Refugee Blues

What is a refugee?

A person who has been forced to leave their native country in order to avoid prosecution

What is the tone of the poem?

Tender and melancholic

What can we tell with the word blues?

Evident musicality and it is a style that was born in a slave community

Summarise the first 3 lines?

The refugees feel like they don't belong anywhere

What are the "Ten million souls"?

Hyperbole

What does line 2 do?

Contrasts line 1 emphasisng the upper and lower class

What does line 3 mean?

Nothing for them as they are refugees

What can we tell from the words "my dear"?

Couple/relationship

How does the second stanza begin?

Looking back, reflection

What is meant by the word fair?

Beautiful

What does the atlas tell us?

They are far away from home

Summarise stanza 2

They had a beautiful country/home that they have now left behind

What is a yew?

A tree

What is meant by line 9?

They are lost, no getting back, inexistance

What is stanza 3 composed of?

A nature phenomenon

Summarise stanza 3

Implies that the natural world is in a cycle of renewing

Explain line 12

Looking towards the future does not help their current situation

What is happening in stanza 4?

They are told to wait until next year

What is "our daily bread"?

Allusion to the lords prayer

Explain stanza 5

Why there is no place for the refugees in a public meeting

Explain line 18

physically close, figuratively far

What is happening in stanza 6?

Simple analogy, contrast between free world and prejudice

What animals are free?

Birds and fish

What does line 21 do?

Echos idea in stanza 1

Explain the 7th stanza

Shows speakers lack of freedom, restrictive laws placed on the outsiders

What does line 22 tell us?

Buildings are not owned by them

What is happening in stanza 8?

Juxtaposition, Isolation of refugees

What is the "falling snow

Pathetic fallacy

What are the "ten thousand soldiers

Hyperbole

Explain the last stanza

Why they cant return home, refugees are in a dangerous position

What does the poem mimic?

Trad 3 line structure

Why is the blues music effective?

The emotional intensity and it is critical of society

What is the lst line?

Climax

What is there a sense of in the poem?

Displacement