Story Of A Refugee Poem by Danielle Rigby

I wrote this poem as part of a school assignment. I have included many features in this poem that add to the mood and tone I have tried to create. Examples of similes in this poem are: “With its water as toxic as venom” shows the desperate conditions they were suffering where even nature is against them. The simile “we were jammed in like sardines” is a representation of the tightness and crowded conditions of the refuge boats that asylum seekers use to cross the ocean into Australian waters. Also “Like an alien from another world” is use to describe the difficulties she faces trying to change herself to be accepted by society in this new place.

Metaphors are used in the poem to allow the reader to picture the person’s actions and her reasons for doing them. The words “showed my face to the world” explain how she refused to cover her face, hide her true self, even though that is what was expected of her by the government of her country. “They open my cage” shows the little ray of hope she is given after she has lost all hope.

I have used the personification to show the feeling people got from the sea that it felt like the master of death that has decided to end their time. This is in the verse “The sea wrapped her arms around me like the cloak of death.” It shows the fearsome nature of the sea voyage and the danger that she faced when making the trip across the sea seeking refuge.
I have also used hyperbole. The hyperbole “Light-years from any land” was used to show the desperation that people feel when, day after day all they see is the ocean and they fear they will never be safe on land again.
“The swirling sea seeped slowly in” and “We sailed across the salty stormy sea” are examples of alliteration. I used these to paint a picture in the mind of the reader of the turbulence of the sea and to convey the fear that is felt. The alliteration is also used to create a pleasing rhythm for the reader.

The poetic devices that I have included are used to convey the tone of the poem which is loneliness and relief. She is relieved that she is finally free but she is lonely in Australia. This can be shown in the key words such as alone, time passing and wonder. Throughout the poem she has faced many hardships without any family members or friends that are travelling with her and so when she comes to Australia she would feel just like any of us would feel, extremely alone.

Many different poetic devices have been used within my poem to provide an insightful perspective of the experiences of refugees. Figurative language devices including similes and metaphors have been used alongside personification, alliteration and hyperbole to convey my message. Each of these techniques has been included to make the reader empathise with the refugee character and achieve the purpose of this poem which is to disprove the media’s depiction of asylum seekers as scheming, manipulative terrorists who come to our country to destroy our way of life. In reality, they just want to have a life like ours, where they have freedom to say and be what they like without fearing for their lives. They leave behind their dangerous lives to face the perilous journey over the sea in crowded refugee boats, to be placed in detention for long periods of time, not understanding why this is happening to them to final be safe Australia but alone.