The Unknown Citizen Essay

W.H. Auden’s allegorical poem, “The Unknown Citizen,” chronicles the life of an anonymous, average man who is ironically declared a saint by the government of his nation. Throughout the poem the main character of the poem is praised for acts of normalcy by various agencies and groups, most likely created by the State, that has thoroughly investigated into his life. The unknown citizen’s conformity and active participation in following the will of the State are glorified, and eventually, he passes away without a complaint. While the poem is rather simple on the surface, the theme that is conveyed through the text reveals that it is anything but. During the onset of the Second World War, unlike most of the writers of his time period who set off

The tone of the poem is rather subdued and depersonalized, creating a feeling of detachment and superficial admiration. Auden characterizes the citizen by stating that he “wasn’t a scab or odd in his views” (Auden 10). This litote, a passive declaration, clearly indicates that he was completely normal, that the unknown citizen believed what the State believed to be the best. However, by using such an understatement and thus creating hesitation, the audience is aware that the State, which is the speaker of the poem, does not know much about the citizen, making the praise poem essentially worthless. In addition, the poem reduces what is considered sacred and passionate into numbers and statistics. The speaker mentions that “[h]e was married and added five children to the population,/ Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation” (Auden 29-31). A child’s birth, usually a celebrated and miraculous event, becomes merely part of an effort to fulfill what the government has dictated to be correct. Furthermore, though there is no clear rhyme pattern, several lines of the poem do have rhymes. End rhymes in lines such as “Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:/ Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard” create a whimsical atmosphere, suggesting that the poem should not be taken seriously (Auden 34-35). Moreover, the fact that the government or State of the poem is speaking the last two lines is rather ironic because by the end of the poem, it is clear that the unknown citizen would never have voiced his opinions in the first place, either due to government control or due to fear of breaking from conformity. The unknown citizen is deemed a “saint” which serves as an overstatement as well as a metaphor (Auden 5). It is revealed that, although he was claimed to be a saint, his