“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. 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.

• Read the full text of “Refugee Blues”

• “Refugee Blues” Summary

• “Refugee Blues” Themes

  • 

    Antisemitism and Complicity in Prejudice

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-36
  • 

    Exile and Loneliness

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-36

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Refugee Blues”

  • Lines 1-6

    Say this city ...
    ... go there now.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-12

    In the village ...
    ... are still alive.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-18

    Went to a ...
    ... you and me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-24

    Thought I heard ...
    ... weren't German Jews.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-30

    Went down the ...
    ... the human race.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 31-36

    Dreamed I saw ...
    ... you and me.

    

    

    

    

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• “Refugee Blues” Symbols

  • 

    Mansions

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Some are living in mansions”
  • 

    Holes

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “some are living in holes”
  • 

    Blossoms

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “Every spring it blossoms anew”
  • 

    Daily bread

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 17: “"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread"”
  • 

    Thunder

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 19: “Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky”
  • 

    Building with a thousand floors

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 31-32: “Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors, / A thousand windows and a thousand doors:”
  • 

    Great plain

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 34: “Stood on a great plain in the falling snow”

• “Refugee Blues” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “souls,”
    • Line 2: “holes:”
    • Line 3: “us.”
    • Line 4: “fair,”
    • Line 5: “there:”
    • Line 6: “now.”
    • Line 7: “yew,”
    • Line 8: “anew:”
    • Line 9: “that.”
    • Line 10: “said,”
    • Line 11: “dead":”
    • Line 12: “alive.”
    • Line 13: “chair;”
    • Line 14: “year:”
    • Line 15: “to-day?”
    • Line 16: “said;”
    • Line 17: “bread":”
    • Line 18: “me.”
    • Line 19: “sky;”
    • Line 20: “die":”
    • Line 21: “mind.”
    • Line 22: “pin,”
    • Line 23: “in:”
    • Line 24: “Jews.”
    • Line 25: “quay,”
    • Line 26: “free:”
    • Line 27: “away.”
    • Line 28: “trees;”
    • Line 29: “ease:”
    • Line 30: “race.”
    • Line 31: “floors,”
    • Line 32: “ doors:”
    • Line 33: “ours.”
    • Line 34: “snow;”
    • Line 35: “fro:”
    • Line 36: “me.”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “mansions, some”
    • Line 3: “us, my dear, yet”
    • Line 6: “now, my dear, we”
    • Line 9: “that, my dear, old”
    • Line 12: “alive, my”
    • Line 13: “committee; they”
    • Line 15: “to-day, my dear, but”
    • Line 16: “meeting; the”
    • Line 17: “in, they”
    • Line 18: “me, my dear, he”
    • Line 20: “Europe, saying, "They”
    • Line 21: “mind, my dear, O”
    • Line 24: “Jews, my dear, but”
    • Line 27: “away, my dear, only”
    • Line 28: “wood, saw”
    • Line 30: “race, my dear, they”
    • Line 33: “ours, my dear, not”
    • Line 36: “me, my dear, looking”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “grows,” “old”
    • Line 10: “banged,” “table”
    • Line 19: “thunder rumbling”
    • Line 26: “fish swimming”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 25-26: “Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay, / Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:”
    • Line 3: “Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.”
    • Line 6: “We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.”
    • Line 9: “Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.”
    • Line 12: “But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.”
    • Line 15: “But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?”
    • Line 18: “He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.”
    • Line 21: “O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.”
    • Line 24: “But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.”
    • Line 27: “Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.”
    • Line 30: “They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.”
    • Lines 31-32: “a thousand floors, / A thousand windows and a thousand doors:”
    • Line 33: “Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.”
    • Line 36: “Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.”

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:”
    • Lines 22-23: “Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin, / Saw a door opened and a cat let in:”
    • Line 28: “Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;”
    • Lines 34-35: “Stood on a great plain in the falling snow; / Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes”
    • Lines 13-14: “Went to a committee; they offered me a chair; / Asked me politely to return next year:”
    • Line 16: “Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up”
    • Lines 25-26: “Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay, / Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:”
    • Lines 31-32: “Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors, / A thousand windows”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 20: “It was Hitler over Europe”
    • Line 24: “But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.”
    • Line 35: “Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:”

• “Refugee Blues” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Souls
  • Holes
  • Fair
  • Yew
  • Anew
  • Consul
  • Chair
  • Quay
  • To and fro
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “souls”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Refugee Blues”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Refugee Blues” Speaker

• “Refugee Blues” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Refugee Blues”

• More “Refugee Blues” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Introduction to the Holocaust — A detailed introduction to the Holocaust from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, with links to many other resources on the history of the Holocaust.

    • W. H. Auden's Life — A detailed biography of the British poet from the Poetry Foundation.

    • "Poetry Makes Nothing Happen" — An essay from the Boston Review on W. H. Auden's life-long struggle with whether or not to write politically engaged poems.

    • "Refugee Blues" Read Aloud — Shelia Hancock recites "Refugee Blues" for Holocaust Memorial Day, 2017.

    • German Jewish Refugees, 1933-1939 — An article from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the fate of Jewish refugees in the 1930s.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by W. H. Auden

    • As I Walked Out One Evening

    • Epitaph on a Tyrant

    • Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)

    • In Memory of W. B. Yeats

    • Lullaby

    • Musée des Beaux Arts

    • Partition

    • September 1, 1939

    • The More Loving One

    • The Shield of Achilles

    • The Unknown Citizen

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