Entry #9 Refugees- Writing Project- Part 1

We Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah

In the Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem We Refugees, the author is able to transmit to the reader that all of us could have the bad fortune to become a refugee because it has multiple causes and one of them is the less predictable: a natural disaster. The writer uses the examples of ‘floods’ and ‘hurricane, to suggest that people must ‘keep moving on’. He also uses words such as “hands shake” or the phrase “ paper that is signed” to make political references to the possible causes. The origin of these events reflects the sudden change that can occur within the lives of people. To conclude,  within the question in the last stanza, “ why should we live in fear of the weather or the troubles?” There is a clear statement that if people became aware of being in equal conditions, we should not feel fair.

Refugees by Brian Bilston

In Bilston’s poem Refugees he uses a simple vocabulary but contains multiple messages and impacts within. The possibility of doing this dual reading is because it is written in such a way that it is possible to read it from top to bottom and in reverse. Moreover, the informal tint that the author has chosen to write it is not accidental but he decided it that way so that all readers could understand the main point. He includes a series of phrases that could be interpreted in an ambiguous and totally contrary way. For example, “we need to see them for who they really are” the connotation that is given to this phrase will depend on the reader’s position on the subject, and may be a derogatory perspective or, on the contrary, empathic and comprehensive. Another violent quote that is the most common one to name people in this condition is “go back to where they come from”, on the one hand, if we read this from top to the bottom there is a clear act of discrimination and apathy, on the other hand, if we read this from bottom to the top the idea is to be as merciful as possible because these people can not come back home and it is not even their own decision, but they have no other option. To sum up, each phrase and word exhibited in this work has been carefully chosen to achieve a clear objective of double impact. The meaning that will be given to it is left to the reader’s judgment.