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"The Unknown Citizen" was written by the British poet W. H. Auden, not long after he moved to America in 1939. The poem is a kind of satirical elegy written in praise of a man who has recently died and who lived what the government has deemed an exemplary life.
‘The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden describes, through the form of a dystopian report, the life of an unknown man. The poem begins with the speaker stating the fact that throughout his life there was never one “complaint” against the citizen.
W. H. Auden 's The Unknown Citizen deals with the effect of science and technology on man in society. It was first published in the listener, on August 3, 1939, and later included in the Collected Shorter Poems 1950 Science and the growth of various other disciplines like psychology, sociology, etc, has brought many benefits to man but at the ...
“The Unknown Citizen” (1940) is one of Auden’s most famous poems. Often anthologized and read by students in high school and college, it is renowned for its wit and irony in complaining about the stultifying and anonymous qualities of bureaucratic, semi-socialist Western societies.
The Unknown Citizen - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.
Unlike Auden's earlier, modernist poems, The Unknown Citizen exhibits a shift towards a more accessible and ironic style. It reflects the post-war era's disillusionment and the rise of consumerism, exploring the loss of identity and the dangers of mass society.
Its title echoing the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, ‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a poem that demonstrates W. H. Auden’s fine ability to fuse irony and wit with pathos and pity. Written in 1939, the poem was one of the first Auden wrote after he moved from Britain to the United States.
Sep 6, 2023 · Dive deep into W. H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion
“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden describes, through the form of a dystopian report, the life of an unknown man. By describing the "average citizen" through the eyes of various government organizations, the poem criticizes standardization and the modern state's relationship with its citizens.
W. H. Auden. The Unknown Citizen. (To JS/07 M 378. This Marble Monument. Is Erected by the State) He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be. One against whom there was no official complaint, And all the reports on his conduct agree. That, in the modern sense of an old—fashioned word, he was a. saint,
