REFUGEE BLUES (Woven Words)CLASS 11

     Refugee Blues CLASS 11 WOVEN WORDS

    Wystan Hugh Auden 

1. Say this city has ten million souls,
Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.

2. Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

3. 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.

4. The consul banged the table and said:
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

5. Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
But where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall we go today?

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin;
But they weren’t German Jews, my dear, but they weren’t German Jews.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.

12. Went down to the station to catch the express,
But every coach was full, my dear, every coach was full.

13. Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.

CHOOSE THE CORRECT OPTION AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING

1.    Which historical leader does Refugee Blue allude?
a) Benito Mussolini
b) Adolf Hitler
c) Winston Churchill
d) Franklin D Roosevelt

2. Who is a refugee?
a) A person who is banished
b) A person who flees from the country.
c) A person in exile
d) An enemy

3. What is meant by blues.
a) Melancholy
b) Patriotism
c) Nationalism
d) Contentment

4. “Once we had a country and we thought it fair,” which country the poet is talking about

a) Germany

b) France
c) Italy
d) Sweden

5.    Who is the speaker and to whom is he speaking?
a) The speaker is a Jew and he is talking to another Jew it may be his wife.
b) The speaker is a German talking to his cunty men
c) The speaker is a Jew addressing to the nation
d) The speaker is a common man talking about his problems in life.

6.   Is there any mention about the country in which they took refuge?
a) Yes
b) No

7. What did the people of that country in which they took refuge feel?
a) They were compassionate
b) They felt threatened to lose their jobs to the new comers.
c) They felt pity
d) They felt sad.

8. The yew tree is a symbol of ------------
a) Happiness
b) Joy
c) Rebirth
d) Cheer 

9. What is the speaker afraid of ?
The speaker anticipates that war is about to start, and that Jewish refugees will be chased all over the continent by Nazi soldiers who want to murder them. The speaker feels unprotected in the face of these soldiers.

10. When did the poet write this poem?
In 1939, W. H. Auden wrote a poem called “Refugee Blues” that expressed his opinion of the plight of Jewish refugees from Greater Germany.

11. Explain the dream with which “Refugee Blues” is concluded.
The poem concludes by saying about the speaker's dream of a huge building with thousands of floors, windows and doors and there wasn't a single door opening for them.

12.What do you think Auden wants his readers to think about? What imagery does he use to communicate his message? 

Auden uses imagery to convey the helplessness of the Jewish people.  Auden uses animal imagery to present helplessness in the poem. When the narrator was rejected by all the officials he saw a 'door open' and a 'cat was let in' emphasizing that there's 'no place' for them.