Western Mindanao State University

College of Liberal Arts

BAELS

Critical Analysis using Reader-Based Approach

Midterm Examination in ELS 110

Presented to:

MS. LISSETTE PILAPIL

Presented by:

ROSAMIE L. LIGA

BAELS 2B

About the Poem

The Author
BRIAN BILSTON

The Poem

They have no need of our help

So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

The following
(now are
read from the questions
bottom to top) and answers for analysis:
1. How did he or she make you feel it?
The  mysterious poet Brian Bilston on his upside-down poem ‘Refugees’ gives an
exploration on different angles of migration. What was really interesting about that was
that I could read it in two different ways and it changed its meaning when read in
reverse. For several months and meanwhile I guess the refugee crisis was worsening,
there were daily stories in the press on the news, on social media and I think eventually
dawned on me particularly when I saw some of the reaction to some of these kind of
tragic heartbreaking stories that were breaking in the news, the reaction on social
media, that the refugee crisis was like a perfect topic for that treatment in that kind of
forwards – backwards poetic form. The poet has forced people to re-think their
prejudice against refugees with a startling poem highlighting the plight of those fleeing
conflict and persecution.

2. What are you dependent on in this work to help you make sense of what you read
—descriptive passages, the narrator’s voice, contrasting viewpoints of characters?
Refugees is a book of two voices. The first one sees the people fleeing from war
and persecution and asks, "Why here? Why my country?" It is a feeling many people
share. It is one of fear and suspicion. But when you read the text the opposite way, a
new voice emerges. It says, "Why not make them welcome? Why not share the things
we have?" The world is undergoing a period of mass human migration. Whether this is
caused by war, persecution or economics, the people we see on the news in those camps
are waiting--waiting to live their lives. There are two sides to every debate. There are
two sides to a wall. This story shows both sides of the issue with skill and the
illustrations depict the issue in a magic realism style, powerful but never frightening,
and will promote a deeper discussion on this topic with an older child.

3. Do the events fall into a pattern you have met before?

Yes, because In ancient times palindromes appeared in magic spells, and many have
taken this reversibility as a convention while in this generation though the
modernization of the world, by having the purpose of poetry in writing, words,
numbers, and sentences is to create light entertainment and fun which a poetry defined
as a number, a word, a sentence, a symbol, or even signs that can be read forward as
well as backward, or in reverse order with the same effects and meanings and called as
Palindromes that can be traced in classical and modern music poetry for rhythmical
effect, in acoustics, and in dates as well. Even several religious texts are full of
palindromes. It is not just a chance that, biologically, our genes are also palindromes –
that their order is the same, forward and backward. A further interesting point is that
numbers also fall in order to create palindromes, such as 88, 99, 101, 111, 121, 131, 141,
151, 161, and 171 which can be read backward and forward in the same way.

4. Are there opposites in the text that surprise you? Inform you? Keep you from
anticipating what is coming?
Yes. It does acknowledge that people respond in different ways to many things
but in this case the refugee crisis but its also a real call for people to listen to each other
and see that there is more than one way of looking at things. My own sympathies very
heavily lie, as it were, in the reverse of the poem and I think the structure of the poem
makes it more powerful when the words are turned on their head as it were.

5. How do your previous experiences with this genre set up your expectations for
how this text will operate?
How we perceive things is not always the truth, and often when you look at
something from a different angle, it can make the world of difference. Poems when well
written have a kind of immediacy that sometimes other forms of literature don’t. I think
particularly given the length of many poems, there’s something, particularly nowadays
when people don’t have much time, they spend their days looking at their social media
feed which gives them kind of bite-sized nuggets of information and jokes and
emotions etc. Poetry kind of like the perfect way of consuming that within a social
media context. I think particularly things like Twitter kind of really help a poem to
come through that simply a longer piece of writing wouldn’t.

6. What images and events in the story are you already conditioned to approve or
disapprove?
The images and events in the poem seems to be compelling because it has ability
to impose two very different perspectives onto a single piece of work. This parallels the
idea of how the single reality of the Syrian Refugee Crisis can be interpreted in two
different ways. I do however think that while this piece of work helps to raise
awareness and challenge negative stereotypes, it may reinforce overly simplistic
attitudes towards the crisis. Perspectives, like the crisis itself, is not essentially
bipartisan. Rather, it is complex and dynamic, and to be an informed audience of the
topic, one must leave room for multiple interpretations. Also, there are these sentiments
capitalize on polarizing reactions towards the element of human vulnerability in this
refugee crisis, creating one group that feels the need to distant themselves from such
mortality salience, while another is pushed towards the greater unifying force of
humanity.

7. How does the point of view affect (or control) your understanding?
 Based off of the instructions at the end of the poem. While the open ended-
ness and mystery of poetry is something I like about the medium, in this case, the
author telling the reader to read it again was crucial. Also, I think he has been
handling the reactions very well because it is creative and worthwhile.

8. What information has been withheld from you? How does that affect your
inferences?
After reading the whole text, the poet adds a small request at the end of his
poem: "Now read from bottom-to-top". And the results affect my inferences where it
changes or switch the idea from a different point of view in unexpected fashion - and in
just 24 lines. 

9. What similarities do you recognize between this work and other works—for
example, in terms of themes, setting, characters?
Using a similar structure to Jonathan Reed's "The Lost Generation" and Julia
Copus' "The Back Seat of My Mother's Car", Bilston's "Refugees" creates two different
readings from the same set of lines — while making a powerful point about some of the
angry rhetoric that's shadowed the refugee crisis. It somehow polarises opinions to be
able to take one extreme approach and then play it back on itself to come up with a far
more humane position gave it its power.

10. How does the text call upon what you know of the world to produce your
response to the work?
The holistic view of the text aids me to produce a response that I seemingly now
about refugees from other county especially the crisis in Syria. Refugees have always
been used as political pawns. By understanding what makes a refugee and what life as
a refugee is like, it is possible to understand one result of intractable conflicts and
conceive of ways to avoid such situations. Life as a refugee is defined by uncertainty for
all but the wealthiest or those who can reside in the homes of relatives. For the most
part, refugees are poor and they seek refuge from a conflict or repressive government,
uncertain of their destination or if they will ever return home. They often leave home at
a moment's notice, either forcibly or voluntarily, and must leave their possessions
behind. It is unfortunate and ironic that most refugees flee in order to escape human
rights violations and violence, yet their vulnerable situation as refugees exposes them to
additional human rights violations and violence. Walking away from danger with one's
valuables makes a refugee vulnerable to robbery from armed marauders.
11. Did the work cause you to make interpretations that you had to revise later?
Yes.
12. What events or experiences were you led to anticipate? What mysteries were you
asked to solve? What judgments were you expected to make?
The world faces the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. 86% of
internally- and externallydisplaced persons are in developing countries. Recent events
have awakened governments in Europe, the Americas, and Asia to the crisis but not all
have yet accepted responsibility for accepting refugees fleeing war, terror and abject
poverty. The setting of this summit makes clear that countries like Turkey, Lebanon and
Jordan need more assistance. In almost all nations the compassion of people is ahead of
that of their governments. The failure to demonstrate the solidarity that values human
life is abhorrent and the growing xenophobia in the political realm is distressing. Fear-
mongering about new arrivals threatening to take jobs without any serious plan to
improve infrastructure, grow jobs and produce growth to build a better future and
provide opportunities for all is short sighted. Every democratic country can do better to
ensure safe haven for people at risk, but so too must our leaders act to bring an end to
conflict and displacement. The reality is that it is no longer possible to distinguish or
divide categories of migrants seeking safety and security in another nation. All people
are entitled to equal rights. Rights, with the right to work a priority, and social
protection are vital guarantees for both individuals and the host communities to reap
the benefits of economic advantage migrants bring and ensure the social stability that
sustains development. The value of human life must triumph over fear and xenophobia.
Unions have a central role to play in fighting against walls, military borders and the
callous response that ignores the deaths of migrants. Union belief in solidarity and the
dignity of decent work is essential to shape an inclusive future for all people.

13. What do I already know about this work or this author?

Brian Bilston is clouded in the pipe smoke of mystery. He has been described as
the Banksy of poetry and Twitter's unofficial Poet Laureate. With over 50,000 followers,
numbering J. K. Rowling, Roger McGough and Frank Cottrell Boyce amongst many,
many other luminaries, Brian has become truly beloved by the Twitter community. His
first collection, You Took the Last Bus Home, was published by Unbound. He won the
Great British Write Off competition in 2015 - and was the Poet in Residence for the
World Economic Forum in 2016. In recent times, there have been features on him on
BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the BBC news website, the Irish Times, the
Independent and the Smithsonian Magazine. Most of these features seem to have
largely centred around his pipe

14. What do I already know about the time, place, or characters depicted?
Refugees are protected under non-refoulement and cannot forcibly be sent home;
however, they may voluntarily repatriate, that is, choose to return to their country of
origin. On my previous knowledge, refugees are helpless victims who need saving that
have faced terrible tragedies and often live in derelict conditions, they are not merely
passive victims and recipients of aid. They are active agents in their lives who have
made courageous decisions and bravely face horrible conditions while taking steps to
secure a peaceful and prosperous future.

15. What does the title suggest to me?

The title “Refugees” basically suggests that it is