The poem, Home by Warsan Shire The author, Shire, brings out the theme of oppression as she speaks on behalf of refugees who cannot share their voices. Awesome Inc. theme. 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. For example, in Gilbert Stuart’s painting of George Washington, liberation appears to be the central theme in his artististic work as he demonstrates the importance of unity and freedom. Shire’s writing is marked by this unflinching, unapologetic savagery - she embraces this language of assault, like Dhasal. The "mouth of a shark" is a potent symbol: it compares staying at home to the experience of being torn apart and swallowed. Home by Warsan Shire, 2011. 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. The dream of what home once was only exists in her imagination now, and she wants to make it clear to the reader that she—like all migrants—would go home if she could. Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. The artist and activist uses her work to document stories of journey and trauma. 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. Abbas Al-Aboudi: Old man and the sea. Even when she is being threatened, she "carrie[s] the anthem under [her] breath." Another … I grew especially fond of young Somali-British writer Warsan Shire. This paper will delve into these themes including vulnerability, grief and risk that surround the journey an asylum … She is currently the poetry editor of SPOOK magazine, a “space for alternative voices, emerging narratives, and noted storytellers” that features essays, poetry, fiction, and photography. This expresses a true sense of pride in her home and culture and a desire to preserve it even as it is being ripped apart by violence and hate. A 26-year-old working through some serious themes in her poetry, she was named Young Poet Laureate of London in 2014. Conversations about home (at a deportation centre) A poem by Warsan Shire. The barrel of the gun (symbol). The primary technique the poet uses to shift reader perspective into the mind of a refugee is with his use of multiple pronouns. While the origins of this experience are unknown and left up to interpretation, I can’t help but make the connection to how in class—through the literature we’ve read and discussions we’ve had—we see the way in which societal conventions shape familial dynamic and experience. Quotes []. But this does not change the fact that she misses it. Pin. Fats here. Not affiliated with Harvard College. “N o one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark. GradeSaver "Home (Warsan Shire poem) Themes". My parents named me after my father’s mother, my grandmother. The 50 largest camps house more than 1.9 Home. Home Poem by Warsan Shire.no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border Share. Home - by Warsan Shire. Displacement, migration, and diaspora are all words that define Warsan Shire's poem " Home ," as well as much of her work. " It is begging those who hate migrants to consider the violence that they were forced to flee from. The Intertextual Relation Between Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli and “Home” by Warsan Shire. This week, I give to you a powerful and heart breaking poem by Warsan Shire, a poet and … “You only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well”. 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). This poem by Warsan Shire explores the terrifying circumstances which force people to flee for their lives. Warsan Shire forces readers of his poem Home to shift their perspective and identify instead with the refugees through his use of pronouns, language and poem structure. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Backwards (For Saaid Shire) - Warsan Shire The poem can start with him walking backwards into a room. Home by Warsan Shire, Performed by Class 7-8, September 2020 September 18, 2020 / by Eliza Logan High School Drama Teacher On Thursday, the students performed a drama piece for their peers that they have been working on through the term. A poem eponymously about home, its contents deal predominantly with violence, loss, homelessness, statelessness and the unspeakability of trauma. Violence pervades "Home," from beginning to end. Shire’s poetry makes an intervention into the broad field of refugee studies and literature by offering an important meditation on refugees’ experiences of gendered violence and the trauma of flight and resettlement. The piece lasted 4-5 minutes and we performed it in a ‘flash-mob- style’ at various public venues across the city as a whistle stop tour back in November.” no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole … Born in 1988, Warsan has read her work extensively all over Britain and internationally – including recent readings in South Africa, Italy, Germany, Canada, North America and Kenya- and her début book, ‘ TEACHING MY MOTHER HOW TO GIVE BIRTH ’ (flipped eye), was published in 2011. Instead, refugees have to live in a constant state of fear, both at home, while they are running to new places in pursuit of a safer place, and once they arrive at a safer place, especially if they are entering without the right papers. 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