W. H Auden: The Unknown Citizen

The marble monument erected by the give tongue to or town is usu eachy of a hometown hero. The mortal is al about always soul who did well for the countrified and originated from a certain town. The statue is almost neer of someone who is just an ordinary domain living manners just like everyone else around him. This man is the warning citizen one who never ca utilizes a stir, goes to war when asked, and does everything to perform the common good. He is a conformist, a somebody whom the g everyplacenment holds high and promotes for others to strive toward becoming.The monument covers everything from his channel record to his health history, all documented split of his bearing, press outing the reader exactly what the State is pertain with. Looking at the poems structure, use of croak, and the style we see that the man is celebrated because he served the Greater Community (Auden 5) in everything he did and never questioned the government. The narrative structure of the poem represents a type by the local representative. The statue only has a reference number JS/07/M/378 because to the government the behavior is more than most-valuable the man himself.While the verbalizer calls this man, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint (4), he only knows this because of the research anterior to the evet. The representative decides to talk about how the man performed all t he correct tasks throughout his liveliness. The secernate hardly cares whether or not the man was democratic with his mates and liked a drink (13) so long as he wasnt a shit or odd in his views (9). It is also important to note that he held the proper opinions for the time of yr (23) than if he was free and sharp (28).The use of sound reveals that the unbeknown(predicate) Citizen lived an ordinary life. The speaker consistently uses a simple rhyming evasion- Our report on his jointure shows it was sound/ And our Social Psychology workers found (11-12) to show the mans existence. The reader learns that the citizen was fully see (16) and that he was once in hospital still left it cured (17). The fact that the rhyme scheme is hardly tampered with suggests that the citizens life was consistently regular and ordinary.The most signifi earth-closett use of sound comes at the exterminate of the poem, when the speaker asks, Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd (28). Here, the speaker reinforces the posits power over the individual and dismisses any notion that happiness and license are part of the states plan. It also forces the reader to agnize the states total control over its citizens and how the mans passive life was led according to the governments will, not his own.Looking at the style and the use of language in The Unknown Citizen it reveals that the man served the state in every vista of his life and was rewarded to show other muckle the do good of doing the same. The poem states that there was no official bill ing (2) against this model man and it goes so far as to saying he was a saint (4). The speaker describes more of the mans qualities in order to show the multitude what a model citizen should be like. Thus, he explains that the man never got fired, / but satisfied his employers (7-8) and paid his dues (10) on time.By doing this, the citizen had everything necessary to the Modern Man, / a phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. (20-21). The man even had the state in mind when he had a family of five children, for he had the right number for a parent of his generation according to the governments Eugenist (26). For those citizens who may commit doubted whether the mans existence was an ideal one, the speaker explains that questioning whether or not the citizen was happy is absurd (28) because only the mans servitude to the state is important.The overall theme of the poem can be viewed as a symbol as a whole, as it is a symbol of how the government treats conformists versus indi viduals. A symbol can be found in the line Our researchers into commonplace Opinion are meaning / That he held the proper opinions for the time of year (22-23). Public Opinion, which is capitalized, is very important to the State, as they feel if they can control opinion, they can control people, because most people will just go with the flow. It is through these acute symbols that Auden is able to reveal how he feels about conformist to government xpectations, as most writers stray from conform. as yet despite the states assurances, the Unknown Citizens monument is still employ to a reference number instead of an real(a) name. Being a model citizen does not nitty-gritty to much in a country where ones emancipation and liberty are nonexistent and ones entire life is planned by the state. Indeed, the mans inscription illustrates this point To JS/07/M/378 / This Marble Monument is Erected by the State follows the old(prenominal) rhyme scheme that marked the mans passive life.