W.H. Auden (1907 - 1973) was one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. His poems have a strong political and social message. He believed that the human spirit survives best in an atmosphere of tolerance and compassion. Some of his best-known poems are 'Spain' and 'Musee des Beaux Arts'.
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living i mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
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, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't
do that.
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.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall
we go today?
Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
'If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread':
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking
of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, 'They must die':
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they
weren't German Jews.
Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the
human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
not one of them was ours, my dear, not one
of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro;
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking
for you and me.
How many people are believed to be living in the city?
How does the poet contrast an old yew with the passports of Jews?
What did the consul tell them about their status?
Explain the line, 'Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes'.
How does the speaker treated by people in other countries where he went seeking refugee?
Which lines in the poem indicate that there are no homes for Jews, even though there is enough housing?