This Study Guide consists of approximately 19 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Home. Refugee camps are unbelievably overcrowded and dangerous. As a child, relatives wouldn’t hold her. God, do you know how difficult it is, to talk about the day your own city dragged you by The 50 largest camps house more than 1.9 Shire communicates the trauma of the refugee experience to the reader, demanding that the reader imagine themselves in the same situation. An article in The Guardian provided some background: “No one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark. Home, by Warsan Shire, depicts the visceral ruminations and response of an immigrant when encountering the fac. But the poem also emphasizes the fact that things are inevitably worse at home, where there is so much unspeakable violence. Home Poem by Warsan Shire.no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border Warsan Shire : An Analysis Of Home By Warsan Shire 703 Words | 3 Pages. The Question and Answer section for Home (Warsan Shire poem) is a great It addresses one migrant specifically as "you," but takes fragments of different refugee stories and threads them together, beginning with the initial flight from home. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. Many refugees have to acquire false papers in order to enter new countries, then have to re-construct their identities through immigration procedures in order to apply for asylum. Instead, Shire expresses solidarity with refugees, putting herself in their position, referring to them as "you" and humanizing them through intimate detail without attempting to confine them to any one identity through the use of the more ambiguous second person. Home By Warsan Shire no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border ... no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear saying- leave, run away from me now i dont know what i’ve become but i know that anywhere is safer than here . Home by Warsan Shire. Warsan Shire and Rupi Kaur: An In Depth Analysis. In light of the effects of trauma on memory, it is clear that refugee narratives cannot ever be told smoothly. The camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos was built to hold 2000 but is currently inhabited by 8000 refugees, who live virtually on top of each other in tents. i / The morning you were made to leave / she sat on the front steps, / dress tucked between her thighs, / a packet of Marlboro Lights / near her bare feet, painting her nails God, do you know how difficult it is, to talk about the day your own city dragged you by the hair, past the old prison, past the school gates, past the burning torsos erected on poles like flags? Contains pictoral cinepoetic renderings and analysis. 8, no. But these words are still easier than the violence of home, Shire continues. The unbearable weight of staying 3. It describes traumatic memories—being held at knifepoint and given death threats, feeling fire and destruction overtake the city that was once your home. No one chooses refugee camps or strip searches where your body is left aching For 34 million refugees, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees offers protection and life-saving supplies at refugee camps in more than 125 countries. UGLY. GradeSaver "Home (Warsan Shire poem) “Home” Summary and Analysis". This stanza focuses in on one woman again, and explains that even though women are often raped in refugee camps, the camps are still safer than the gang rape that she experienced or was threatened with at home. This again has been done by the poet to create provocative imagery as well as a disturbing atmosphere who hope never to be placed in such a situation, but they do not realize that millions of refugees suffer through this almost daily in today's world, yet our response towards them in only despise for coming into our country as just as they fear us we fear them, this is our nature as we all want to survive and do this there are no limits. In line 64 to 66, it says,"or the words are … Shire wrote “Conversations about home (at a deportation centre)” in 2009, a piece inspired by a visit she made to the abandoned Somali Embassy in Rome which some young refugees had turned into their home. Some of these refugees came from money and have other family members already in Europe, but are still being trapped in these camps. Keep reading. Shire seems to be suggesting that violence destroys youth, forcing children to grow up far too quickly. Warsan Shire : An Analysis Of Home By Warsan Shire, Home by warsan shire is a poem that highlights the struggles of refugees as they leave their home. She says that home is what you make it basically. GradeSaver, The Contemporary Worldwide Refugee Crisis: A Brief, Incomplete History, Read the Study Guide for Home (Warsan Shire poem)…. The poem reads almost like a distorted newsreel, listing atrocities, strung together by the strength of its message. It is a plea for empathy and understanding, which many inhabitants of countries like the United States lack regarding immigrants, especially refugees. Warsan Shire Why I Chose Her Relatable Storytelling Range of topics Vulnerability Her Life Warsan means "good news" and Shire means "to gather in one place." Home (Warsan Shire poem) study guide contains a biography of Warsan Shire, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. In conclusion Home by warsan shire is a text that supports the statement “the most dramatic texts confront readers with a disturbing atmosphere” As the poet uses provocative imagery to dramatise the text which creates a disturbing atmosphere in the reader's mind. Sometimes, this "you" seems to be one singular person; at others, the "you" is many different stories, all splitting at the seams as the migrants go through different traumas; at other times "you" is the reader of the poem. Finally, Shire ends the poem where it begins—referring to "home" as a being with the ability to speak and feel, and exploring the disjointedness that the character she is addressing experiences on her flight away from home. Advertising has come to conform to a strict set of codes about beauty. Warsan Shire : An Analysis Of Home By Warsan Shire. Statement of the problem In describing traumatic experiences, literary works often provide a suitable medium in which the complexities of the disturbing events can be explored to provide healing for the victims. The poem starts off with no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark” straight away this places a sense of fear in the reader's mind * as hom is a place of safety and comfort, the one place we believe we are truly safe from the world and by comparing it with the mouth of a shark, which screams danger and is a life threat we picture, Ths again creates a disturbing atmosphere. The music is by Renato Folgado, with the Somali-British poet Warsan Shire reading her poem “Home” in the soundtrack. An Analysis of Warsan Shire’s Poem Home." Insults and racism are easier to take than the destruction of whole cities, than the sight of falling shrapnel, than seeing your entire hometown being obliterated by bombs. no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. links. For example, the line 'i want to go home,' which ends with a comma, forces the reader to take a short pause, reminding us of the importance of having a home to return to. The poet structured the poem using enjambment throughout the piece, constructing a narrative for the piece. Home (Warsan Shire poem) Literary Elements Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View The poem shifts between first-person and the unusual second-person perspective, using both "i" and "you" as the subject of the poem. “Home” by Warsan Shire 02 Sep, 2015. They said she reminded them of the war. Written By Warsan Shire. With the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, the poem has received a great deal of attention online and in the press. The poem Home by Warsah Shire is a heart filling poem about a women who feels nothing can replace the original feeling of home. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Abbas Al-Aboudi: Old man and the sea. Central American refugees on "La Bestia" can be killed during the train's passage, and women are often raped or murdered on the route. “N o one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark. It then follows the narrator as she escapes, tearing up her passport, thus essentially erasing her identity and her connection to her home. Shire is an expert at explaining horror with particularly striking symbols. The poem, Home by Warsan Shire evokes longing for home, a place to call home. Globe poetry: Home by Warsan Shire Open this photo in gallery: A woman hold her child as migrants and refugees wait to be allowed to cross the Macedonian borders, … The readers are confronted with the hardships faced by refugees which creates. The poem begins with a statement, at once a metaphor and a kind of argument: "no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark." Well, I think home spat me out, the blackouts and curfews like tongue against loose tooth. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011. Clearly, no one would ever take this route if their home was not worse, if their lives weren't in more danger in their native countries. 1172 N Dec 12 2016. The poem “Home “by Warsan Shire focuses on the importance of home and demonstrates how the connotation of home is experienced by refugees. No one chooses refugee camps or strip searches where your body is left aching For 34 million refugees, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees offers protection and life-saving supplies at refugee camps in more than 125 countries. the seven stages of being lonely Warsan Shire. "Home." It is a feeling that comes naturally and cant be made or taken away. The 50 largest camps house more than 1.9 Keep reading. September 13, 2016 Angela. "Home" is a poem about the refugee experience. The next stanza also describes images from refugee journeys. no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole … "Frankenthaler, Helen." Warsan Shire’s Blog "For women who are ‘difficult’ to love." load more next. This explores a loss of innocence, ushered in far too soon. It then follows the migrants on their journeys, via land, sea, train, and other methods of transportation, to a new, safer place. Well, I think home spat me out, the blackouts and curfews like tongue against loose tooth. The Intertextual Relation Between Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli and “Home” by Warsan Shire. The version of the poem used to create this study guide appears in: Shire, Warsan. no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. It addresses one or many refugees as "you," describing refugees fleeing their homes through fragmented glimpses of different narratives. Shire then threads together racist and xenophobic sentiments, reciting the blame that refugees often receive for their situations. Wrote her first poem at 11, won a poetry slam at 16. Warsan Shire’s poem titled “Backwards” paints a heartbreakingly beautiful story of, what I interpret as, the disappearance of a father from one’s life. Somalian; born 1988 in Nairobi, Kenya; raised in London, England. Home by warsan shire is a poem that highlights the struggles of refugees as they leave their home. Warsan Shire thus uses her poetry as a tool which enables victims of trauma to heal. Every refugee story is different, so it is impossible to tell a single refugee narrative that encapsulates all refugee experience. #Rupi Kaur #analysis. Home (Warsan Shire poem) Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Mouth of a shark (symbol) The poem's striking first line, "no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark," immediately introduces the reader to Shire's talent for metaphor and symbolism. "Why do Refugees have to Leave their Sweet Home “Unless home is the Mouth of a Shark”? The next stanza describes a refugee camp, where many refugees are kept for years while their applications for asylum are stalled in a complex legal process. Shire was inspired to write "Home" after visiting a shelter for Somali refugees in London. Shire uses tone and figurative language to grab the attention of readers, and to bring awareness to the public about refugees. Home By Warsan Shire no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. In this poem, Shire articulates the former home as both ‘the mouth of a shark’ and ‘the barrel of a gun’, two terms that have caught the imagination of human rights activists working on issues of migrant fatality, political instability in regions of conflict, … 1. contact. The poem ends where it began: listening to "home" speaking. The poem ends with “no one leaves home unless home is sweaty voice in your ear saying run, leave now, which again refers back to the start of the text throughout the poem the poet wrote no one leaves home unless….relative to the danger or by giving home human characteristics (personification) such as this line, home cannot talk or become sweaty, but it is referring to the refugees thought when home becomes a war zone* and their life is a threat. Simran K. | Rutgers University '19 (click on colored tabs to be redirected to other pages) close. The text by Warsan Shire presents the home of a migrant not as a place for living, but as a place where living imposes danger. A train called "La Bestia" is the method of transport for many of these refugees, most fleeing gang violence. It addresses one migrant specifically as "you," but takes fragments of different refugee stories and threads them together, beginning with the initial flight from home. Home (Warsan Shire poem) essays are academic essays for citation. This text also supports the statement “the most dramatic texts confront readers with a disturbing atmosphere” the poet uses provocative imagery, figurative language to create strong images of the hardships faced by refugees which creates a disturbing atmosphere and also focuses on themes of survival. Home; About; Contact; Blog; Skin Deep: A reading of “UGLY” by Warsan Shire . by Warsan Shire. The poem Home by Kenyan-born Somali poet Warsan Shire points out the various motivations that fuel the need for people to flee and brings us the understanding of larger theme­­s in the discussion surrounding refugee crises around the world, especially in the global North. "Home" is a poem about the refugee experience. Your daughter is ugly. An Analysis of Warsan Shire's Poem Home. It argues that refugees truly do not have any choice but to flee, and that to send them back home or forbid them from taking refuge would be an extreme human rights violation. Instead, I am posting Somali-British poet Warsan Shire’s poem Home here. The third stanza goes more into detail about the passage to wherever the speaker is going. But Shire clearly argues for a radical, empathetic view of humanity: an understanding that violence can happen to anyone, in any city. Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet, writer and educator based in London. Once again, the poem communicates its simple, brutal message, which stands starkly apart from the deeply complex policy that surrounds the refugee situation. It expresses a strong counterargument to common perceptions that refugees try to settle in countries like Europe and America to take advantage of their resources. Once they/"you" arrive, however, the struggle is not over—the writer describes the experience of prejudice that haunts migrants once they arrive at their destinations. no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole … 4, 2019, p. 19. refresh. This cyclical narrative expresses the fact that many refugees are constantly feeling themselves pulled between home and their new lives—if they do make it to their destinations. Skin Deep: A reading of “UGLY” by Warsan Shire. The poem urges the west host countries to show modest receiving attitude to welcome the refugees and understand their suffering and pain. The poem “Home “by Warsan Shire focuses on the importance of home and demonstrates how the connotation of home is experienced by refugees. By using the second person, Shire asks—even forces—the reader to identify with the refugee experience as well. I have seen a few of my friends post a line or two from this poem (often not even attributed to her) because it was recently quoted in a Guardian article, and I felt many of you would enjoy being treated to its entirety. This evocative stanza from poet Warsan Shire’s Home hit a nerve online recently as the European public finally woke up to the reality of the refugee crisis. A reading for UU service to better understand why people leave their homes for another country. It then describes passage by train, such as the passage taken by many Central American migrants as they try to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. Track Info. The poem's first section describes whole cities emptying overnight and youth being corrupted by war and violence; the speaker, settling into one solid identity for a moment, remembers a kiss with a boy who now holds a gun. It then follows the migrants on their journeys, via land, sea, train, and other methods of transportation, to a new, safer place. The readers are confronted with the hardships faced by refugees which creates 1.1. Abbas Al-Aboudi: Old man and the sea. It describes passage by sea—a dangerous route that many migrants from Middle Eastern countries take, which often leads to their deaths at sea; and if they do wash up at shore, they can be kept in limbo for years at horrifically overcrowded refugee camps. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, vol. Her poem grapples with the harsh realities of life as a refugee, someone who has to abandon his or her home and way of life in order to survive, often because of conflict. Home doesn't attempt to create a cohesive narrative: instead, it reflects the scattered, broken, confusing narratives that define many refugee experiences. The poem urges the west host countries to show modest receiving attitude to welcome the refugees and understand their suffering and pain. info reblog. “Home” is a poem written by Warsan Shire that provides an unmediated look into the lives and struggles of those people seeking asylum as they flee from the war-stricken countries that they call home. She was splintered wood and sea water. Poem … The poetic voice in “Home” uses a metaphor to state that the place of belonging of these migrants is dangerous, uninhabitable: “home is the mouth of a shark”(Shire 2). The poem Home by Kenyan-born Somali poet Warsan Shire points out the various motivations that fuel the need for people to flee and brings us the understanding of larger theme­­s in the discussion surrounding refugee crises around the world, especially in the global North. Links Warsan Shire; Rupi Kaur ; References; Tags posted 3 years ago Monday 1,172 notes. Essays for Home (Warsan Shire poem) Home (Warsan Shire poem) essays are academic essays for citation. She knows loss intimately, carries whole cities in her belly. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Home (Warsan Shire poem) by Warsan Shire. Audio is author reading her own work. Ask me anything. To read this poem is to be addressed personally: "you" are tearing up your passport; a blade is held to "your" neck; "you" are running away. The poem allows us to gaze upon the terror that immigrants face while escaping the dangers of their home. Home. The poem “Home “by Warsan Shire focuses on the importance of home and demonstrates how the connotation of home is experienced by refugees. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Home (Warsan Shire poem) by Warsan Shire. "Home" is a deeply political poem. Project: academic; Authors: Ali Gunes. The poem urges the west host countries to show modest receiving attitude to welcome the … The speaker also describes an experience hiding in a truck, which some migrants are forced to do. In conclusion Home by warsan shire is a text that supports the statement “the most dramatic texts confront readers with a disturbing atmosphere” As the poet uses provocative imagery to dramatise the text which creates a disturbing atmosphere in the reader's mind. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. Refugees are people fleeing their homes, for many reasons, but always because it is impossible to remain at home. January 2020; Journal of History Culture and Art Research 8(4):19-35; DOI: 10.7596/taksad.v8i4.2279. 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