Red Balloon

Theme:

The poem shows the conflict between religion and society, and the balloon is representative of Abse's religion and freedom of expressing his religion that he has to hide from Welsh society.

Content: 

This is about Abse's life as a Jewish boy growing up in his Welsh society. Abse finds a red balloon, and the Welsh boys tease him when they find out it's a 'Jew's balloon'; the others dislike this and want to destroy it so the boy has to hide inside away from them.

Structure: 

The poem has 10 stanzas, with four lines each and the first and last word of the poem rhyme. 

Analysis:

• The tone of the poem changes; at the start Abse is happy about his new possession and toy, a hyperbole, and his love for it builds up, however Abse has to hide his balloon, and can't express his happiness at the end or not he'll get bullied.
• The title 'Red Balloon' is a juxtaposition of youth and death. A balloon is symbolic of youth and happiness, it's vibrant and shows the freedom and innocence of being young, however balloon's are delicate and can be burst or can float away and be lost. Within the poem the red balloon shines 'like living blood' - representing that it's like death too.
• 'Over chapels, over chimney-pots' - over the people, a sense of superiority
• 'It was my shame, it was my joy' - oyxmoron, confused about how he should feel because he likes being different but doesn't fit in and that he's ashamed of being Jewish but is also happy and proud about it.
• 'It brought me notoriety' - gives him a bad reputation
• 'The rude boys came, it ceased to be a toy' - it means more to him but to them its a toy, they see it as a game and gives them an excuse to bully him.
• 'My balloon, my red balloon' - this shows his pride to being Jewish, and as he can't talk about his religion he uses the balloon as an object to symbolise it with. It's now HIS balloon.
• 'Soared higher like a happiness towards the dark blue sky' - it makes him happy, but leads him to terror or argument, darkness comes from having his own different religion
• 'I boasted of my unique, my only precious' - this was him before, proud of his beliefs, but now he is ashamed of his Jewish history
• 'However long they swear their love' - describes how people are false about their views towards Jews, and represent Wales. The country portrays itself to be diverse but people are still racist
• '''It's a Jew's balloon", my best friend cried' - his friend, maybe also a Jew, understands how Abse feels about how he's treated. 
• He fights for his beliefs 'it would not burst', means that he stands strong to what he believes in.
• 'Laughed... cursed... lunged... clawed' - The welsh boys don't take traditions seriously and are violent and mock the persona's religion. 
• 'Bled my nose, cut my eye' - beliefs destroy him and hurt him, he gets attacked and beaten up because he won't give up and give them his balloon but also because he is a Jew.
• 'I don't know exactly why' - he doesn't understand why this is happening to him
• 'Brash boys return to insult my faith and steal my red balloon' - sums up Abse's point of view about the treatment of Jews and actions of the Welsh.