W.H. Auden’s The Unknown Citizen is a poem that takes the reader through the life of an ordinary man and what happens to him in the end. Auden focuses on how the problems that this man faces are not uncommon ones, but they are still significant enough to make him feel as though his life was wasted by the time he died.
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The unknown citizen [Basis Information]
Summary of the Poem "The Unknown Citizen" by W. H. Auden
The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden is a satiric elegy. 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 for 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 was not 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 balanced union that 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 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 views. When there was peace, he supported it. But when there was war, he was ready to fight.
He didn’t hold 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 free? Was he happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions.
The unknown citizen [analysis]
"The Unknown Citizen" is a poem written by W.H. Auden that addresses the idea of government and society's tendency to view individuals as faceless members of a larger group rather than as unique individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, and desires.
The poem is written in the form of an epitaph for a man who is referred to only as "the unknown citizen." Despite the man's anonymity, the government has compiled a file on him that outlines his various "civic duties," such as paying his taxes and not causing any trouble. The poem suggests that the man's life was reduced to a series of statistics and data points and that his worth as a citizen was determined solely by his ability to conform to society's expectations. The speaker of the poem reflects on the fact that the man was "a good citizen" according to the government's standards, but wonders if the man ever had any personal aspirations or dreams. The poem ultimately suggests that the man's life and identity were overlooked and ignored by government and society, and that he was reduced to a mere "unknown citizen."
The unknown citizen [Original Poem]
The Unknown Citizen
W. H. Auden - 1907-1973
(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
The Unknown Citizen [Question Answer]
If you are looking for questions and answers from the poem "The Unknown Citizen," you can find them below. These questions and answers will help you understand the poem better.
What is the message of the poem "The Unknown Citizen"?
The message of the poem is that a person can never be free to live on his or her own because he/she is always surveilled by various government organizations.
How many children did the Unknown Citizen have?
The Unknown Citizen had five children.
Why did The Unknown Citizen never get fired?
The Unknown Citizen never got fired because he was the one against whom there was no official complaint and he satisfied his employers.
What does "The Unknown Citizen" symbolize?
The Unknown Citizen symbolizes an average man’s life in a government controlled situation. It symbolizes that a person’s personal interests are mere pretexts for the state's interests.
What is the significance of the title of the poem, "The Unknown Citizen"?
The Unknown Citizen signifies that an average person’s life is deemed insignificant in the modern industrialized world, where his or her personal interests are insignificant in front of the state.
What is the theme of "The Unknown Citizen"? [Very short answer]
The theme of the poem "The Unknown Citizen" is the loss of identity.
What is the theme of "The Unknown Citizen"?
Auden's unknown citizen is a model of conformity in a society where everyone must follow the rules if things are to run smoothly. He does all the right things. The government can produce reports to show that he did all the right things.
What is the message of the poem, "Unknown Citizen"?
In the satirical poem, "The Unknown Citizen," by W.H. Auden, the central message is that the government can look at a man's life and, from their eyes, it can be a fulfilling one, but in reality, a man's life is so much more than that.
How does the poem The Unknown Citizen satirize the lack of individuality of moderns?
It reveals a satirical portrait of an unknown citizen, a citizen who represents the average man and his lack of personal identity within modern society. Dehumanizing institutions as well as complacency on the part of the citizenry are to blame for the lack of individuality.
What is the conflict in The Unknown Citizen?
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.
Why is "The Unknown Citizen" satire?
The poem is a satire on standardization at the expense of individualism. The poem is implicitly the work of a government agency at some point in the future, when modern bureaucratizing trends have reached the point where citizens are known by arbitrary numbers and letters and not personal names.
How many times was the unknown citizen hospitalized?
The health card of the unknown citizen showed that he had been hospitalized only once in his lifetime. He had left the hospital after getting his disease completely cured.
Why was the monument built in memory of the unknown citizen?
The monument being erected for the Unknown Citizen is probably similar to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other monuments praising those who have fallen and died in the line of duty. It should be a tribute to those who fell but could not be identified by name.
Why was "The Unknown Citizen" written?
The Unknown Citizen is both satirical and disturbing, written by Auden to highlight the role of the individual and the increasingly faceless bureaucracy that can arise in any country, with any type of government, be it left- or right-wing.