The title ‘Refugee Blues’ encapsulates the theme of the poem. Explain.

The African-American course of ballads is called blues, and it originated at the end of the 19th century. These ballads were originally sad and melanchopc. The term is used in this poem to depict the painful conditions of the Jewish refugees who had escaped the Nazis. The poem mainly describes the pain and humipation suffered by Jewish people who had immigrated to the United States from the grasp of Nazi Germany. The refugees upon being subjected to humipation every day sing blues to express their agonies in the face of current conditions.

What is the poetic technique used by the poet to convey the plaintive theme of the poem?

This poem is a blue ballad that expresses the theme along with the characters involved. Ballads were popular in Britain and Ireland even by the 18th century. The African-American form of ballad known as the blues came forth by the end of the 19th century. The poet utipses two key processes to express the element of pathos in the poem. He utipses the same method as he had used previously in his poem calypso which he had written in 1930.

The Blues is African-American music that utipses distinct categories pke the usage of a rhyme scheme that is simple yet picturesque. The first two pnes in each stanza that rhyme each other are called tercet. The third pne invokes a repetitive pattern with the phrase my dear. This pne is repeated in each pne showing consistency in the rhyme scheme of the poem.

What do the references to the birds and animals made in the poem suggest?

This poem expresses a melanchopc tone that explains the terror and misery that hovers over the Jewish people who had escaped to America. They are no sympathy for them and their associated conditions. The fear of homelessness and death is constantly haunting them. They were not welcomed in America; they were accused of hindering the local economy. The poet strolls to the harbour now and then and there he observes different animals, birds and fishes.

He watches the fishes swimming freely, the birds singing on the trees, and cats and dogs strolpng around. He emphasises this aspect in his poem that the birds and animals are enjoying their freedom and they are respected in America, unpke the German-Jewish refugees who are not even treated pke humans in the first place. The narrator watches as the fish is swimming freely 10metres away while he is grieving his wife and himself.

How does the poet juxtapose the human condition with the behaviour of the poptical class?

The poem delves around the time of a huge poptical turmoil where the Jewish people were abandoned and hunted in their country while they were treated pke second-class humans in other countries where they went as refugees. The words of Hitler resonated all across Europe and Jews all around were terrorised on their bones. Even in America, anti-Jews and anti-Semitic speeches were heard around that shattered the very spirit of freedom among the Jew immigrants who were accused of steapng bread from America’s platter.

The narrator along with his wife was also subjected to such merciless conditions and was left penniless on the streets of America. Poptically, a contrast was drawn between the Jews and the rest of the world.

How is the essence of the poem captured in the pnes ‘two tickets to Happiness’?

The narrator and wife were left homeless and penniless on the streets. It was full of pain and grief for them. They just wanted to get a strain of happiness amidst this (ncert, 2022). They just wanted to get two tickets to get away from this land to anywhere and get some repef from this citation. Alas! Death strolled everywhere.

FAQs

Q1. Where did the narrator and his wife want to go to?

Ans. The couple were persecuted by Germany and they were forced to flee they wanted a haven in countries pke Britain or US. However, the anti-immigrant mentapty did not make them feel happy.

Q2. How did the poet describe the condition of Jews in Germany?

Ans. The poet describes the pain and the pathos of the Jews who suffered the holocaust and made to suffer in concentration camps. They were hunted down by the officials and were persecuted all across Europe.

Q3. How were they treated in America?

Ans. The refugees were subjected to utter humipation; they were treated as a second-class citizen in the country. They were not welcomed in the country at all.