract from The Prelude Analysis

7.1.1Summary7.1.2Personification & Imagery7.1.3Themes7.1.4Key Quotes & Comparisons7.1.5End of Topic Test - The Prelude7.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - "Her"
8

Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson

8.1

Charge of the Light Brigade Analysis

8.1.1Summary8.1.2Themes8.1.3Rhetorical Techniques, Key Quotes & Comparisons8.1.4End of Topic Test - Charge of the Light Brigade8.1.5Exam-Style Questions - Charge of the Light Brigade8.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Tennyson a Soldier?
9

Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

9.1

Bayonet Charge Analysis

9.1.1Summary9.1.2Themes9.1.3Themes 29.1.4Structure & Key Comparisons9.1.5End of Topic Test - Bayonet Charge9.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - NOT COTLB9.1.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Soldier Running Away
10

Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)

10.1

Poppies Analysis

10.1.1Summary10.1.2Theme of Motherhood10.1.3Imagery10.1.4Form, Structure & Key Comparisons10.1.5End of Topic Test - Poppies10.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Defining Enjambment
11

Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)

11.1

Tissue Analysis

11.1.1Summary11.1.2Themes & Symbolism11.1.3Religion & Conflict11.1.4Form, Structure & Key Comparisons11.1.5End of Topic Test - Tissue
12

The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)

12.1

The Emigree Analysis

12.1.1Summary & Structure12.1.2Themes12.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons12.1.4End of Topic Test - The Emigree12.1.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Emigrant vs Immigrant
13

Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)

13.1

Kamikaze Analysis

13.1.1Summary & Structure13.1.2Themes13.1.3Themes 213.1.4Structure, Quotes & Comparisons13.1.5End of Topic Test - Kamikaze13.1.6Diagnostic Misconceptions - Defining NP13.1.7Diagnostic Misconceptions - Identifying NP
14

Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)

14.1

Checking Out Me History Analysis

14.1.1Summary14.1.2Themes14.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons14.1.4End of Topic Test - Checking Out Me History
15

Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)

15.1

Remains Analysis

15.1.1Summary15.1.2Themes: Desensitisation &Trauma15.1.3Themes: Guilt15.1.4Themes: Nature of War15.1.5Structure15.1.6Key Quotes & Comparisons15.1.7End of Topic Test - Remains15.1.8Diagnostic Misconceptions - Casual Tone
16

Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

16.1

Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

16.1.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons
17

Recap: Main Quotes

17.1

Recap: Main Quotes

17.1.1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)17.1.2London - William Blake (1757-1827)17.1.3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)17.1.4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)17.1.5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)17.1.6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)17.1.7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)17.1.8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson17.1.9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)17.1.10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)17.1.11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)17.1.12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)17.1.13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)17.1.14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)17.1.15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)

Practice questions on Themes

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    Examples of light and colour imagery in The Emigree:Fill in the list
  2. 2
    What techniques does Rumens use to emphasise the speaker's love of her city?True / false
  3. 3
    Which of these is _NOT_ a quote somehow showing the speaker's love for her city?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    Mysterious phrases that suggest the speaker is an exile:Fill in the list
  5. 5
    What's a good interpretation for why Rumens chose _not_ to name the city in The Emigree?Multiple choice
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Summary & Structure

Key Quotes & Comparisons