Short summary of the poem “Refugee Blues” W. H. Auden.

 

“Refugee Blues” was written by the British poet W. H. Auden. First published in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the poem meditates on the plight of Jewish refugees who were forced to flee Nazi Germany but unable to find refuge elsewhere.

 The poem concerns the plight of Jewish refugees in Europe in the 1930s. Forced to flee persecution and violence in Nazi Germany, many Jews were unable to secure asylum in countries like England or the United States because they kept tight quotas on the number of Jewish immigrants admitted each year. Such Jews were trapped between countries—unable to find a safe refuge yet terrified of returning home.

As the poem does so, it raises broader questions about isolation, loneliness, and exile. It depicts the trauma and pain of being forced to leave home—and of being unable to find a place of safety and security in a violent and uncertain world.

 

Throughout “Refugee Blues,” the speaker’s mood is bleak and mournful. The poem begins with the speaker complaining that “there’s no place for us, my dear”—no safe home in any country. And no one will help the speaker: indeed, the people in the “city” would rather take in dogs and cats than Jewish refugees.

The speaker thus feels friendless, profoundly lonely. The speaker of “Refugee Blues” is one of these Jews, and thus faces two kinds of antisemitism. On the one hand, there is the Nazi regime, with its explicit, state-sanctioned violence against Jews. On the other hand, there is the less explicit but no less virulent antisemitism of countries that use immigration quotas to exclude Jews.

 

 These countries have the power to help—indeed to save the speaker's life—but they refuse to do so. The poem thus levels a stern accusation against them, insisting they are complicit in the Jews' suffering and mass murder. To not actively step in to stop prejudice, the poem implies, is its own form of prejudice and cruelty. And without the possibility of finding asylum in a country like England or the United States, the speaker feels trapped.

 

Even fish have more liberty than the speaker: they can at least “swim … as if they were free.”

At points, the speaker seems jealous of animals and birds because they don’t have to deal with hateful “politicians”—they experience a kind of happiness and “ease” that the speaker no longer can. The speaker’s suffering and loneliness acts as a powerful call for action, an impassioned demand for change.

In this way by providing a window into the speaker's suffering, the poem thus makes a passionate case for more just and welcoming immigration laws.

 

“Refugee Blues” Themes

Antisemitism and Complicity in Prejudice : “Refugee Blues” is about the plight of Jewish refugees in the 1930s. When the poem was written in 1939, millions of Jews were trying to flee Nazi Germany. However, most countries had strict quotas on Jewish immigration—and, as a result, most Jews were sent back.

Exile and Loneliness :“Refugee Blues” is, in part, about the fear and desperation of being a refugee. The speaker is terrified of returning to Germany, but also is unable to find a safe haven elsewhere. As a result, the speaker is isolated and in limbo, trapped between countries without a clear sense of home.

The speaker does not hold out hope that this situation will get better, and the poem uses the speaker’s despair and frustration to convey the loneliness, pain, and sense of stagnancy that accompany exile.