The unknown citizen explanation. W. H. Auden: Poems âThe Unknown Citizenâ Summary and Analysis 2022-10-03
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The "Unknown Citizen" is a poem written by W.H. Auden in the 1940s. The poem is written in the form of a eulogy, or a speech given in honor of a deceased person. However, the twist is that the person being honored is not a real person at all, but rather an idealized version of a "good citizen" as imagined by the government.
The poem begins by describing the Unknown Citizen as a man who "was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be one against whom there was no official complaint." In other words, the government has no record of any wrongdoing or misconduct on the part of this individual. He is described as a "model" citizen who "paid his taxes and obeyed the law." He is also said to have "worked in his job" and "never got married."
However, as the poem progresses, it becomes clear that the Unknown Citizen is not a fully fleshed-out human being, but rather a simplified and idealized version of a good citizen as imagined by the government. The poem describes him as a "saintly figure," and notes that he "never got involved in politics" and "never bothered with the press." He is also said to have "never been in a riot" and "never marched to protest."
The poem ends with the lines: "Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: / Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard." These lines suggest that the government sees the Unknown Citizen as a perfect, flawless individual who can be held up as an example for others to follow. However, the poem also implies that this idealized version of the Unknown Citizen is not a fully human being, as he has no flaws or weaknesses, and has not experienced any of the struggles or challenges that real people encounter.
Overall, the "Unknown Citizen" can be seen as a commentary on the way that governments and societies often try to simplify and idealize their citizens, reducing them to a set of predetermined roles and expectations. The poem suggests that this kind of reductionism is dehumanizing and ultimately unsatisfying, as it ignores the complexity and individuality of real human beings.
The Unknown Citizen Explication
He was fully insured. In this, it becomes clear to the reader that you do not want to be an average citizen; you do not want this to be your elegy. I am a free man! He had health insurance and a normal illness. This further points to the fact that he was just another number, and not a human with body and soul. Society puts both men and women under pressure to fit the image of perfection, yet when a person does achieve this so called perfection, others ridicule them for succumbing to peer pressure. I believe that this is a poem about how the modern world has served to dehumanize people. The citizen served the community up until the day he died.
It does not appear on paper that he did anything wrong or out of place. Next Section "In Memory of W. The speaker says that the man's freedom and happiness and other feelings are not important. George Orwell wants the reader to analyze the abuses of power seen today. Aside from this large allegory, the poem uses only a few rhetorical devices. For example, Auden uses rhyming lines, but he varies the rhyme so that the reader is just slightly off-balance. Surely, he could faultlessly identify the binomial nomenclature of the adder's tongue, but its symbolic resonance remains out of reach.
No one stepped forward, during their investigation, to say that he had done some wrong. These aspects that the state tracks are supplied by various institutions that supposedly tell who an individual citizen is: the Bureau of Statistics, the War Department now the Defense Department , the corporate employer, the union, the psychologists, the media, the insurance company, the product and public opinion researchers, the population experts, and the educators. He advocates for an overthrowing of authoritarian leaders, but he also advocates for a moderate use of that newly gained power. This nondescript citizen has never been dismissed from job for disobedience or delinquency. The author uses imagery, metaphors, and rhyme scheme to add to the poems meaning.
He subscribed to his local paper and bought the products advertised in it, as the paper and advertisers expected. Some lines even resemble the simplistic and song-like style of nursery rhymes. . In my opinion, the last two lines of the poem serve to point out quite explicitly the theme of the poem. In the end, both worlds are identical, filled with abuses of power, propaganda, and disregard of previously held values. In the story, the author seems to be telling a tale of the horrors of socialism and putting everyone on the same level, but the author is giving a humorous portrayal of socialist society to show that fears of socialism are ridiculous.
Through a set of numbers! He is married, but his wife stays in the dark; no one knows her name. Formerly, citizens may have had iceboxes for food, which looked similar to modern refrigerators, but which used daily delivered ice for food storage. Werner 05 March 2012 The Unknown Citizen By W. It seems that being a saint simply requires statistical obedience, according to official reports, and serving "the Greater Community. Auden Several conflicts are dramatized in The Unknown Citizen, the most prominent being: conformity of the middle class, government manipulation, and the loss of individualism to the standards of an average citizen. ALSO READ Of Studies - Francis Bacon - Complete Explanation Yet nobody knows his name; he is an anonymous entity. Interestingly, and ironically, the speaker himself is also unknown.
These sometimes use the same number of syllables, but they are not heroic coupletsâno, they are not in iambic pentameterâthey are often 11 or 13 syllables long, or of differing lengths. This feeling makes the poem eerie and prescient; one often thinks of the dystopian, totalitarian states found in the writings of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley or the data-driven surveillance state of today. To begin with, our advanced technology has reached such an extent that it is very straightforward for the government to figure out everything about us from our past including, our previous vacation, were we live, where we attended school or even last time we made a purchase through our debit or credit. He was well-liked by his friends, social enough to be normal, and dedicated to his work. In America, where he lived for much of the rest of his life with his long-time partner Chester Kallman, Auden collaborated with composers on a range of musicals and continued to write poetry, but 90% of his best work belongs to the 1930s, the decade with which is most associated. Auden conjures up an imaginary administrative monster â the Bureau of Statistics â that does the statistics collection, and collation job remorselessly, like a heartless robot. The last two lines point out that this is what happened.
W. H. Auden: Poems âThe Unknown Citizenâ Summary and Analysis
This tradition reached its peak during the First World War, supposedly the war to end all warsâbut now it was happening again. He had, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. He lives only in the reports of government agencies and businesses' files about him. Auden completes the poem masterfully by leaving two questions on the monumentâ questions that any reader would beg after such an elegy. We must consider the darker underbelly of society as every aspect of this group of individuals has a derogatory secret hidden under its happy facade. Often anthologized and read by students in high school and college, it is renowned for its wit and irony in complaining about the stultifying and anonymous qualities of bureaucratic, semi-socialist Western societies. The last date is today's date â the date you are citing the material.
A Short Analysis of W. H. Audenâs âThe Unknown Citizenâ
Consistent or not, this rhyme does create a sort of melodious sound while reading. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. He served his community, he held a job, he paid union dues, he did not hold radical views, he reacted normally to advertisements, he had insurance, he possessed the right material goods, he had proper opinions about current events, and he married and had the right amount of children. Some critics argue this, however, as Auden stating that there is nothing disgraceful in being unknown. As it seeks to reduce all individuals to an identification number and a census figure, it is almost laughable that such a wide ranging external body could actually "know" whether its people are free or happy.
What is the meaning of the last two lines of Auden's "The Unknown Citizen?"
See eNotes Ad-Free Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Auden's poem suggests extreme cynicism that the government really cares about its soldiers, or indeed any of its citizens, wanting only for citizens to serve their allotted role in life. In this, it becomes clear to the reader that you do not want to be an average citizen; you do not want this to be your elegy. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. The meter is loosely anapestic, meaning that each metrical foot consists of two unstressed beats followed by a stressed beat.
