# An Emigrant explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## 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.

## Themes 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.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator expresses discontent with the current land and a desire to emigrate to continue his corrupt practices.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/an-emigrant
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters