While the world was tending to its wounds after the first world war, something far bigger on the scale and far worse than World War I was brewing in Europe, something terrible, especially for Jews: World War II. As is the case with many political issues, this affected the minds of many poets, including W.H. Auden. His poem "Refugee Blues" is written in the same year as the beginning of World War II. The poem is about the struggles that Jewish people went through. It talks about how Jewish people had nowhere to go, and the Nazi regime wanted them dead. The poem is a yearning for freedom and almost a call for help. Auden talks about the bad conditions that Jews are living by giving examples like what Hitler said and how people in their country treated them. The poem utilizes quite a simple language with considerably plain descriptions. There is not much symbolism. With that being said, there are instances like lines 28 to 30 in which Auden talks about how politics block humankind's freedom, humankind's freedom of speech by using how freely birds sing. Some other notable lines are lines 25 to 27 in which Auden talks about the freedom that the fishes have in a world where German Jews do not have. Auden also uses smart wording here by saying German Jews. Throughout the poem, Auden talks about how German Jews do not belong in Germany but the usage of the wording German Jews indicates that they, in fact, do belong there. They are German too and they do belong in Germany too. Another thing to note in this poem is its friendly diction. Auden uses the phrase "my dear" at the end of each stanza and repeats what he is saying twice as if it is some sort of consolation. It is as if Auden is talking to a child and trying to console that child. This helps readers to sympathise with German Jews or the persona. This and the general themes and the subjects that the poem explores make the tone of the poem bleak and mournful. All of these compile a heartbreaking poem that is almost a plea for help.

Nedim Emre Özkaş