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The poem, which was written about six months before the outbreak of the Second World War, deals with
a German Jewish couple struggling to get a passport. They have lost their home and country, and are
filled with helpless despair.
The poem contains repetition and is written like a sad blues song which was made popular by African
Americans at about the same time. The refrain at the end of each stanza echoes the melancholy tone.
ABOUT THE POET
Wystan Hugh Auden is regarded by many as the most influential poet of the 20th century, a man who
inspired other giants of the poetic world such as C. Day-Lewis, Louis MacNeice and Stephen Spender.
He was born in 1907 in York, the son of a medical practitioner and a university-educated mother. He
attended Oxford University where he graduated in 1928 with a lowly 3rd class degree in Literature.
While at Oxford, he became known for his poetry and his eccentricities and, most notably, for his series
of homosexual relationships.
Auden became a schoolmaster, which later allowed T.S. Eliot to criticise him for allowing his pedantic
teaching style to influence his poetry.
In 1935 he married Erika Mann, a German lesbian who needed to escape from Germany. The marriage
was one of convenience, designed purely to provide her with British citizenship.
During the 1930s Auden became enamoured with left-wing politics and social causes, although he would
later tire of the contradictions inherent in this. Eventually he would claim that politics and art could never
be combined.
In January 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war, he sailed for New York. Because this was seen as
desertion from his homeland which was about to be embroiled in conflict, he lost much of his reputation
in England. As a result, he settled in the United States and eventually took out citizenship there.
While in the United States, he established a permanent relationship with the 18 year old poet, Chester
Kallman, who would become his lifelong companion.
Auden would lecture literature at several universities, including Oxford where his tenure demanded that
he give only three lectures per year. He would die in Vienna in 1973, shortly after delivering a guest
lecture.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
"Say this city has ten million souls."
- Explain why Auden has chosen the word "souls". (3)
[Need help?]
"Souls" is more personal than "people". It refers to the essence of a person.
The word "souls" includes not only the physical but also the emotional being of the person. The
poet focuses our attention on the fact that these are human beings who can be hurt very deeply.
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"Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us."
- Comment on the contrast in this quotation. (6)
[Need help?]
The contrast lies in the words "mansions" and "holes". It emphasises the discrepancy
between the non-Jews who live in the luxurious, spacious mansions, and the Jews who were forced into
cramped, unhygienic ghettos.
The use of "holes" implies cramped, restricted, claustrophobic conditions, along with darkness,
misery and despair. People in the ghettos were carefully monitored and their movements were strictly
controlled.
The Jews were regarded by Hitler as animals, not as humans. All they needed was a hole in the ground.
There is further contrast with the last line of the quotation, introduced by the word "yet". This
highlights the fact that, in spite of the size of the city and all its space, no one will provide them with a place
in which to live.
The last line makes the reality of the couple's destitute situation so real. They are exiled and there is no
room for them: they are unwanted and no one cares about what happens to them.
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"In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that."
- Why does the poet specifically refer to a "yew"? (4)
[Need help?]
Yew trees are traditionally planted in cemeteries. They are dark-leaved, evergreen coniferous trees.
Because they are evergreen, they represent the cycle of life. In a graveyard they symbolise the belief of
resurrection after death.
The yew trees serve to highlight the many contrasts in the poem. Even in a graveyard there is the promise
of renewal and rebirth, but their old passports cannot be reproduced
This emphasises the hopelessness of their situation.
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- What is the significance of the word "anew"? (3)
[Need help?]
The word signifies renewal and rejuvenation after something has died down. In other words, the death
or end of the plant is only temporary as there is always the promise of rebirth.
The promise of rebirth is a definite promise. It follows the cycle of the seasons: spring brings resurrection
after the death of winter.
The poet uses the word to highlight the contrast between the potential for renewal in nature, and the
absence of hope that their passports will be renewed.
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"The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive."
- Examine the contrast in these lines and the implications thereof. (4)
[Need help?]
The consul at the embassy exhibits a violent reaction by banging on the table to show his frustration with
the couple. As a typical government official, he does not know how to deal with the couple and their lack
of papers.
The man, on the other hand, is calm and controlled in his response, as though he has come to expect this
reaction. It does not surprise him because he is used to having doors slammed in his face.
His response is very low key. He simply affirms that they are still alive, in spite of their lack of official
papers.
You do not need a passport to prove you are alive. Auden highlights the ridiculousness of bureaucracy.
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"Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?"
- How does Auden focus on the inefficacy of the committee? Refer to the words "committee" and
"chair" in your answer. (4)
[Need help?]
A committee is elected by the community to look after its interests. This committee is unable to do
anything to help.
All this committee can do is offer them a chair, which is of absolutely no use to them. They need a
passport, not a place to sit: they have been sitting around waiting for help for long enough.
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- The word "politely" is usually a positive word. Explain why it has a negative connotation in this
stanza. (3)
[Need help?]
The word "politely" is also an indication of their total inability to help the couple. It is like saying:
The cheque is in the mail, knowing that it is a false promise.
The committee simply goes through the motions. They try to keep the couple calm and utter the usual
bureaucratic phrases to make them feel better and make it seem they are doing their job.
The committee members maintain a polite persona to keep the couple calm and pretend they are trying
to help. Their politeness here, however, implies coldness and aloofness.
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- What is the implication of the words "next year"? (3)
[Need help?]
Their pretended and inefficient assistance is further highlighted by the words "next year". The
couple is being brushed off because no one can help them.
A consul is supposed to deal with official papers like passports, yet he is unable to come up with a
solution. A year is an extremely long time to wait for assistance when the situation is so dire.
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"But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?"
- Examine the significance of the word "to-day" in the context of the stanza. (3)
[Need help?]
The word "to-day" emphasises the anguish they are going through. They need immediate help,
not in a year's time!
The word contrasts with the instruction to return in a year's time.
The couple is desperate. The word serves to highlight even further the ineptitude of the consul.
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"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread."
- What is this a reference to and why has it been included? (4)
[Need help?]
It is a quotation from the Lord's Prayer, asking God to provide sustenance each day. The implication is
that the Jews will practically steal the food off the tables of the German people.
The Jews, being non-Christians, do not deserve to share in the "daily bread" of the Christians. The
Jews are not entitled to what is due to the German people.
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- The poet repeats the words "my dear" in the last line of each stanza. What is his reason for
doing so? (3)
[Need help?]
The words are comforting, caring and protective, conveying the strength of the emotional connection and
the intimacy between the couple. The man is constantly trying to reassure his wife in the face of all the
adversity they constantly face.
They serve to highlight the inhumanity of Hitler's regime which discriminated cruelly against not only
against the Jews but all people he regarded as being "abnormal" and unacceptable to society, such
as gypsies, gays, and mentally and physically disabled people.
These people were left without protection. They were exposed to the inhumane system.
The couple only has each other to rely on as no one is interested in helping them. They have been
excluded from the community to which they once belonged.
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