Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lawrence Durrell’s "In Europe" is a poignant and haunting meditation on the refugee experience, articulated through a radio play format with three distinct voices—Man, Woman, and Old Man—accompanied by the symbolic sounds of a drum, bells, and a dancing bear. The poem reflects on the displacement, loss, and existential fatigue of those who have been uprooted from their homes and forced to wander through a war-torn continent. The recurring phrase "the refugee habit" serves as a refrain, underscoring the relentless and dehumanizing nature of their journey.

The poem opens with the Man expressing the physical and emotional exhaustion that comes with crossing frontiers. The characters have become accustomed to constant movement, where "the boundaries are clouds" and "the frontiers of the land are water," suggesting that borders have become ephemeral and meaningless in their endless flight. The Old Man echoes this sentiment, reinforcing the idea that they are trapped in a cycle of displacement, where they have become anonymous, reduced to "only anonymous feet moving."

Durrell captures the disintegration of identity and the erosion of human connection through the voices of his characters. The Woman laments the loss of friendships, books, and companionship, emphasizing how their lives have been stripped of the fundamental elements that make life meaningful. The Man’s observation that "Between the just and the unjust / There is little distinction" reflects a moral ambiguity that has taken hold in a world where survival has become the only priority.

The imagery of "Bodies like houses, without windows and doors" speaks to the emptiness and vulnerability of the refugees. They are no longer whole, their bodies and lives are incomplete, much like houses that can no longer provide shelter. The Woman’s mention of the children who "have become so brown, / Their skins have become dark with sunlight" illustrates how even the youngest among them have been marked by this harsh, unrelenting journey. They have "learned to eat standing," a small yet powerful symbol of the loss of normalcy and stability.

The Old Man’s reflections are particularly evocative, as he oscillates between memories of a past life filled with a sense of belonging and the grim reality of the present. His longing for "a mother, a father, and a house" and "the feeling of belonging somewhere" contrasts sharply with the present state of constant movement and dislocation. The past is rendered with a nostalgic clarity that the present lacks, highlighting the dissonance between what was and what is.

The poem’s structure, with its alternating voices, creates a rhythm that mimics the back-and-forth movement of the refugees themselves—never settling, always moving. The Old Man’s remembrance of a "particular place" where he felt "appropriate to certain fields and trees" is juxtaposed with the present reality where "Walls / Constrain us" and "our address is the world." This shift underscores the loss of home, not just as a physical place, but as a concept, a foundation of identity.

Durrell introduces a note of surrealism and absurdity with the reference to the peninsula "where we so nearly died," where "the trees looked owned, / Human and domestic like a group of horses." This image blurs the line between nature and humanity, suggesting that even the landscape itself has become alien and unsettling in the context of their flight.

As the characters continue to reflect on their journey, the Old Man articulates the fatigue of witnessing "general deaths" and the longing for a more personal, peaceful end: "fireside and hearth, / And death by compromise some summer evening." His weariness is shared by the Man, who accuses the Old Man of "carrying the past in you / Like a precious vessel," highlighting the burden of memory in a time when survival demands forgetting.

The poem’s conclusion circles back to the theme of loss, but now with a sense of finality. The characters acknowledge that "Frontiers mean nothing any more," and that all they have left are "Peoples and possessions, / Lands, rights, / Titles, holdings," which have become meaningless. The Old Man lists the remnants of their lives—"A whistle, a box, a shawl, a cup, / A broken sword wrapped in newspaper"—which serve as a sad inventory of what little they have managed to retain. These objects, stripped of their original context, are reduced to symbols of a lost world, an "alphabet for our children" that speaks of displacement and fragmentation.

The final lines, spoken by the Woman and Old Man, encapsulate the ultimate surrender: "We have got the refugee habit. / Beyond tears at last, into some sort of safety / From fear of wanting, fear of hoping, / Fear of everything but dying." This resignation to death is not a dramatic climax but a quiet, weary acceptance of the inevitable. The repeated phrase "We can die now" reflects a collective exhaustion, a final release from the endless struggle to survive in a world that has ceased to make sense.

"In Europe" is a powerful commentary on the refugee experience, capturing the emotional and psychological toll of displacement. Through the voices of the Man, Woman, and Old Man, Durrell gives voice to the profound loss of identity, home, and humanity that comes with being a perpetual outsider, constantly in motion yet never arriving anywhere. The poem’s haunting refrain, "We have got the refugee habit," lingers as a stark reminder of the enduring impact of war and exile on the human spirit.

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