The Unknown Citizen Questions and Answers

The Unknown Citizen Questions and Answers

The Unknown Citizen by W.H.Auden

 

BROAD QUESTIONS- 10/15

1. Give a critical appreciation of the poem.

The Unknown Citizen, first published in the Listener on August 1939, and later included in the Collected Shorter Poems, 1950, is a satire, not on the citizen, but on the way in which the average man in the street is controlled by the conventions of bureaucracy and the Welfare State which ignore the need for a man to be free and happy.

In this poem Auden are not the only enemies of freedom. Human freedom is restricted in subtle ways in the so-called free capitalist states as well. The average modern man in a mercantile society is ridden heavily by the more of technocratic, bureaucratic and other regimented establishments.

The Unknown Citizen has no name; he has only a number, to whom the monument has been built and has been found to be without any fault. He was a saint not because he searched for God but because he served the government perfectly. He did not get dismissed from his job. He was a member of the Union and paid all his dues to the union. A report by the Union shows that it was a balance union and did not take extreme views on anything. The social psychology workers found that he was popular among his fellow workers and had a drink with them now and then. He also bought a newspaper every day. He reached to the advertisements normally.

He had good health and although he went to the hospital once, he came out quite cured. The citizen was sensible about buying things on an installment basis. He had everything a modern man needed at home. Moreover, this ideal citizen was found to be sensible in his view. When there was peace, he supported it. But when there was war, he was ready to fight. He didn’t hold his personal views on anything. He had the right number of children and he did not quarrel with the education they got.

Many European governments of that time resorted to dictatorship of some kind or another and the individualism of general citizen was at stake. The average citizen was made absolutely conformist. He had been distorted into a totally dictated harmless mechanism. Everything about him could be understood in some kind of statistical formula put out by the government or its agencies. He had surrendered his individuality and was often identified by a number rather than personality features which were of course common to all citizens. The poet now asks the important questions. Was this man free? Was he happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions.

The Unknown Citizen is a typical Auden’s poem in that it shows the poet’s profound concern for the modern world and its problems. A keen, intelligent observer of the contemporary scene, Auden was one of the first to realize that the totalitarian socialist state would be no Utopia and that man there would be reduced to the position of a cog in the wheel. A citizen will have no scope to develop his initiative or to assert his individuality. He will be made to conform to the State in all things. It is the picture of such a citizen, in a way similar to Eliot’s Hollow Men, which is ironically presented in the poem. Auden dramatizes his theme by showing the glaring disparity between the complete statistical information about the citizen compiled by the State and the sad inadequacy of the judgments made about him. The poet seems to say, statistics cannot sum up an individual and physical facts are inadequate to evaluate human happiness- for man does not live by bread alone.

In the phrase ‘The Unknown’ the word ‘unknown’ means ordinary, obscure. So the whole phrase means ‘those ordinary, obscure soldiers as citizens of the state who laid down their lives for defending their motherland wanted name and fame, but remained unknown. The title of Auden’s poem parodies this. Thus ‘The Unknown Citizen’ means the ordinary average citizen in the modern industrialized urban society. He has no individuality and identity. He has no desire for self-assertion. He likes to remain unknown.

At the end of the poem the poet asks two questions. Was he free? Was he happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions. By asking these questions, the poet is drawing our attention to the question of freedom and happiness. And ironically, the poet suggests that the modern man is slave to routine and he is incapable of understanding such concepts freedom and happiness. Therefore, such a question in this context would be ‘absurd’. Thus, this poem The Unknown Citizen is a bitter attack on modern societyits indifference towards individuality and identity. The only way for an individual to survive in a regimented society is to conform, obey and live in perpetual mental slavery. Such a creative is this unknown citizen’ who is utterly devoid of any urge for self-assertion. Such a modern man is a slave to the routine, is incapable of understanding such concepts as freedom and happiness.

The sub-title of the poem vividly shows that it is a memorial poem written for the occasion of the erection of a national monument by the state to the ideal citizen. The irony lies in here that this so called ideal citizen is a valueless, colorless entity, nothing more than the mechanical part of a highly mechanized society. He is made a representative of the mass society and had no distinctive qualities by which one could identify him. The poem is written in a clear and simple style and is free from obscure references.

During the 1920s and 30s, many American writers left the states to become expatriates overseas, particularly in Europe. Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, and F. Scott Fitzgerald are three famous examples. W.H. Auden, however, did the opposite. He was an

Englishman who moved back to “the colonies” in 1939, at the height of his creative powers. Auden wrote “The Unknown Citizen” while living in New York, and the poem gives evidence of his culture shock when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism.

As a poet, Auden is a chameleon capable of writing in many different forms and styles. He is considered a “modernist” writer, but his work is unlike that of any other poet of the past century. At a time when many poets were experimenting with obscure forms and new ways of using language, much of Auden’s poetry had more popular appeal. He was a master, for example, of the rhyming couplet, the simplest rhyme scheme in English. “The Unknown Citizen” is so accessible it almost sounds like an elaborate joke.

The poem is written in the voice of a fictional government bureaucrat someone who sits at a desk and shuffles papers all day whose decisions affect the lives of people he has never met. You could consider it a poetic version of George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, in that it concerns a Big Brother-like state that knows everything about its citizens except the things that really matter. But the poem doesn’t sound as pessimistic or tortured as either of these novels It uses good old-fashioned humor to protest the numbing effects of modern life. It’s not the most “intellectual” of Auden’s works, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful to read. “The Unknown Citizen” is proof that great poetry doesn’t have to take itself seriously all the time.

2. Is the poem a satire against the modern society? Elaborate.

The poem begins by describing a person referred to as, simply, “He.” We take this to be “The Unknown Citizen,” which makes sense, because his name isn’t known. The Bureau of Statistics has found that “no official complaint” has been made against him. If the Bureau of Statistics has information about the Unknown Citizen, then it probably has information about everyone, because, in a certain sense, the Unknown Citizen represents everyone. There are “reports on his conduct.” It appears the man was a saint. But not a saint likes St. Francis or Mother Teresa: those are “old-fashioned” saints, who performed miracles and helped feed the hungry and clothe the poor. While the speaker explains that the citizen “in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word… was a saint,” this assessment only comes from “reports on his conduct” gathered from the “Bureau of Statistics” not personal contact with the citizen. Rather than deliver a eulogy for the dead citizen, the speaker chooses to analyze the man’s behavior to see if it coincides with the state’s regulations. The Unknown Citizen works in a motorcar factory except for the period when he went to the War which his country fought. He himself has become a kind of machine and has lost his individuality altogether. Thus he has become a dehumanized figure, a mere number. He satisfied his employers but he is not a “scab” as he pays his “dues” regularly. Again this information is gathered through his Union reports and not through any personal interaction. The “Social Psychology” report shows that The Unknown Citizen is sociable. He likes to have a drink in the company of his friends and colleagues. The singular form “a drink” implies that he doesn’t drink too much and isn’t an alcoholic. He takes things in moderation. The Press people are convinced that he buys newspaper every day. “The Press,” or news media does not really care about the Unknown Citizen as a person; they’re just glad he seems to have bought a paper every day He has “normal” reactions to the advertisements in a paper. In short, he’s a good consumer. Now we are rifling through his health insurance policy, looking for any evidence that he wasn’t a totally straightedge, middle-of the-road personality. He was “fully insured,” which is sensible. Even though he had insurance, he only went to the hospital once, which means he wasn’t too much of a burden on the health system. He left the hospital “cured”.

“Producers Research” and “High-Grade Living”are fictitious organizations intended to help consumers know what stuff to buy. They have done a little research and learned that the Unknown Citizen used “installment plans” to buy expensive things. They declare that he is aware of “the advantages of the Installment Plan”. This is when you pay for something in small payments over a period of time. The Unknown .

Citizen has everything necessary to the Modern Man-a phonograph, a radio, a car and a refrigerator. Obviously, a person doesn’t need a phonograph, radio, car, and refrigerator in order to survive. But if you want to be a “Modern Man,” these things are absolutely “necessary.” Thus the readers get the impression the Unknown Citizen’s greatest accomplishment, in the opinion of the speaker, is buying things. The Unknown Citizen does not have any weird or “improper” opinions. He is a conformist, which means that he believes what the people around him seem to believe. From the perspective of the State, it’s good that he had so many children because a growing population usually helps a nation’s economy and also ensures that there are enough soldiers just in case a world war comes along. The Eugenist in this poem thinks he can direct the size of the population by telling people how many kids they should have. The Unknown Citizen was a good parent because he does not “interfere” with the education of his kids. In other words, their education was left up to the control of the State. The poem ends on a final, rhyming couplet that takes a big detour from the conventional topics that have occupied the speaker so far. Now he asks two questions “Was he free? Was he happy?” Though these

Questions are not interesting to the speaker, who calls it “absurd.” In the final line, the speaker explains why the question is absurd: if things had been going badly for the Unknown Citizen, the State would have known about it, seeing as they know everything. The speaker’s confidence in this line “we certainly should have” is downright chilling. But, of course, the big joke here is that the speaker defines happiness in the negative, as things not going wrong, instead of as things going right. From the perspective of the State, it is much more important that people are not desperately unhappy so they don’t rock the boat and stop buying things than it is that they experience personal fulfillment. The poem serves a critique on the state which knows its citizens only by letters and numbers. They evaluate their worth with statistics, making the citizens mere “dehumanized mathematical figures”. Such a dehumanized citizen may be ideal in the eyes of the State-normal, patriotic and dutiful- but he is totally devoid of his free

will and individuality. Thus the poem is a pungent satire against the modern civilization which has reduced human beings to a nameless and faceless machine or number.

3. How does W. H. Auden draw a pen picture of a sociallyregimented citizen in a materialistic Utopia of Modern Age in his poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’?

W. H. Auden is a sensitive citizen, a poet, lover of freedom and desires that every citizen should enjoy freedom. With his remarkable social and political awareness, he opposed totalitarianism which destroys the freedom of an individual by imposing too many controls on one’s freedom and reduces him to a mere ‘number’ on an identity card. According to him, modern society is like a goodly apple rotten at the core.

It is a mockery and irony that the state which is directly responsible for the dilution of individual freedom and appreciates the unknown citizen and makes him known, through a marble monument, to perpetuate his memory. The poet wonders that the monument might have been erected to commemorate his tolerance, even after losing his freedom under the controls of the state. Happiness and freedom for such citizens become words of no substance, and no significance. The actions of the state seem merely to mock these noble concepts.

Auden opens his poem ‘Unknown Citizen’ with reference to a citizen who is unknown. This ordinary citizen was remembered by a marble monument erected by the state in his honour. The bureau of statistics which is there to look after the citizens’ conduct and welfare, made no complaint against this particular citizen at any moment. All the reports on his conduct give him a clean chit. The old-fashioned word ‘saint’ can be used to regard him, although he belongs to the modern times.

Whatever he did, he did only for the benefit of the society. Auden certifies that he served the greater community till the day of his retirement. He worked sincerely in a factory where he was never found to be guilty and no one suspended him or dismissed him from

his job. He always satisfied his superiors and his employers. Auden sarcastically describes the company where he works is Fudge Motors Inc.

The citizens never refused to give their opinion of his co-workers, nor did he owe any dues to the trade union. He was as popular with his colleagues as he was with others. Like many ordinary individuals he enjoyed a drink now and then. The press was happy that he read a paper, daily. He never over-reacted to any advertisements. His insurance policies proved that he was fully covered by the insurance. The health card maintained in his name showed that he was healthy. He visited a hospital only once during his long years of service.

He enjoyed all comforts which a common man could afford. He had a gramophone, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire. Public opinion surveys revealed that his opinions about men and matters had nothing offensive. In peace, he enjoyed peace and in war, he went to war when he was called upon. Like many ordinary citizens, he was also married and had five children and at that time population experts considered that this was the right number for any parent. Teachers reported that he never interfered with his children’s education.

Auden concludes his poem very sarcastically saying that he may not ask the citizen a question that whether he was happy. The question, the poet feels, is absurd. If anything had happened wrong, it would certainly have been reported.

Thus, Auden represents through the character of the unknown citizen, modern man who is reduced to a part of a machine. He has no individuality. He accepted the views of the state, without any resistance. So the government was happy with him, but the citizens cannot be called happy in any true sense of the word, as the citizen never enjoyed the benefits of freedom. He lived like a slave without any opinion which could be called his own.

4. Comment on the concept of the standardization against individualism in the poem.

The Unknown Citizen “The Unknown Citizen” is a poem by W. H. Auden. Auden wrote it in 1939, shortly after moving from England to the United States, and the poem gives evidence of his culture shock when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism. It is an ironic poem and the poet intends his satire against a society which kills a person’s individuality.

The sub-title to the poem “To JS/07/M/378/ This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State” alludes to the concept enforced by the government that every human being must be classified by a alphanumeric tag to distinguish who they are, rather than being able to have their own personal identity. The poet scoffs at humans being given alpha-numeric names when they’re already struggling for their own personal identity in a world clustered with the advancing technology.

The Bureau of Statistics has found that “no official complaint” has been made against the unknown citizen. He is also described as a “modern” saint, which means that he always served the “Greater Community.” He worked in a factory before the war and he never got fired, as he satisfied his employers always. Now the poem shifts from his employment to his social life. Even in his socializing with his friends, the unknown citizen acts with a lot of moderation and restraint. He likes “a drink,” but he doesn’t drink too much and isn’t an alcoholic. Even the news media is convinced about the credentials of this citizen because he bought his newspaper every day. Moreover, he also had ‘normal’ reactions to advertisements in the newspapers. In short, he is a good American consumer.

The government’s statistical coverage on this citizen now turns to the insurance sector. He was fully insured, because he was not a risk-taker. And, even though he had insurance, he only went to the hospital once, which means he wasn’t too much of a burden on the health system. He left the hospital “cured”. Consumer statisticians like Producers Research and High-Grade Living have done a little research and learned that the unknown citizen used “installment plans” to buy expensive things. The phrase “fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan” is an ironic comment on the average citizen’s love for buying things and paying for them over a period of time. Auden seems to criticize the modern man’s concept of living wherein we always think we need more than we really do. In the opinion of the speaker, the following lines “He had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire”, we get the impression that the unknown citizen’s greatest accomplishment was buying things, which defines the modern man’s predicament.

The “researchers into Public Opinion” find him a conformist, which means that he believed what the people around him seemed to believe. He was like a weather vane, going whichever way the wind blew. The fact that “He was married and added five children to the population,” is a great achievement from the perspective of the State because a growing population usually helps a nation’s economy and also ensures that there are enough soldiers in case of a War. At the home front, the Bureau of Statistics finds him to be a good parent because he never interfered with the education of his kids which was a State-sponsored education.

The poet ends by asking two questions “Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.” This statement shows that even though the government knows each and every statistics and facts going on in one’s life, they don’t know the actual feelings or meaning to one’s life. In other words, from the perspective of the State, it is much more important that people are not unhappy, and it does not matter whether they experience personal fulfillment or not. Conclusion: In conclusion, the world today is constantly progressing to be more technology efficient but on the other side of the spectrum, humans are striving to have their own personal identities and to be different from one another. On the contrary, the “Unknown Citizen” is in fact just following the very typical, normal, and average life style instead of being different and striving for individualism. The poem is thus a satire of standardization at the expense of individualism.

5. Consider the poem as a loss of identity in the life of a modern man.

In the poem “The Unknown Citizen” Auden has very aptly described the life of a modern man, a faceless, assembly line produced entity and has also described modern society where any aberration to the rule is frowned upon. This poem is written in blank verse, the tool of modern poets which has no rhyme, no metre, to express their angst against society. Blank verse is a form of rebellion against the accepted norms of verse which were prevalent during the previous eras. The poet uses satire to caricature the life of “The citizen”, who is just a numerical on the population register. He is supposed to lead a life which is to be led by a million other beings. In fact, one can catch a glimpse of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier where the name of a person who has laid down his life for his country does not even merit a mention.

Auden has perfectly used this literary form to create a picture of the Orwellian society where Big Brother, i.e. the government keeps a tab on everything an individual does, right from his birth to his death. He is registered by a number, no name because a name would give him an identity. He is a record in the Bureau of Statistics His existence on earth is monitored by different government agencies. While reading the poem one gets a feeling of a communist/socialist society where each person’s contribution to larger good of the community is got be his/her only goal, where deviating from the beaten track shall be noted and maybe, punished. The citizen in question did whatever was expected of him and therefore in the “modern sense” was a saint. He did not create any trouble for anyone, did the right thing at the right time, he went to war when it was demanded of him and came back to work after the war. He did not use his opinion to influence anyone, not even himself. In fact he did not think at all. He fulfilled all the criteria that portray him as a successful man. His house had all the modern gadgets of that era, right from a radiogram to a refrigerator and yes, the right number of children too. So regulated was his life that he responded to advertisements in the correct manner. He went through life like a zombie and so the state rewards him with an epitaph. The

reader has a feeling of invasion of privacy by the state, which is very much a part of modern day life, whether we like it or not. It is, as if Auden had a premonition of what modern day life would be like. We, in the 21st century too, lead a similar life, though we hardly realize it. Nobody is bothered about an individual’s happiness; in fact the word is fast becoming synonymous with material acquisitions. He very rightly asks “Was he free? Was he happy?”, because these feelings have really become outdated.

The portrayal of an individual in today’s society by Auden is rather scary because we have become immune to all those feelings that were meant to set us apart as human beings, the best amongst God’s creations. We have all lost our identity and are, let’s face it, a part of a faceless crowd.

MARKS-5

1. Give a short summary of the poem.

We learn that the words we are about to read are written on a statue or monument dedicated to “The Unknown Citizen.” The poem consists of several different kinds of people and organizations weighing in on the character of our dear “Citizen.”

First, the not-so-friendly-sounding “Bureau of Statistics” says that “no official complaint” was ever made against him. More than that, the guy was a veritable saint, whose good deeds included serving in the army and not getting fired. He belonged to a union and paid his dues, and he liked to have a drink from time to time.

His list of stirring accomplishments goes on: he bought a newspaper and had normal reactions to advertisements. He went to the hospital once we don’t know what for and bought a few expensive appliances. He would go with the flow and held the same opinions as everyone else regarding peace and war. He had five kids, and we’re sure they were just lovely. In fact, the only thing the government doesn’t know about the guy is whether he was “free” and “happy,” two utterly insignificant, trivial little details. He couldn’t have been unhappy, though, because otherwise the government would have heard.

2. Give an analysis of the “office-life” and “the social-life” of the “unknown citizen”.

The Bureau of Statistics has found that “no official complaint” has been made against the unknown citizen. He is also described as a “modern” saint, which means that he always served the “Greater Community.” He worked in a factory before the war and he never got fired, as he satisfied his employers always.

Even in his socialising with his friends, the unknown citizen acts with a lot of moderation and restraint. He like “a drink,” but he doesn’t drink too much and isn’t an alcoholic.

Even the news media is convinced about the credentials of this citizen because he bought his newspaper every day. Moreover, he also had ‘normal’ reactions to advertisements in the newspapers. In short, he is a good American consumer.

3. Give an analysis of the “Insurance” and “Consumer Statistics” of the “unknown citizen”.

The government’s statistical coverage on this citizen now turns to the insurance sector. He was fully insured, because he was not a risk-taker. And, even though he had insurance, he only went to the hospital once, which means he wasn’t too much of a burden on the health system. He left the hospital “cured”.

Consumer statisticians like Producers Research and High-Grade Living have done a little research and learned that the unknown citizen used “installment plans” to buy expensive things. The phrase “fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan” is an ironic comment on the average citizen’s love for buying things and paying for them over a period of time.

aves Auden seems to criticise the modern man’s concept of living wherein we always think we need more than we really do. In the opinion of the speaker, the following lines” had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire”, we get the impression that the unknown citizen’s greatest accomplishment was buying things, which defines the modern man’s predicament.

4. Examine the “The Unknown Citizen” as a Conformist.

The “researchers into Public Opinion” find him a conformist, which means that he believed what the people around him seemed to believe. He was like a weather vane, going whichever way the wind blew.

The fact that “He was married and added five children to the population,” is a great achievement from the perspective of the State because a growing population usually helps a nation’s economy and also ensures that there are enough soldiers in case of a War. At the home front, the Bureau of Statistics finds him to be a good parent because he never interfered with the education of his kids which was a State-sponsored education.

5. Was “The Unknown Citizen” Free? Was he Happy?

The poet ends by asking two questions “Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.” This statement shows that even though the government knows each and every statistics and facts going on in one’s life, they don’t know the actual feelings or meaning to one’s life. In other words, from the perspective of the State, it is much more important that people are not unhappy, and it does not matter whether they experience personal fulfillment or not. Conclusion:

The world today is constantly progressing to be more technology efficient but on the other side of the spectrum, humans are striving to have their own personal identities and to be different from one another. On the contrary, the “Unknown Citizen” is in fact just following the very typical, normal, and average life style instead of being different and striving for individualism. The poem is thus a satire of standardization at the expense of individualism.

6. Comment on the parody of the title?

The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden is a satiric poem. It describes an average citizen in a government-controlled state. In many big cities, there is a monument to the Unknown Soldier that stands for the thousands of unknown soldiers who die for their country. The title of Auden’s poem parodies this.

The citizen to whom the monument has been built has been found to be without any fault. He was a saint not because he searched for God but because he served the government perfectly. He did not get dismissed from his job. He was a member of the Union and paid all his dues to the union. A report on the Union shows that it was a balance union and did not take extreme views on anything. The social psychology workers found that he was popular among his fellow workers and had a drink with them now and then. He also bought a newspaper every day. He reached to the advertisements normally.

He had good health and although he went to hospital once, he came out quite cured. The citizen was sensible about buying things on an instaliment basis. He had everything a modern man needed at home. Moreover, this ideal citizen was found to be sensible in his view. When there was peace, he supported it. But when there was war, he was ready to fight. He didn’t hold his personal views on anything. He had the right number of children and he did not quarrel with the education they got. The poet now asks the important questions. Was this man ree? Was he happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions.

7. How can you consider this as a typical poem?

‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a typical Auden’s poem in that it shows the poet’s profound concern for the modern world and its problems. A keen intelligent observer of the contemporary scene, Auden was one of the first to realize that the totalitarian socialist state would be no Utopia and that man there would be reduced to the position of a cog in the wheel. A citizen will have no scope to develop his initiative or to assert his individuality. He will be made to conform to the State in all things. It is the picture of such a citizen, in a way similar to Eliot’s Hollow Man, which is ironically presented in the poem. Auden dramatizes his theme by showing the glaring disparity between the

complete statistical information about the citizen compiled by the State and the sad inadequacy of the judgments made about him. The poet seems to say, statistics cannot sum up an individual and physical facts are inadequate to evaluate human happiness- for man does not live by bread alone.

8. What does the phrase “The Unknown Citizen” means here in this story?

In the phrase ‘The Unknown’ the word ‘unknown’ means ordinary, obscure. So the whole phrase means ‘those ordinary, obscure soldiers as citizens of the state who laid down their lives for defending their motherland wanted name and fame, but remained unknown. The title of Auden’s poem parodies this. Thus ‘The Unknown Citizen’ means the ordinary average citizen in the modern industrialized urban society. He has no individuality and identity. He has no desire for self-assertion. He likes to remain unknown.

9. What are the two questions justified at the end of the poem?

At the end of the poem the poet asks two questions. Was he free? Was he happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions. By asking these questions, the poet is drawing our attention to the question of freedom and happiness. And ironically, the poet suggests that the modern man is slaver to routine and he is incapable of understanding such concepts freedom and happiness. Therefore, such a question in this context would be ‘absurd’. Thus, this poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a bitter attack on modern societyits indifference towards individuality and identity. The only way for an individual to survive in a regimented society is to conform, obey and live in perpetual mental slavery. Such a creative is this unknown citizen’ who is utterly devoid of any urge for self-assertion. Such a modern man is a slave to the routine, is incapable of understanding such concepts as freedom and happiness.

10. Consider W. H. Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen” as a satirical poem.

W. H. Auden, (1907-1973), a major poet of the modern period, is typically modern in his choice of subject, technique and articulation. Like T.S. Eliot he represents the dreadful picture of a modern spiritual ice-age in his poetry in his perspectives of history, theology and philosophy. Using the desolate and rocky background of Post-War Europe of 1930’s he delineates the rise of dictatorship, the exploitation of the poor and under privileged, economic disparity, spiritual bankruptcy, anxiety and boredom of modern life. Thus his real subject for Poetry is man and his day-to-day activity, and nature is merely cinematic setting for that activity. It is quite an anti-romantic approach to life and sometimes tragic in vision.

Auden in his poems often introspects the human element engaged in human activity. And his men often do stand amidst the bleak atmosphere of modern society. The Unknown Citizen is such a story of modern man finds himself nowhere and leads a life of anonymity. The ironic title attacks the very snobbery of our social identity mischievously polarized by economic, commercial and ideological pressure groups. The entire poem and its language look like a compilation of detailed facts about the average man written in the flat matter of fact tone of a report. The overall aim of this scheme is to promote experimentation and innovation of our identity, and to complement in diverse ways the goals spelt out in the individuality and freedom for creating environmental consciousness and related behavioral practices among citizens of this world.

11. Comment on the publication of the poem.

The Unknown Citizen was written in 1939, shortly after moving from England to the United States. It was first published in 1939 in The New Yorker, and first appeared in book form in Auden’s collection Another Time (1940). Twentieth century Western authors and poets have often examined the alienation and silence of modern life and the loss of personal identity and autonomy, accelerated by the

advent of technology. Sometimes these works, particularly novels and films, project the loss of a total civilization and political system that leaves individuals helpless. W. H. Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen is less dramatic but no less telling about the path of the twentieth century, particularly after the introduction of computer-age technology.

12. Examine this as a satirical poem in short.

The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden is a satiric poem. It describes an average citizen in a government-controlled state. In many big cities, there is a monument to the Unknown Soldier that stands for the thousands of unknown soldiers who die for their country. The title of Auden’s poem parodies this. The citizen to whom the monument has been built has been found to be without any fault. He was a saint not because he searched for God but because he served the government perfectly. He did not get dismissed from his job. He was a member of the Union and paid all his dues to the union. A report on the Union shows that it was a balance union and did not take extreme views on anything. The social psychology workers found that he was popular among his fellow workers and had a drink with them now and then. He also bought a newspaper every day. He reached to the advertisements normally.

13. Comment on the title of the poem.

The title implies that the speaker knows nothing about the person spoken about since the person is unknown. Unknown implies lack of knowledge about all facets of the citizen, which includes identity and identifying factors such as behavior, occupation, and family.

When the speaker references an insurance policy in the name of the person being described, it means that the speaker knows factual information about said person; a name can’t be made up. If the speaker actually knows the name of the person being described in this poem, it sets up a paradox with the title since the title implies that the speaker knows nothing about this person, especially not his name.

The last line of the poem serves to explain the paradox. As the

reader reaches the end of the poem they are troubled with the idea that the title of the poem implies that nothing is known of the person while the actual content of the poem serves to describe every facet of the life of this “unknown” man. What this last line does is present this idea that “we,” the government, would know if something was wrong with this man, so even if we don’t know who he is, we know what he was like because we know nothing was wrong with him. To a government, nothing wrong with someone implies that this person was the ideal member of society; someone who fits every idea the government has of its citizens. Therefore, if a government doesn’t know who someone is, it means that they actually know everything about that person.

14. What intention of the use of the capitalization of the poet in the middle of the lines signifies?

The capitalization in the middle of the lines in the three quotes above emphasizes what is important to the government and what can be known about people without actually knowing who they are. The words “War,” “Public Opinion,” and “Eugenist” are the words capitalized mid sentence in the above three quotes. During the mid 1900’s, which would be around the time this poem. was being writing since Auden was born in 1907 and died in 1973, war was a major issue. World War II had just ended and the Vietnam War was just starting up during the mid 1900s; these were both major issues and the government needed people to join the war effort. To the government, the ideal citizen supported the war when the government did. The capitalization of “War” emphasizes the importance of war in the time period and how the government can tell that this unknown person supports the war effort. The capitalization of “Public Opinion” emphasizes the close monitoring of the public opinion and how you can’t disagree with public opinion without showing up on the radar of the government. . Lastly, the capitalization of “Eugenist” hints at the fact that the baby boom was going on and there were people keeping track of breeding patterns. At the time of the baby boom it was normal to have many children and this poem highlights just that. The speaker takes that

stance that it is safe to assume that this “unknown” person has many children simply based on the fact that they are unknown and thus do not deviate from the norm. The capitalization of certain words midline highlights the important issues at the time this poem was written and the issues that the government feels they can generalize for people that are unknown.

MARKS 2

1. What is the structure of the poem?

‘The Unknown Citizen’ by W.H. Auden is a 32 lines poem that utilizes a number of different rhyming patterns. The poem contains examples of both skillfully written rhyming couplets and seemingly pattern less portions of verse that are variable in their end rhymes. It is impossible to escape the lighthearted nature with which intense subject matter is being tackled in the poem.

2. Give a short introduction to the poem.

“The Unknown Citizen” is a poem by W. H. Auden. Auden wrote it in 1939, shortly after moving from England to the United States, and the poem gives evidence of his culture shock when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism. It is an ironic poem and the poet intends his satire against a society which kills a person’s individuality.

3. What is the significance of the sub-title of the poem?

The sub-title to the poem “To JS/07/M/378/ This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State” alludes to the concept enforced by the government that every human being must be classified by a alphanumeric tag to distinguish who they are, rather than being able to have their own personal identity. The poet scoffs at humans being given alpha-numeric names when they’re already struggling for their own personal identity in a world clustered with the advancing technology.

4. Is there any name mentioned in the poem?

This is poem is referred to an “Unknown Citizen” whose name has not been mentioned.

5. Comment on the popularity of the poem.

“The Unknown Citizen” is a great poem to read in an election year because so many American politicians that run for office, no matter how interesting and extraordinary they might be, pretend to be the equivalent of the “The Unknown Citizen”, who is sensible, good worker and consumer, with no major vices or strange opinions, and happily-married with bright, smiling kids.

6. How does the poem begin?

The poem begins with an epigraph, pretending to be an official celebration of a dead person: the Unknown Citizen. The words are inscribed on a “marble monument” that was paid for by the State, or government.

7. Note the diverse groups of organizations and people mentioned in the poem.

The poem consists of several different kinds of people and organizations who have carried out their investigations regarding character and other details of the Unknown citizen and have given their report. So there are many lines proving that various details have been collected describing his personality. They are giving their opinions in such a way which seems to backhanded compliment.

8. What is the report of the “Bureau of Statistics” and why it is called unfriendly?

So, the not-so-friendly-sounding “Bureau of Statistics” says that “no official complaint” was ever made against him. More than that, the guy was a veritable saint, whose good deeds included serving in the army and not getting fired. He belonged to a union and paid all his dues, was friendly with friends and colleagues and he liked to have a drink from time to time with them.

9. What does the report about him says?

Then the report says that he went to the hospital once we don’t know what for but came out cured. He bought a few expensive household appliances which show that he was a good house-keeper. He would go with the flow and held the same opinions as everyone else regarding peace and war. He had five kids so he contributed to nation’s economy.

10. What was practically unknown to the government?

In fact, the only thing the government doesn’t know about the guy is whether he was “free” and “happy”, two utterly insignificant, trivial little details. He couldn’t have been unhappy, though, because otherwise the government would have heard.

11. Is this War Poetry?

Auden is famous for his war poetry which makes him a distinct poet among all other global poets. He was an English poet who moved back to America in 1939, a time when he reached the fame of English poet. He wrote The Unknown Citizen by living in New York, giving his evidences of cultural shock which he experienced when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism.

12. In what voice is the poem written?

The poem is written in the voice of a fictional government bureaucrat someone who sits at a desk and shuffles papers all day whose decisions affect the lives of people he has never met..

13. Note the irony used in the poem.

The irony Auden uses in “The Unknown Citizen” is indirectly suggested. Throughout the poem the unnamed man is described as a “saint”. This word choice reveals to the reader that he is a man that could not do any harm. The unnamed man was only admired by what he had accomplished in life according to the worlds standards.

14. What is the versification of the poem?

Auden uses irregular rhyme in this free verse poem to prove the inconsistent feelings the unnamed man has with society: “Perhaps the Unknown Citizen is not in exact harmony with the state, as the statistics suggest”. The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in successive words created a rhyme. However, the lines in the poem were organized without meter.

15. What does the reader thinks about the unnamed man?

While reading the poem the reader thinks that the unnamed man is living his life to the fullest with everything he desires, but the last two questions make the reader doubtful. At the end of the poem Auden rhymes only a few lines at a time to through off the reader.

16. Can you consider the poet as a model citizen?

He was a modelled citizen who not only did what society thought was best, he did what he needed to do to create a good life for his family. The way he lived his life was exactly how he wanted it to be. He worked hard to live up to the American Dream.

17. Had the modern materialistic success in life?

He had modern materialistic that symbolized success: “A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire”. He took advantage of the necessities available and was admired for it because he did what everyone else wanted to do at that time, live the America Dream.

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