Refugee Blues W. H. Auden 1939

(21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) Born in England - later an American citizen. Regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century Interesting Fact: Married his friend Erika Mann in 1935 so that she would get a British passport and escape the Nazis

A poem written as a blues song “Blues music emerged in the mid to late 19th century as a form of expression for displaced African-Americans. Using an oral form of traditional African poetry, these songs were popular and could be heard all around the Mississippi delta region of the Deep South. Today, blues music is still widely popular and has influenced many other genres of modern music.” Read more: How to Write Blues Music | eHow.com Robert Johnson Crossroad Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years How to Write Blues Music | eHow.comhttp:// Robert Johnson Crossroad Howlin' Wolf - How Many More YearsHow to Write Blues Music | eHow.comhttp:// Robert Johnson Crossroad Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years Task One: How did the blues music make you feel?

 Refugee Blues is written in the form of a traditional blues song. It has three line stanzas that rhyme. It uses repetition.  It is one of a number of poems Auden wrote in the mid- to late-1930s in the style of a blues meter.  Blues music was popular with certain parts of society at the time because its emotive nature spoke to people living through political and economical turmoil.

“A lot of peoples wonder, ‘What is the blues?’ I hear a lot of people saying ‘The blues, the blues.’ But I’m gonna tell you what the blues is. When you ain’t got no money, you got the blues. When you ain’t got no money to pay your house rent, you still got the blues. A lot of peoples holler about ‘I don’t like no blues,’ but when you ain’t got no money, and can’t pay your house rent and can’t buy you no food, you damn sure got the blues. If you ain’t got no money you got the blues, because you’re thinking evil. That’s right. Any time you’re thinking evil, you’re thinking about the blues.” – Howlin’ Wolf What is the blues?

Task Two: Look at the painting on the next slide. Make a mind-map of your thoughts, feelings and ideas about this painting.

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. Standard three line structure Rhyme: A, A, B “my dear“ – could be a reference to the reader or his wife. Repetition: The final line always has repetition and it is punctuated my “my dear“. This emphasises sadness and makes it sound more personal, like it‘s between two people.

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. These stanzas suggest that it is not only the world or their location that has changed for them (“Once we had a country…“), but that time itself has changed for them and cannot help them (“Every spring it blossoms anew; Old passports can‘t do that…). There will be no rebirth for them in spring unlike everything else in nature.

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. Reference to political/official bodies suggest that they tried to get help but were denied it. Another country? Ref: The Lord‘s Prayer – as if they are thieves & untrustworthy

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. A metaphorical storm over all Europe as Hitler sentences them to death This poem is written about a specific situation in Germany in the 1930‘s. However, the themes in this poem can be applied to other refugees. Cats and dogs are treated better and are freer and happier

Went down to 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. Birds and fish are treated better and are freer and happier Politicians are blamed for their problems Dreaming of emigration?

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. Winter time The poem is deliberately unfinished. What happened to them? Perhaps a nightmare This last stanza paints a frightening and desolate picture.

Task Three: Please complete the exercises on the handout provided.