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The Expatriates
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Literary Devices
Form & Meter
At first glance, Sexton’s poem appears to be an unstructured collection of free verse stanzas. While it is true that “The Expatriates” does not strictly follow a formal metrical form, it does make use of meter and end rhyme. Sexton’s lines vary from the two-foot, four-syllable “butchered from time” (Line 31), to the seven-foot, 15-syllable “filed out in exile where we walked too alien to know” (Line 16). Sexton’s meter also varies. The opening stanza suggests an iambic rhythm, where Sexton writes “my DEAR it WAS a MOment / to CLUTCH at FOR a MOment” (Lines 1-2). Sexton uses the most conversational of meters, iambic pentameter, to give her poem a conventional metrical rhythm from which she can vary as the speaker’s emotions also shift.
Sexton gives special metrical emphasis to “barging out of the dirt to work on the air” (Line 9) by introducing to anapests over the base iambic rhythm. The phrases “OUT of the” and “WORK on the” work together to give the line a musical counterrhythm, highlighting the strangeness and expatriated nature of the trees whose roots thrust confusingly into the air. Sexton uses the same tactic several times in the poem, including Line 22’s “HERE in the WOODS where the WOODS.”
Just as her use of meter varies and is subtle, so is Sexton’s use of end rhyme in the poem. Many of the lines rhyme, though they follow a structure just irregular enough to avoid obvious notice. The use of end rhyme musically unifies Sexton’s poem, elevating the simple prose to free verse.
Repetition
Sexton uses repetition in a multitude of ways in “The Expatriates,” most notably in its opening and closing stanzas. The repeated phrases in “it was a moment / to clutch at for a moment” (Lines 1-2) and “it was a time, / butchered from time” (Lines 30-31) echo not only in themselves but also each other, bookending the poem with repetition. The emphasis of repetition transforms a simple phrase into something sharper, leading the reader to slow down and to process the phrase as a unique one, devoid of everyday connotations.
Additionally, Sexton uses repetition within lines in “The Expatriates.” In the fourth stanza, for instance, she writes “it was here in the woods where the woods were caught” (Line 22). The following stanza uses repeated opening words in successive clauses, which is a type of repetition known as anaphora: “nor ruled, nor pale, / nor leaving mine” (Lines 26-e27). These uses of repetition contribute to the musicality of Sexton’s poem and elevates the language from prose to poetry.
Enjambment
Sexton makes use of enjambment, or, line breaks, to create emphasis and modulate meaning in “The Expatriates.” Sexton makes use of annotated lines, which are lines that use enjambment in the middle of phrases or against the flow of the grammar that facilitates the flow of language. By using this type of harsh enjambment, Sexton creates additional meanings that play off or against the grammar.
For example, the phrase “thick synthetic / roots” (Lines 8-9) employs an ending of a line on “synthetic,” emphasizing the falseness of both the forest and the lovers. In the following stanza, Sexton uses this same technique to draw attention to the “experimental” (Line 12) nature of the “woodland” (Line 13). Later in the same stanza, the “place of parallel trees” (Line 15) also becomes a place of “their lives” (Line 15) thanks to enjambment. The phrase modifies the placement of the trees, where their “lives / [are] filed out in exile” (Lines 15-16), while the enjambment creates an alternate meaning of the image. Even the final couplet of the poem utilizes enjambment as the speaker claims that they and their beloved must tell of their moment before it is lost, before they “lose the sound of [their] own / mouths calling mine” (Lines 33, 34). Before the final line, however, the annotated enjambment creates a secondary meaning where the lovers must not lose “[their] own” (Line 33), a phrase that emphasizes ownership and identity though what is actually owned is unclear.
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