Say This City has Ten Million Souls

W H Auden
A. Answer in a sentence or two:
1. Who is the speaker in the poem?
A Jewish refugee from Germany.
2. What is his nationality?
He is a German.
3. What has happened to his passport?
His passport has expired.
4. What is the dream the speaker had?
In one dream he saw a building with a thousand floors, a thousand doors and
windows. In another he was standing on a plain where ten thousand soldiers marched
to and fro, looking for him and his wife.
B. Answer in a short paragraph of about fifty words:
1. “If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread.” Explain.
A speaker at a public meeting expresses the natives’ suspicion of the refugees through
this sentence. The natives hate the refugees because they fear the refugees will take
away the opportunities and resources that belong to them. The phrase “daily bread” is
a satirical comment on the attitude of the Christians.
2. Which lines suggest the endurance of the people?
The refugees had to flee from their native country. They no longer belong there and
their passports have expired. They are considered officially dead by the consul. But
the speaker says in spite of all the suffering, “but we are still alive, my dear, we are
still alive.” The dream of standing alone on the plain in the falling snow also points to
the endurance and survival of the Jewish refugees.
C. Answer in about hundred words:
1. How are the refugees treated in the city?
The speaker in Auden’s poem is a German Jew who had to flee with his wife
from his native country. They have no place to live in the new city. They
cannot make a new start because their expired passports will not be renewed.
The consul bangs the table angrily and tells them that they are officially dead.
A committee in charge of refugee affairs asks the desperate Jew to return the
following year. The people complain about the refugees who will steal their
livelihood. Animals are treated with much more love and respect.
 2. Comment on the tone of despair in the poem.
The speaker in Auden’s poem is a German Jew who had to flee with his wife
from their native country. They have not even the smallest place to live in the
new city. The newly blossoming yew tree reminds him that their expired
passports will not renew on their own. They have no place to go to and no hope
for the future. He watches sadly as the native citizens treat their pet animals
with much more love and respect. The speaker contrasts his situation with that
of the fish that swim freely and the birds that sing at their ease. The third line of
every stanza conveys the desperate situation.The speaker’s despair is conveyed
through the slow sad rhythm that reminds one of African Blues music.

3. What is the significance of the title of the poem?

“Say this City has Ten Million Souls” was later published under the title
“Refugee Blues.” Hence the poem is known by both titles. “Say this City has
Ten Million Souls” is the first line of the poem. By using the hyperbole “ten
million” the speaker suggests that the city they have come to is thickly
populated However, everyone seems to have a place to live in, whether a hole
or a mansion. The refugee sadly reflects that he and his companion have no
place to go. The title “Refugee Blues” refers to the lament of the refugees,
reminding the readers of the Blues music of the African slaves in America.
D. Answer in about three hundred words:
1. Analyse the poem as a representation of the plight of refugees and
comment on its contemporary relevance.
2. How does the speaker in the poem convey the fact that he and his wife
have no place to go and no future to look forward to?
W H Auden, one of the most prominent poets of the twentieth century, wrote
about the evils of capitalist society and the rise of totalitarianism.His poems are
remarkable for their variety in tone, form and content.“Say this City has Ten Million
Souls” is an expression of Auden’s anger at Hitler’s policy of exterminating Jews. The
poem is about the plight of refugees and the denial of human rights to them.
The speaker in Auden’s poem is a German Jew who had to flee with his wife
from their native country. Hitler’s anti-Jewish policies terrify them. The Jews are
denied identity and are being wiped out. The speaker and his wife are now living in an
American city, probably New York. They cannot make a new start because their
expired passports will not be renewed. The consul bangs the table angrily and tells
them that they are officially dead. A committee in charge of the affairs of the refugees
asks the desperate Jew to return the following year. He and his wife have no place to
live in the new city. The people complain about the refugees who will steal their
livelihood.
 Animals are treated with much more love and respect. The speaker tells his
wife how a poodle was dressed in a jacket, fastened with a pin because its owner
wants to protect it from the cold. He sees a door opened and a cat let in. The speaker
sees the fish swim freely only ten feet away from the harbour where he stands. The
birds in the woods sing at their ease because they have no politicians. As they are not
German Jews all of them have a much better life than him and his wife.
The monotonous rhythm imitates the jazz blues to suggest the weariness of the
refugee. Blues is a slow, sad song, sung by African Americans while they were
working as slaves in America.
Though Auden’s poem refers to the suffering of Jewish refugees during the
Second World War, the world continues to witness the problem of refugees, the sad
condition of people who are forced to leave their native land, their loved ones and
their possessions due to various reasons, man made or natural disasters. The sufferings
of refugees also point to the inhumanity of human beings to one another.