Class 8

English

Poem: Refugee Blues

By: W.H.Auden

General Instructions:

1) Read the poem carefully, underline the difficult words, find their meanings from
dictionary and use them in your own sentences.

About the poet

Wystan Hugh Auden was born in the year 1907 in York in England. He was an English-
American poet applauded especially for his technical and stylistic achievements and for his
ability to write in any form of verse. He rose to fame with ‘Poems’ published in the year
1930. His most notable works include ‘Funeral Blues’, ‘September 1, 1939’, ‘The Age of
Anxiety’ and ‘For the Time Being’. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1947 for ‘The Age
of Anxiety’. Auden died in the 1973 of natural causes.

Introduction

The poem ‘Refugee Blues’ was written in 1939. The poem describes the condition of Jewish
refugees during the period of Nazi Germany, with a particular emphasis on how they were
discriminated against and antagonized. During the Second World War, Jews were forced to
flee persecution and violence in Nazi Germany, many Jews were unable to secure asylum in
countries like England or US because they kept tight quotas on the number of Jewish
immigrants admitted each year. It raises broader questions about isolation, loneliness and
exile. It depicts the trauma and pain of being forced to leave home- and of being unable to
find a place of safety and security in a violent and uncertain world.

Title of the poem- Refugee Blues

Refugee is a person who is forced to leave his country in order to escape war, persecution, or
natural disaster. The use of the word ‘refugee’ implies that the poem is about a person or a
group of people attempting to escape their country, Nazi Germany, but cannot, due to the fact
that they do not own passports; leaving them homeless. ‘Blues’ refer to a song of sadness and
mourning.
Summary

The poem starts with a narrator, who is later revealed to be a German Jew, describing a large
city which is home to ten million people some of whom are well off and live in luxurious
large houses while others live in slums and shabby houses. Yet, the narrator tells his
companion that there is no place for them. He remembers that they once had a country long
ago, and believed it to be their own. But now that country is so distant to them that to see it
they have to browse through an atlas and he knows that they can’t go there either.

The narrator then remarks on how every spring the flowers grow anew on the old tree that
grows in the village churchyard, and mourns to his companion that old passports can’t renew
themselves, remembering how the country where they wanted to go had rejected them saying
that they were as good as dead if they didn’t have updated passports. It seems that it is their
misfortune that they are still among living, considering his dejected tone as he addresses his
companion. He remembers how the people (who were responsible for providing the war
refugees homes) had been polite to him, yet couldn’t help him because of the politics and had
told him to return next year. Recalling a public meeting that he had attended, he remembers
that a person had accused them of trying to steal away the livelihood of the occupants of the
city by barging in, and informs his companion that the man had been talking of them.

He thinks that he heard the rumbling of an imminent storm, but it turned out to be Hitler
sentencing them all to death. He sees a dog securely wrapped in a warm jacket, and a cat
getting inside a car, the door of which had been held open for it and considers them fortunate
because they aren’t German Jews. He notices the fish swimming freely in the water at the
harbour and the birds flying wherever they want in the skies when he goes to the woods. He
marvels at them for not having any politicians and wars as they were not human beings.

He then tells his companion that he had had a dream in which he saw a magnificent building
which could accommodate a thousand people yet there was no place for them in it anywhere.
He remembers how when he stood on the plains and looked through the falling snow, he
could see a thousand soldiers marching towards them, looking for them, to kill them.
Explanation

Say this city has ten million souls, The speaker says that the current city he is in has
Some are living in mansions, some are living in ten million people
holes: rich people are living in mansions whereas poor
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet people are living in holes
there's no place for us. yet there is no place for German Jews.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair, The speaker says that once they lived in a country
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there: and believed it to be their own but they were
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot denied their rights. That place is still there in the
go there now. atlas but the refugee and his companion cannot
go there.

In the village churchyard there grows an old In this stanza, the poet shows the contrast
yew, between nature and the refugees as there is
Every spring it blossoms anew: always a new hope for natural life. It renews –
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old unlike the refugees. This is a metaphor that
passports can't do that. captures new life, opportunity and
progression. This line indicates the helplessness
of the refugees to go back to a safe place because
they could not get their passports renewed.

The consul banged the table and said, In anger, the consul banged the table and said
"If you've got no passport you're officially that if the refugee was not having passport then
dead": officially he was dead but the refugee and his
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still companion were alive.
alive. Even people in authority refused to help and the
state didn’t really care about the refugees. It also
depicts that without passports they were simply
nobody.

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair; The refugee went to a committee. They offered
Asked me politely to return next year: him a chair to sit and politely asked him to come
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but next year but they were unable to help him and
where shall we go to-day? the refugee had no place where he could go.

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up He went to a public meeting and heard the speech
and said; of the speaker.
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily This stanza emphasizes that the people were
bread": unwilling to help the refugees and felt threatened
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was by them. People were afraid of the couple and
talking of you and me. thought that they would steal their bread. The
impersonal language ‘them’ also captures the
hostility towards the refugees.

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the This line indicates that the couple was in danger
sky; as they heard Hitler addressing his men
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must mentioning that the Jews didn’t deserve to live.
die": This threat of death hung over them.
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in
his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin, The poet highlights the contrast between the
Saw a door opened and a cat let in: condition of the couple and the animals. The cats
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but were allowed to enter anywhere they wanted but
they weren't German Jews. German Jews weren’t. Their condition was worse
than animals.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the The refugee went down the harbour and saw the
quay, fish swimming and enjoying their freedom.
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free: They were only ten feet away from the refugee
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet but unlike the refugee, they were free.
away.

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the While walking through the wood, the refugee
trees; noticed birds singing freely in the trees because
They had no politicians and sang at their ease: politicians had not made their life hell.
They weren't the human race, my dear, they Their condition was better than human beings.
weren't the human race.

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand In his dream, he saw a building with a thousand
floors, rooms but there was not even a single room for
A thousand windows and a thousand doors: German Jews.
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of
them was ours.

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow; This stanza not only gives an image of coldness
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro: and death, but also of survival in challenging
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for situations.
you and me. The soldiers were not looking for them
particularly but they were looking for German
Jews. Here the speaker wants to highlight the
tragedy and fear of the personal experience as
well as the collective experience. Here the writer
uses hyperbole to show the immense number of
soldiers after them and how they were
outnumbered.

Central Idea of the poem/ theme of the poem

This poem gives a pretty accurate description of the situation of Jews under Hitler’s rule. It is
to show the people the plight of their fellow humans, and just because they were Jews they
were denied basic rights. An indirect appeal to show compassion for humanity irrespective of
the community is the theme of the poem.
Auden tries to gain sympathy and compassion for the Jews. He blames the soldiers for their
brutality and inhumanity as they killed the innocent people. He also strongly suggests that the
countries that turn the speaker away share a good deal of the blame and responsibility; they
had the power to save the speaker, and failed to do so. He shows the human nature of Jews
and how they wished to be free and safe, like other human beings.
Tone of the poem

The tone of the poem is melancholic. It is depressing and devastating. The dire plight of the
Jews is presented starkly, making the readers uncomfortable, which is its (the poem’s) idea.

Poetic Devices

Stanzas: There are a total of 12 stanzas each having 3 lines in the poem.

Rhyme and Rhythm: The rhyme scheme is AAB. The last words of the first two lines of
each stanza rhyme with each other.

Imagery: There is some imagery when the speaker speaks of the yew in the churchyard
blossoming in spring each year.

Metaphor: The thunder rumbling in the distance is a metaphor for the orders of Hitler which
read ‘Kill all Jews.’

Repetition: The last line of each of the 12 stanzas has a part of it repeated in itself. For
example, ‘only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.’ This repetition is effective in
emphasizing the content of the individual stanzas.

Allusion: There is no direct sentence stating the extent of damage done to the Jews nor is
there any verse saying the speaker is speaking to a female companion. These are understood
by the speaker’s words and descriptions.

Questions- Answers

Note: Do the following work in English notebook. Write answers of Q7, 8 and RTC II in
your own words.

Q1. Where did the narrator and his companion want to go? Why were they unable to do so?
Ans. The narrator and his companion were forced to flee persecution and violence in Nazi
Germany. They were terrified of returning to Germany but also were unable to find a safe
haven in countries like England or US because they kept tight quotas on the number of
Jewish immigrants admitted each year.

Q2. Why did the consul bang the table? Why was he angry?
Ans. The speaker tried to seek asylum in an unnamed country in Europe but that country
frustratingly turned the speaker away. When the consul asked for the passports, the narrator
and his companion replied that their passports had expired. The consul became angry and
shouted that if they had no passports, they were officially dead.
Q3. What was the refugee offered by the committee and what did they ask him? What was his
reaction?
Ans. When the narrator went to the committee to get the passports renewed, they offered him
a chair to sit and asked him to come back next year. The narrator was disheartened and
shocked because he did not know where to go.

Q4. What did the narrator see at the harbour? What did the refugee see in the woods?
Ans. The narrator saw the fish swimming at the harbour as if they were free. He also saw the
birds singing freely in the woods. They were all having better lives than he and his
companion, a couple of Jews. There were no constraints and politicians to bind them. This
shows the fallen state of the humans. The freedom that the fish and the birds enjoyed was not
given to the Jews.

Q5. What did the refugee see in his dream?

Ans. The refugee saw a huge building with thousands of rooms in his dream but none had
their names written over it. This shows that there was no place for the refugee to reside.

Q6. Who was looking for the refugee?

Ans. The soldiers who were deployed to kill the Jews were looking for the refugee.

Q7. What is the setting of the poem?

Ans. History of German-Jews- rule of Hitler- denied refugee in other countries- no safe place
to live- depressing state

Q8. The poem talks about the human rights violations suffered by a pair of German- Jewish
people during the Second World War who are trying to find some refuge. What are the
difficulties that they face?
Ans. Refugee- no asylum- disheartened- depressed- searching a safe haven- denied basic
rights- soldiers searching to kill

Reference to the Context

I. “Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;”
a) Who went to the committee?
Ans. The narrator went to the committee.
b) Why did he go to the committee?
Ans. He went to the committee to get his passport renewed.
c) What happened there?
Ans. He was offered a chair to sit and was asked to come back next year to get his
passport renewed.

II. “ If we get them in, they will steal our daily bread:”
a) Name the speaker.
b) Who is the speaker referring to?
c) What is the significance of this statement?