Unknown Citizen - 1356 Words

Themes of W.H. Audens The Unknown Citizen Conformity and Anonymity in the Modern World Social Security Number? Birth date? Nine digit telephone number starting with area code? Mothers Maiden Name? In many ways, we are simply faceless numbers to modern society, not individuals with feelings and emotions and dreams. W.H. Auden, a well-known English poet and dramatist, discusses this important theme in his poem An Unknown Soldier. Auden, being a modernist, is concerned with this modern idea of people losing their identities in the face of the changing, technological world. In the poem An Unknown Soldier, Auden speaks of the dangers of modern society to the individual including anonymity, conformity, and government control. The†¦show more content†¦Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong we should certainly have heard (Auden).† This question is still being asked today, the only difference now is that there is no doubt whether or not the opinions of the masses are being heard. The question remaining is whether or not the government is actually listening to the people. This poem also expresses that government makes it seem that every one else is doing the â€Å"right thing†, so you must follow in their footsteps and if you do so your reward is a happy and fulfilled life with all the comforts of the modern man. The standards are constantly changing so that you will never reach the optimum point, therefore you must always strive to improve. This can be seen in the 2000 Presidential Race. We the people have followed the same uniform procedures in determining our presidents since the founding of our country, yet we are now being told these standards are â€Å"outdated† and â€Å"unreliable†, which in turns breaks down our faith and the faith of other countries in our political system. Auden expresses a similar opinion in his poem. He presents the idea of the good society, at best a possibility, yet never actually achievable, but one in which we the people must always work towards. As citizens, we know the obligations of our citizenship, however it often times is the officials we tend to elect that forget their obligations to us. Is this idea not clearly being seen currently in the attempt to electShow MoreRelatedThe Unknown Citizen Explication Essay999 Words   |  4 PagesWerner 05 March 2012 The Unknown Citizen By W. H. 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. The speaker of this poem is non-traditional as the poem is, in fact, an inscription on a â€Å"marble monument erected by the State.† The inscription is dedicated to a â€Å"JS/07 M 378†Ã¢â‚¬â€presumably, â€Å"The Unknown Citizen,† although this term onlyRead More The Unknown CItizen by W.H. Auden Essay731 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"The Unknown Citizen†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"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 sociallyRead MoreWystan Hugh Audens The Unknown Citizen1633 Words   |  7 Pagesand socially, garnering the attention of its citizens as well as the attention of citizens of other foreign countries. One of those individuals was renowned English poet, Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H Auden). Born in York, England in 1907, he moved to the United States in 1939 shortly before the start of World War 2 and became an American citizen (â€Å"Auden†, pars. 1, 16). Not long after his initial move, A uden wrote and published his poem â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†   while living in New York city. Unlike the scholarlyRead MoreThe Unknown Citizen Essay525 Words   |  3 PagesThe Unknown Citizen In The Unknown Citizen, Auden is implying that people are statistics and easily conformed to the normality of society. Throughout the poem, Auden portrays the character as being an all around normal citizen and one against whom there was no official complaint. In lines 4 and 5, the speaker describes the character as a saint and for in everything he did he served the Greater Community. He served in war, never got fired from his job, popular with his mates, andRead MorePoem Analysis: The Unknown Citizen Essay977 Words   |  4 Pagesthose who actually never do anything. However, the Unknown Citizen has a monument built as a symbol of his perfection. Thus, Audens The Unknown Citizen shows how the government makes each individual merely a number unless they do not conform to societys norms. The monument of the unknown citizen is erected not to honor the memory of a man, but to show how he is the perfect example of a good citizen (Auden). In this poem, the citizen is just an average person who never stands out amongRead More The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden Essay815 Words   |  4 PagesThe Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden The Poem â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W.H. Auden is a satire. Its narrator is the state. In this, the state pays tribute and describes a successful and positive product of its efficiency and effectiveness. In other words, it builds the character later described to the reader as â€Å"the perfect citizen.† The narrator speaks as if he is delivering a speech or common tribute using words and phrases that are familiar to the reader. Using such imagery Read MoreAn Analysis Of The Unknown Citizen By F. H. Auden2316 Words   |  10 Pagesto them without any complaints. Each of the three literary writings has a character that is considered rebellious within the norms of society. A rebellious person is someone who does not follow the rules that are given to them. The poem â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W. H. Auden is mainly about an unnamed man who is a conformist, because he listens to all the rules that are made for the society. On the other hand, the short story â€Å"A P† by John Updike and the play â€Å"Antigone† by Sophocles there is a conformistRead MoreAudens The Unknown Citizen and Michies Dooley is a Traitor983 Words   |  4 Pagesas symbolic characters, symbolism, and irony, to simplify the understanding of who this â€Å"satirical target† is. In â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W. H. Auden and James Michie’s â€Å"Dooley Is a Traitor,† symbolic characters, symbolism, and irony are all used to indirectly criticize the target of each satirical work. In â€Å"The Unknown Citizen,† Auden is criticizing the way average citizens live their daily life. In this satire, JS/07/M/378 is dead and is being praised by the state in a eulogy. In a typical eulogyRead More Analysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden Essay examples1464 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, written by W.H. Auden during 1940, is a poem where the speaker, a representative of the state or government, directs a speech to the audience about a monument being erected for a citizen. Written in free verse, although using many couplets, this poem is a poem that describes the life of a certain person through his records and documents. This citizen is portrayed as a normal and average human being who is being honouredRead MoreThe Unknown Citizen By F. H. Auden, A P2256 Words   |  10 PagesIn the three literary works that were chosen, â€Å"The Known Citizen† by W. H. Auden, â€Å"A P† by John Updike, and â€Å"Antigone† by Sophocles has a theme that is known to be conformity and rebellious. The poem â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† is mainly about the unknown man who is a conformist because he listens to all the rules that are made for the society. On the other hand, the short story â€Å"A P† has a conformist character who enforces the rules for the supermarket and a rebellious character who goes against the