"Waiting for the Barbarians" (poem)

"Waiting for the Barbarians" by C.P. Cavafy explores the theme of societal fear and the human tendency to project threats onto outsiders. The poem depicts a city awaiting the arrival of “barbarians,” symbolizing an external threat or change. When they don’t come, the city’s leaders and citizens, uncertain and frightened, declare the “barbarians” are the enemies and prepare for conflict. Ultimately, the poem suggests that the and the oppressive order may be maintained through fear itself, as the absence of real enemies leads people to invent threats, revealing how power and control depend on collective anxieties rather than actual danger.