Refugee Blues Refugee Blues "Refugee Blues" is a poem by W. H. Auden, written in 1939, one of a number of poems Auden wrote in the mid- to late-1930s in blues and other popular metres, for example the meter he used in his love poem "Calypso", written around the same time. The poem dramatizes the condition of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in the years before World War II, especially the indifference and antagonism they faced when seeking asylum in the democracies of the period. In some later editions of Auden's poetry, the poem is not identified by name but is the
Funeral Blues film "Four Weddings and a Funeral". In the musical "February House", produced Off-Broadway in 2012, a large portion of the poem is sung by Auden himself. The show consists of an original score with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane. In the sixth episode of the 3rd season of British TV series "Gavin & Stacey", the poem was read by the character Mick, at the wedding of Nessa and Dave, as it was Dave's favorite poem. In the second episode ("Return of the Golden Child") of the second season of British TV series "The IT Crowd", Derek Pippen begins to