Poetry · Chapter
An Emigrant explained
The narrator, feeling ill at ease in a land of misgovernment and greed, describes a place where violence and corruption are rampant, justice is absent, and faction leads to anarchy.
What happens
The narrator, feeling ill at ease in a land of misgovernment and greed, describes a place where violence and corruption are rampant, justice is absent, and faction leads to anarchy. Facing prosecution and loss of ill-gotten gains, he longs to be wafted to a safer sky where he can continue his plunder and free speech.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the speaker’s obsessive pursuit of the divine rose fragrance…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Hypocrisy and Corruption
The narrator criticizes the land's misgovernment and greed while himself seeking a place to plunder without consequence.
- Political Satire
The poem satirizes the political climate, where justice is absent and faction leads to anarchy, and the narrator's own hypocrisy.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator expresses discontent with the current land and a desire to emigrate to continue his corrupt practices.
Key passages
“You ask me why, though ill at ease, Within this region I subsist, Where all defaulters fill the fist Ere sailing o’er the western seas.”
You ask why I stay in this uncomfortable place where everyone steals before heading west.
The narrator explains his uneasy residence in a land of defaulters.
“A land of such misgovernment That Justice here has not a frown, And greed still broadens slowly down, From Scavenger to President;”
This is a country so poorly governed that justice is absent, and greed spreads from the lowest scavenger to the highest president.
Critique of the pervasive corruption from top to bottom.
“Then waft me from the harbor south, Wild winds! I seek a safer sky, Where I can plunder still, and I Can still shoot off my loaded mouth.”
Then carry me away on the wind to a safer place where I can keep stealing and speaking freely.
The narrator's desire to emigrate to continue his corrupt and outspoken ways.
