Refugee Blues

Chapter Summary

Auden begins the poem by mentioning the diverse city they currently live in. Despite the vastness of the country, there is no room for refugees. The speaker and the refugees have a country to live in. They were proud of their country but they cannot live there. The writer uses the metaphor of a yew tree that prospers every spring. The narrator ponders on the aspect that the passports cannot sprout back every spring. The narrator used the term my dear to address other people.

The author further pens down the harsh conditions they have to go through while dealing with their officials and the citizens in the country. A consul to whom they report has informed them that they have they are officially dead, as they do not have any passport on them. A committee was there that was supposed to help the refugees but they paid no heed to the voices including that of the writer. Instead, they told them to return in a year. A speaker began to monger fear among the refugees and they instilled fear among them. He stirred anxiety among them by accusing them of disrupting the local economy. Furthermore, he enunciates that Hitler's words are loud and clear like the thunder roaring in the sky.

These instances made the speaker compare themselves with various other animals that he noticed on the streets. He pointed out that a dog is dressed elegantly in a jacket. A cat is welcomed into a home. The speaker notes, that these little creatures are worthy of this treatment since they are not German–Jewish refugees. The poet takes trips down the harbour and noticed fishes swimming around and birds crooning on trees, he emphasises that they are granted freedom because they are not human.

Finally, the narrator thinks of a plain covered in snow and thousands of soldiers marching around to look for the refugees.

The title ‘Refugee Blues’ encapsulates the theme of the poem. Explain.

The African-American course of ballads is called blues, and it originated at the end of the 19th century. These ballads were originally sad and melancholic. The term is used in this poem to depict the painful conditions of the Jewish refugees who had escaped the Nazis. The poem mainly describes the pain and humiliation suffered by Jewish people who had immigrated to the United States from the grasp of Nazi Germany. The refugees upon being subjected to humiliation every day sing blues to express their agonies in the face of current conditions.

What is the poetic technique used by the poet to convey the plaintive theme of the poem?

This poem is a blue ballad that expresses the theme along with the characters involved. Ballads were popular in Britain and Ireland even by the 18th century. The African-American form of ballad known as the blues came forth by the end of the 19th century. The poet utilises two key processes to express the element of pathos in the poem. He utilises the same method as he had used previously in his poem calypso which he had written in 1930.

The Blues is African-American music that utilises distinct categories like the usage of a rhyme scheme that is simple yet picturesque. The first two lines in each stanza that rhyme each other are called tercet. The third line invokes a repetitive pattern with the phrase my dear. This line is repeated in each line showing consistency in the rhyme scheme of the poem.

What do the references to the birds and animals made in the poem suggest?

This poem expresses a melancholic tone that explains the terror and misery that hovers over the Jewish people who had escaped to America. They are no sympathy for them and their associated conditions. The fear of homelessness and death is constantly haunting them. They were not welcomed in America; they were accused of hindering the local economy. The poet strolls to the harbour now and then and there he observes different animals, birds and fishes.

He watches the fishes swimming freely, the birds singing on the trees, and cats and dogs strolling around. He emphasises this aspect in his poem that the birds and animals are enjoying their freedom and they are respected in America, unlike the German-Jewish refugees who are not even treated like humans in the first place. The narrator watches as the fish is swimming freely 10metres away while he is grieving his wife and himself.

How does the poet juxtapose the human condition with the behaviour of the political class?

The poem delves around the time of a huge political turmoil where the Jewish people were abandoned and hunted in their country while they were treated like second-class humans in other countries where they went as refugees. The words of Hitler resonated all across Europe and Jews all around were terrorised on their bones. Even in America, anti-Jews and anti-Semitic speeches were heard around that shattered the very spirit of freedom among the Jew immigrants who were accused of stealing bread from America’s platter.

The narrator along with his wife was also subjected to such merciless conditions and was left penniless on the streets of America. Politically, a contrast was drawn between the Jews and the rest of the world.

How is the essence of the poem captured in the lines ‘two tickets to Happiness’?

The narrator and wife were left homeless and penniless on the streets. It was full of pain and grief for them. They just wanted to get a strain of happiness amidst this (ncert, 2022). They just wanted to get two tickets to get away from this land to anywhere and get some relief from this citation. Alas! Death strolled everywhere.

FAQs

Q1. Where did the narrator and his wife want to go to?

Ans. The couple were persecuted by Germany and they were forced to flee they wanted a haven in countries like Britain or US. However, the anti-immigrant mentality did not make them feel happy.

Q2. How did the poet describe the condition of Jews in Germany?

Ans. The poet describes the pain and the pathos of the Jews who suffered the holocaust and made to suffer in concentration camps. They were hunted down by the officials and were persecuted all across Europe.

Q3. How were they treated in America?

Ans. The refugees were subjected to utter humiliation; they were treated as a second-class citizen in the country. They were not welcomed in the country at all.