Skip to main content

What does the simile, "docile as paper," suggest about the city in the poem, "The Emigree"?


The simile, 'docile as paper' is part of the extended imagery which the poet uses to refer to the city throughout the poem. The image one has of the city from whence the speaker came is that it has lodged itself in her memory as pure and untainted. She furthermore associates the city with sunlight which speaks of a happy place, filled with warmth and life.



It is evident that the speaker has an idealised concept of her city of origin. Even though she is constantly bombarded with negative images and cynical stories about her homeland, she refuses to relinquish the positive image she has of it. 


In this sense then, the city poses no threat to her. As long as the memory thereof is pleasant, it cannot do any harm. It is in this context that the poet uses the simile, 'docile as paper.' Docile means obedient. The fact that the city comes to her in 'its own white plane' and 'lies down in front of me' metaphorically suggest that all the ideas that she has of her city find expression on a sheet of paper. The paper is docile since it submits to her will. She can write whatever she wishes about her city on the white sheet (plane) and it will yield to her. It will not, and cannot resist since it is in her control.


Since the images that she has of her city are only positive ones, the speaker will defend it and act as its protector. She will cast a shadow which is caused by the brightness of the city behind her, but the city she knows will never be dark since it exists in her mind and she controls what she thinks. In this sense, then, she will never harbour any negative images of a place which she wants to remember in positive terms.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more