Anthology B Poetry Coursework analytical essay of the poems ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘Disabled’
Name: Ga Yoon Lee
Teacher: Mrs Henderson
Word count:

The poems ‘Refugee Blues’ by W.H Auden and ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen both explore the theme of alienation to portray the brutal persecution of the victims of war. W.H Auden conveys the emotions of guilt from the perspective of a refugee, while Wilfred Owen expresses the isolation of a disabled soldier after the war. The theme of loneliness is successfully portrayed in both poems through the structure, literary techniques and emotive language including a powerful choice of diction.

Both poems share the same subject of alienation aggravated by the brutality of the war. ‘Refugee blues’ is a narrative poem which creates a feeling of a refugee telling a story to the readers. The narrative poem helps creates empathy and compassion as the readers are put in a position where they understand the state of withdrawal. Furthermore, in the poem, repetition is used at the end of each stanza with the phrase ‘my dear’. This structure gives emphasis on the feelings of self-pity, tiredness, and alienation. To add on, the repetition of ‘my dear’ creates sympathy as the victims were the families of the refugees. The repetition at the end of each stanza stresses that the refugees are alienated as a group. In the poem ‘Disabled’, asterisks are used after the last line of each stanza. The asterisks emphasise the