Dannie Abse Red Balloon

The poem is about a child who owns a red balloon that the other children dislike and want to destroy. You can infer this as being a reference to Abse's religion, with others being prejudice towards Jew's. However, towards the end of the poem, we see the boy being proud of his possession even when the other boys have beaten him. This could suggest that Abse has suffered for his religion but is still proud to be apart of it. 

'It was my shame, it was my joy' suggests that even though he loves his religion, it brings him despair and the use of the oxymoron could suggest that he likes being different although he doesn't fit in. The line 'it would not burst' suggests that Abse fights for his religion and will not give up easily. To back this idea up further, the lines 'give up'...'I don't know exactly why' shows that he doesn't know why he should just give in to the boys threats and violence.