Refugee Blues Poem Analysis

Refugee Blues by W.H. Auden was written before the start of World War 2 about the Jews’ experience and Disabled by Wilfred Owen was written during World War 1 about a young soldier who has returned from war. Both war poets present the theme of isolation and suffering through effective use of literary and language devices such as metaphors, repetition, hyperbole and the structures. Both Auden and Owen share similar intentions for writing their poems, being the expression of loss and suffering amongst those affected by the war.

In Refugee Blues, W.H. Auden wrote the poem in 12 stanzas and are structured in tercets. This structure echoes blues music, which is often associated with sad emotions and therefore portrays the suffering and isolation

Owen also uses alliteration to demonstrate the soldier’s feeling of suffering. As it says “Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.”, it gives us an impression that he’s incomplete, less than a man, he as a soldier has lost attractiveness. As a result of this, the ladies would run past him to strong men as if he’s invisible, this leaves the soldier mentally scarred and physically alone, even if he’s loss independence, he can’t rely on others because nobody cares for him, therefore leads to him being isolated and lonely. This reinforces the idea that the soldier is not only suffering from his physical wounds but his psychological scars as the image conflicts with his view of how he anticipated a soldier would be.

W.H. Auden use juxtaposition to convey a sense of suffering as it says “In the village churchyard there grows an old yew, Every spring it blossoms anew” juxtaposes the conditions of the past and present to show the dramatic change overtime. There’s also a contrast between nature and refugees as flowers bloom have a new life, that nature can renew itself, unlike the refugees who cannot renew their lives. This gives us a sense that even flowers can start a new life, yet the refugees