Explore the isolation and resilience of the characters in W H Audens ‘Refugee Blues’?
In this essay I will be analysing the poem ‘Refugee Blues’. This poem was written by W H Auden. This poem was written in the year of 1939, 1939 is the year World War 2 started. In this essay W H Auden talks about how the Jewish where in a state of isolation and had no where to go. W H Auden did an excellent job in showing how the Jewish were dehumanised. In this essay I will be exploring how the characters were in a state of isolation and resilience in the poem ‘Refugee Blues’.
This poem has a clear structure, you can see there is a pattern because every stanza has three lines every time. The first two lines of every stanza talks about the situation. The …show more content…
He uses repetition here to emphasise on the fact that they don’t have a place to stay. In the second stanza the man says “Once we had a country and we though it fair”, the collective “we” shows that they once had an identity and a place. He then repeats the word “my dear” to show the reader that the refugees have loved ones and families to protect which makes the poem even more emotive. He also used a metaphor for example “In the village churchyard there grows an old yew, every spring it blossoms anew”. This metaphor captures new life, opportunity and progression. He uses repetition again when he says “Old passports can’t do that, my dear, Old passports can’t do that”. This shows how this couple is hopeless and he is also addressing his wife to comfort her because of they are suffering. The author does a great job to show that terrible state they are in and how they are feeling. He shows this when he says “Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky”. The world rumbling emphasises the power of Adolf Hitlers threat, and the word thunder is to set a threatening …show more content…
This shows a contrast between the animals and the couple because the poodle is cared for, unlike the couple. The poet finishes off his poem with “Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me”. It makes a beautiful yet dangerous ending. The soldiers are not looking for the particularly but they are looking for German Jews. Here the speaker wants to highlight the tragedy and fear of the personal experience as well as the collective
In this essay I will be analysing the poem ‘Refugee Blues’. This poem was written by W H Auden. This poem was written in the year of 1939, 1939 is the year World War 2 started. In this essay W H Auden talks about how the Jewish where in a state of isolation and had no where to go. W H Auden did an excellent job in showing how the Jewish were dehumanised. In this essay I will be exploring how the characters were in a state of isolation and resilience in the poem ‘Refugee Blues’.
This poem has a clear structure, you can see there is a pattern because every stanza has three lines every time. The first two lines of every stanza talks about the situation. The …show more content…
He uses repetition here to emphasise on the fact that they don’t have a place to stay. In the second stanza the man says “Once we had a country and we though it fair”, the collective “we” shows that they once had an identity and a place. He then repeats the word “my dear” to show the reader that the refugees have loved ones and families to protect which makes the poem even more emotive. He also used a metaphor for example “In the village churchyard there grows an old yew, every spring it blossoms anew”. This metaphor captures new life, opportunity and progression. He uses repetition again when he says “Old passports can’t do that, my dear, Old passports can’t do that”. This shows how this couple is hopeless and he is also addressing his wife to comfort her because of they are suffering. The author does a great job to show that terrible state they are in and how they are feeling. He shows this when he says “Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky”. The world rumbling emphasises the power of Adolf Hitlers threat, and the word thunder is to set a threatening …show more content…
This shows a contrast between the animals and the couple because the poodle is cared for, unlike the couple. The poet finishes off his poem with “Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me”. It makes a beautiful yet dangerous ending. The soldiers are not looking for the particularly but they are looking for German Jews. Here the speaker wants to highlight the tragedy and fear of the personal experience as well as the collective