Introduction to Poetry - Woven Words
Poetry is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings beyond the prosaic. It often employs compressed expression, imagery, and sound devices to convey emotions, ideas, or narratives.
In the ‘lyric poem’ the focus is on personal emotion and introspection, as in Refugee Blues. The ‘narrative poem’ tells a story, while dramatic poetry imitates action. Auden’s Refugee Blues uses ballad form for narration, blending irony and pathos to address socio-political themes.
Poetry differs from prose in its economy and musicality. The limitation of form imposes precision in language and effects. However, a poem can attain complexity, approaching epic expansiveness.
Key Elements
- Forms: Lyric (emotion), narrative (story), dramatic (action).
- Devices: Imagery, rhythm, rhyme, metaphor in fantasy, realism, or satire.
- Types: Ballad (simple narrative), sonnet (structured reflection).
- Economy: Brevity demands concise imagery and layered meanings.
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Author: Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973)
Wystan Hugh Auden was a student and later a Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. One of the most important poets of the century, he has published several collections of poems noted for their irony, compassion and wit.
Although a modern poem, ‘Refugee Blues’ uses the ballad form of narration. Auden’s work often critiques social injustices, as seen in this poignant reflection on the plight of Jewish refugees during the rise of Nazism.
Major Works
- Collections: The Orators, Another Time
- Long Poems: The Age of Anxiety
- Plays & Collaborations with Isherwood
Key Themes
- Social injustice and exile
- Love, politics, and human frailty
- Irony in modern life
Style
Accessible yet profound; blends ballad tradition with contemporary satire, using refrain for emotional emphasis.
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Full Poem Text: Refugee Blues
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living 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’ve got no passport you’re officially dead’;
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall we go today?
Came 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 opened and a cat let in:
But they weren’t German Jews, my dear, but they weren’t German Jews.
Went down the harbour 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.
Went down to the station to catch the express,
Asked for two tickets to Happiness;
But every coach was full, my dear, every coach was full.
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.
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Language Work
1. Devices in the Poem: Elaborate on Their Use
Refrain: Repeated lines ("my dear...") create musical lament, emphasizing exclusion and building emotional crescendo, like a blues chorus.
Pathos: Evokes pity through vignettes of loss (lost country, barred doors), intimate address heightening refugees' vulnerability.
Irony: Contrasts (animals free, humans hunted; "alive" yet "dead") satirizes prejudice and bureaucracy's cruelty.
Sarcasm: Bitter tone in "they will steal our daily bread" mocks xenophobia; "two tickets to Happiness" derides unattainable ideals.
2. The Colour ‘Blue’ in the Poem & Others
Answer:
- Blue: Suggests melancholy, sadness (blues music); refugees' emotional state—cold, endless sorrow.
- Other Colors: Red (anger, blood—Hitler's threat); White (purity, snow—oppression's blanket); Green (envy, nature's renewal denied).
