A Review of Refugee Blues

In the poem Refugee Blues by W.H. Auden, the author writes about his experience as a German Jew who has fled from Germany in search of a new home. He discusses antisemitism and the refugee experience. When Auden “Walked through a wood, saw birds in the trees / They had no politicians and sang at their ease: / They weren’t the human race” (Auden). Politics control whether refugees are able to enter a certain country, and Auden compares the birds in the trees, who are free to make a home wherever they’d like, to himself and other refugees, who are completely at the mercy of the politics of the countries to which they’re escaping and the countries that they’re escaping from. I think that this poem captures how refugees are caught in conflicts that they are not a part of. Even if they escape from their home country, they still must find a home, which is not an easy task. I also thought it interesting how the author repeats certain phrases at the end of each stanza. Overall, I would highly recommend reading this poem, because it shows how difficult it is for the displaced to make a living in a new country.