The unknown citizen

1. By Payal Mudliar
You Tube Channel
*****
by Auden
English Literature
A Short Information

2. • 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-wing or
right-wing.
2
The Unknown Citizen

3. The tone of the poem is impersonal and clinical, the
speaker more than likely a suited bureaucrat
expressing the detached view of the state.
The unknown citizen is reduced to a mere number,
a series of letters; there is no name, no birthplace or
mention of loved ones.
3
The Unknown Citizen

4. It is clear from the first five lines
that the state is in total control and
has planned and structured this
individual's life in order to create a
complete conformist,
4
The Unknown Citizen

5. The state even call him a 'saint',
because he kept to the straight and
narrow and was a good role model,
not because he was holy or carried
out religious acts.
5
The Unknown Citizen

6. He maintained the standards expected of him by
those in power. He worked hard, was part of the
union but never strayed or broke the rules.
Only the war interrupted his working life which
made him a popular member of the workforce.
6
The Unknown Citizen

7. There is mention of the Social
Psychology department, part of the
state who no doubt investigated his
background when he died, and found
all was normal according to his
mates.
7
The Unknown Citizen

8. He bought a newspaper each day, that is, he read the
propaganda dished out by the bias press, and had no
adverse reaction to the advertisements in that paper.
There is some sound corporate brain-washing going on
here and this citizen has one of the cleanest in the
Greater Community.
8
The Unknown Citizen

9. He's not a critical thinker but a solid type of guy who
you would want living next door. He keeps up with
his household goods, he adheres to all societal rules.
This man is an average Joe, a perfect citizen who is
conditioned to routine and will never question the
settled life, unless the state call on him for purposes of
war.
9
The Unknown Citizen

10. This citizen is treated like a little boy himself, patted on
the head for being a good if unquestioning person.
But note that the speaker mentions the Eugenist - a
person who investigates eugenics, the genetic make up of
this man's family - and coldly says that his 5 children
was the 'right number' for his generation.
10
The Unknown Citizen

11. As if the state was counting,
making sure they had enough
fresh conformists to carry on in
the Greater Community.
11
The Unknown Citizen

12. The last two lines are puzzling and
certainly ambiguous.
The speaker is being facetious by asking
if this man was free or happy, for the
state, the bureaucratic machine knows
nothing of these two immeasurable
qualities.
12
The Unknown Citizen

13. The speaker knows that those in power have put in place
all that is necessary to nullify the citizen - effective
propaganda being their main tool.
This is how they get rid of critical thinking, of freedom
of speech, of social unrest and protest.
13
The Unknown Citizen

14. So Auden's poem is a reminder of the potential
dangers inherent in any system of government,
in any bureaucracy anywhere, anytime - the
individual can lose their unique identity, become
a non-person, without a voice, without a say in
how things are run
14
The Unknown Citizen

15. The Unknown Citizen is a single
stanza of 29 lines, most of them long
and hardly able to carry the full
rhymes that form part of an unusual
rhyme scheme:
ababa ddeffgge hh ii jkkj ljlnnnoo
15
The Unknown Citizen

16. 16
The Unknown Citizen
Some of the lines are so long that the
rhymes at the end tend to produce a
comic effect, which is exactly what
the poet aimed for - the reader has to
work really hard to get the full effect
of the rhyming words.

17. The Unknown Citizen 17
The poem reflects the fact
that a human being has been
reduced to numbers and
letters on a monument, that a
citizen is now estranged from
humanity.

18. 18
By Payal Mudliar
Thanks!
Do you have any questions?
payalhdps@gmail.com
+91 9860663446
shribalajiinfotech.com
You Tube Channel