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Refugee Blues – Class 11 English Chapter 17 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 11EnglishChapter 17NCERT book: Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 17 of the NCERT Class 11 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 17: Refugee Blues (Poem)

About the Poet

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973) was a student and later a Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. One of the most important poets of the twentieth century, he published several collections noted for their irony, compassion and wit. Although "Refugee Blues" is a modern poem, it uses the ballad form of narration.

Background

The poem is spoken by a German Jewish refugee to a loved one ("my dear") in the years when Hitler's Nazi regime persecuted Jews and drove them out of Germany. The couple have fled their country but find no welcome anywhere. The word "Blues" in the title recalls blues music — songs of sorrow — and the colour blue, associated with sadness.

Stanza-wise Meaning

Each stanza has three lines: two rhyming lines that describe something, and a third line that repeats a phrase with "my dear" — a refrain that sounds like a sad song.

  • No place in a crowded city — "Say this city has ten million souls, / Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes: / Yet there's no place for us, my dear…" Even the poorest have somewhere; the refugees have nowhere.
  • A lost homeland — "Once we had a country and we thought it fair, / Look in the atlas and you'll find it there: / We cannot go there now, my dear."
  • The yew and old passports — The old yew tree in the village churchyard "blossoms anew" every spring, but "Old passports can't do that" — expired papers cannot be renewed; nature renews itself but the refugees' identity cannot.
  • The consul — "If you've got no passport you're officially dead"; "But we are still alive, my dear" — bitter irony about bureaucracy treating living people as non-existent.
  • The committee — They are politely offered a chair and asked "to return next year"; "But where shall we go today, my dear?" — polite indifference, no real help.
  • The public meeting — A speaker says, "If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread"; "He was talking of you and me, my dear" — fear and prejudice against refugees.
  • Hitler's threat — "Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky; / It was Hitler over Europe, saying: 'they must die'"; "We were in his mind, my dear."
  • Animals treated better — A poodle in a jacket, a cat let in through a door: "But they weren't German Jews, my dear." Pets receive more kindness than refugees.
  • Fish in the harbour — Fish swim "as if they were free: / Only ten feet away" — freedom is close yet out of reach.
  • Birds in the wood — The birds "had no politicians and sang at their ease: / They weren't the human race, my dear." Human politics causes the suffering.
  • The dream building — A building with "a thousand floors, / A thousand windows and a thousand doors; / Not one of them was ours."
  • Tickets to Happiness — At the station they ask for "two tickets to Happiness; / But every coach was full" — happiness is unavailable to them.
  • Soldiers searching — "Stood on a great plain in the falling snow; / Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro: / Looking for you and me, my dear." The poem ends on fear of being hunted.

    • Themes

  • Displacement and statelessness — having no home, no country, no valid papers
  • Persecution and prejudice — Hitler's hatred; public fear that refugees will "steal our daily bread"
  • Indifference of officials — consul, committee, public speaker
  • Human cruelty vs. nature's freedom — pets, fish and birds are better off than people
  • Love amid suffering — the gentle, repeated "my dear"

    • Literary Devices

  • Refrain — the repeated third line with "my dear" builds sorrow and rhythm.
  • Pathos — deep sadness: "we are still alive", "where shall we go today".
  • Irony — "officially dead" though alive; being politely offered a chair.
  • Sarcasm — "they weren't German Jews"; "They weren't the human race".
  • Contrast/Juxtaposition — the renewing yew vs. old passports; free fish and birds vs. trapped humans.
  • Symbolism — "two tickets to Happiness" (a normal, secure life); the building with a thousand doors (the world's shut doors).
  • Ballad/blues form — simple narrative stanzas, rhyming couplets and refrain.

    • Word Power

  • refugee — a person forced to leave their country (शरणार्थी)
  • blues — a sad song or mood (उदासी)
  • souls — people (लोग)
  • atlas — a book of maps (मानचित्रावली)
  • yew — an evergreen tree often grown in churchyards (यू वृक्ष)
  • consul — a government's official in a foreign city (वाणिज्य दूत)
  • committee — a group appointed for a task (समिति)
  • quay — a platform where ships load (घाट)
  • coach — a railway carriage (डिब्बा)
  • pathos — a quality that arouses pity (करुणा)
  • persecution — cruel ill-treatment (उत्पीड़न)

    • Exam Focus

    Q. The title 'Refugee Blues' encapsulates the theme. Comment.

    Outline: "Refugee" names the speaker's condition — homeless and stateless; "Blues" names the mood — a sorrowful song. Together they sum up the poem: a lament of German Jewish refugees rejected everywhere.

    Q. What poetic technique conveys the plaintive theme?

    Outline: The ballad/blues form with a haunting refrain ("my dear" lines), simple couplets, contrasts and irony.

    Q. What do the references to birds and animals suggest?

    Outline: A pampered poodle and a cat are welcomed; fish swim free; birds sing with "no politicians". Animals enjoy freedom and kindness denied to refugees, exposing human cruelty.

    Q. How is the essence of the poem captured in 'two tickets to Happiness'?

    Outline: Happiness is imagined as a journey the couple want to take, but "every coach was full" — a secure, happy life is denied to them.

    Common Mistakes

  • Thinking the speaker is Hitler or an official — the speaker is a refugee addressing a loved one.
  • Missing that the third line of each stanza is a refrain.
  • Reading "they weren't German Jews" as praise of pets — it is bitter sarcasm.
  • Forgetting the historical context of Nazi persecution of German Jews.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Understand the poem as the lament of German Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution
    • ✓Explain the significance of the title 'Refugee Blues'
    • ✓Identify the ballad/blues form and the role of the 'my dear' refrain
    • ✓Recognise irony, sarcasm, pathos and contrast in the treatment of refugees versus animals
    • ✓Interpret key images such as old passports, 'officially dead' and 'two tickets to Happiness'

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Play a short blues tune before reading, and ask what mood it creates
    • →Read the poem aloud with two voices: one reads the first two lines, the class chants the refrain
    • →Give brief historical context on German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s
    • →Make a two-column chart: how animals are treated vs how the refugees are treated
    • →Do the book's task on refrain, pathos, irony and sarcasm with examples from the poem
    • →Connect to present-day refugee situations through a respectful class discussion

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain who speaks the poem and to whom?
    2. Can the student explain the title and the meaning of 'blues'?
    3. Can the student identify the refrain and explain its effect?
    4. Can the student interpret the references to the poodle, cat, fish and birds?
    5. Can the student explain 'If you've got no passport you're officially dead'?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

    1. 1. The Lament
    2. 2. A Pair of Mustachios
    3. 3. The Rocking-horse Winner
    4. 4. The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
    5. 5. Pappachi's Moth
    6. 6. The Third and Final Continent
    7. 7. Glory at Twilight
    8. 8. The Luncheon
    9. 9. The Peacock
    10. 10. Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
    11. 11. Coming
    12. 12. Telephone Conversation
    13. 13. The World is too Much With Us
    14. 14. Mother Tongue
    15. 15. Hawk Roosting
    16. 16. For Elkana
    17. 17. Refugee Blues
    18. 18. Felling of the Banyan Tree
    19. 19. Ode to a Nightingale
    20. 20. Ajamil and the Tigers
    21. 21. My Watch
    22. 22. My Three Passions
    23. 23. Patterns of Creativity
    24. 24. Tribal Verse
    25. 25. What is a Good Book?
    26. 26. The Story
    27. 27. Bridges