Unknown Citizen By W.H. Auden example essay topic

The Unknown Citizen "The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen's life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the socially accepted values and actions instilled in society by materialistic views. This makes the government appear unconcerned with the true thoughts and feelings of its people, seeing them only as statistics. We can see this in the subtitle "To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State".

The citizen is being referred to by a number rather than a name. Auden was very wise in choosing a title for this poem. The Unknown Citizen represents the common man, singular in his desires and attitudes, respected for the same reasons. He is unknown in the sense that his government and perhaps his peers were unaware of his true emotions and ideals, only looking at his exterior image as he did what he believed he was suppose to do. In the inscription the speaker portrays that the citizen lived a worthwhile and happy life, basing this assumption on reports and facts gathered from sources such as the Bureau of Statistics, the Press, and other government agencies. For the most part, the citizen is praised for following the accepted pattern of conduct in his day, from fighting in the War to being a hard worker and loyal union member to using a credit card.

And if he hadn't lived like this he wouldn't have had his phonograph, radio, car, and frigidaire. However, it was also this conduct that turned him into a follower, unable to make decisions for himself. This is shown in lines 23 and 24 when the speaker says, "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 even had five children, which was the right number for a parent in his generation".

He did everything by the book just like everyone else of this time. In the final lines of the poem Auden uses irony to show the government's role in creating a certain society. In Auden's eyes the government considers a working-class income, good credit, and a sense of national loyalty and social duties to be the only things necessary to make one's life complete. He seems to feel that, by insisting on material wealth, society has given government an opportunity to control its actions by creating a world in which a "desirable" lifestyle can only be obtained by adhering to a strict set of ideals and philosophies.

The poem can also be viewed as a spoof on certain aspects of the typical middle-class lifestyle. It mocks what many feel are necessities of modern life and points out man's lack of true feeling for himself and others. But, most importantly, it paints a picture of a world in which people are willing to give up their personal dreams, opinions, and beliefs in exchange for material possessions. I think this poem is about how people can know you casually, but not personally. For example, everything that they knew about the man in the poem, they knew from facts, receipts and records. They didn't know if he was happy, depressed, romantic, abusive, etc.

They didn't know anything about him inside. It just makes me think about how many unknown citizens are in our own lives. How many people do we think we know? We can name off facts, where they live, how old they are, etc., but how much do we actually know?

Do we know what people actually go through or have gone through in life? Or are we ourselves an unknown citizen, allowing people only to know facts, rather than feelings or emotions. In conclusion I think "The Unknown Citizen" is an ironic poem with a sarcastic tone about "The Average Joe" and his ordinary life. The things he did were so unimportant that he was easily forgotten. The poem suggests that you should do something extraordinary with your life or else you will be forgotten like the "Unknown Citizen.".