W.H. Auden won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, which features four characters from disparate backgrounds who meet in a New York bar during World War II. Written in the heavily alliterative style of Old English #literature.
"Refugee Blues" explores the displacement and despair of refugees, a theme that became increasingly relevant in the tumultuous decades of the 20th century. The speaker paints a vivid picture of a world that offers no refuge to those who have lost their homes and countries. The #poem effectively captures the feeling of alienation and hopelessness experienced by refugees.
The language of the poem is simple and direct, yet it conveys a powerful message. The repetition of the phrase "But there is no place for us" emphasizes the speaker's sense of despair. The structure of the poem also contributes to its impact. Each stanza presents a different image of exclusion and rejection, from the closed door to the marching soldiers.
"Refugee Blues" is a powerful reminder of the human cost of war and persecution, and it serves as a call to action for those who are able to offer assistance to those in need.
#Poetry "Refugee Blues" [W.H. Auden]
They say this city has ten million souls,
Some live in mansions, others live in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.
The consul banged the table and said,
"If you have no passport, you're officially dead":
But we're still alive, my dear, but we're still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to come back next year:
But where shall we go today, my dear, where shall we go today?
Went to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die";
We were in his mind, my dear, we were in his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door open and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.
Went down to the harbor and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.
PODCAST
Rumble rumble.com/register/HermesFig...
iTunes podcasts.apple.com/br/podcast...
Amazon www.amazon.com/Poetry/dp/B08K...
Spotify open.spotify.com/show/5jvA0f0...
Tunein tunein.com/embed/player/p1427...
Stitcher www.stitcher.com/podcast/poet...
Deezer deezer.com/show/2032382