GCSE-readyWe Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah: context, form and key methods
The speaker describes the many beautiful places refugees come from, and the cruelty that forced them out, and insists that anyone could become a refugee. This poem is in copyright, so it is described mainly in our own words.
Context and Zephaniah's purpose
The poem challenges negative attitudes to refugees and asks readers to see them as people like themselves.
Form and structure
Many stanzas begin the same way, with the speaker saying where he comes from: a beautiful or musical place. This repetition is anaphora. A refrain returns: "We can all be refugees". The poem ends with a line about where everyone comes from, turning a warning into a statement of shared humanity.
Language and key methods
Inclusive pronouns: the pronoun 'we' draws the reader in, so refugees are not 'them'.
Direct statements: short, simple lines make the message hard to ignore.
Ending: "We all came here from somewhere" reminds readers that everyone's family has a history of movement.
Compare how leaving home is presented in We Refugees and My Mother's Kitchen.
- Both poems show people forced to leave home.
- Zephaniah's anaphora and inclusive 'we'; Hardi's lists of objects and final contrast.
- AO3: Zephaniah's campaigning for human rights; Hardi's own experience as a refugee.
Answer: Both Zephaniah and Hardi present the loss caused when people are forced from their homes. Zephaniah uses anaphora, beginning stanza after stanza with the beautiful places refugees come from, then sets each against cruelty, such as people punished for their songs. His refrain, "We can all be refugees", turns the reader into one of the group. Hardi's focus is smaller and more personal: a daughter imagines inheriting her mother's mismatched kitchen, the result of many moves, and ends with the trees her mother could never take with her. Zephaniah speaks to the whole world, while Hardi speaks within one family. Zephaniah, a campaigner, wants empathy from readers; Hardi, who came to Britain as a refugee, shows what can and cannot be carried.
Zephaniah, 1958 to 2023, Birmingham, Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, campaigner; 2000. Free verse; anaphora on where he comes from; refrain "We can all be refugees". Beauty against cruelty; inclusive 'we'; ends "We all came here from somewhere".
- Context
- The circumstances in which a text was written and set, such as historical events, social attitudes and the writer's life (AO3 in the GCSE, AO4 in the International GCSE).
- Form
- The type and shape of a text: for example sonnet, ballad, free verse, tragedy, comedy, novel or play.
- Speaker
- The voice of a poem. The speaker is not always the poet.
- Free verse
- Poetry without a regular rhyme scheme or metre.
- Anaphora
- Repeating the same word or phrase at the start of several lines or sentences to build emphasis.
- Refrain
- A line or phrase repeated at intervals through a poem or song.
All GCSE and International GCSE English Literature key terms and definitions →
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Last updated 6 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.