The Unknown Citizen

W. H. Auden, 1907 - 1973

(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,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasnt a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
In A Nutshell

During the 1920s and 30s, many American writers left the states to become
expatriates overseas, particularly in Europe. Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, and
F. Scott Fitzgerald are three famous examples. W.H. Auden, however, did the
opposite. He was an Englishman who moved back to "the colonies" (the U.S.)
in 1939, at the height of his creative powers. Auden wrote "The Unknown
Citizen" while living in New York, and the poem gives evidence of his culture
shock when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism.

As a poet, Auden is a chameleon capable of writing in many different forms and

styles. He is considered a "modernist" writer, but his work is unlike that of any
other poet of the past century. At a time when many poets were experimenting
with obscure forms and new ways of using language, much of Audens poetry
had more popular appeal. He was a master, for example, of the rhyming couplet
(AA, BB, etc.), the simplest rhyme scheme in English. "The Unknown Citizen"
is so accessible it almost sounds like an elaborate joke.

The poem is written in the voice of a fictional government bureaucrat

someone who sits at a desk and shuffles papers all day whose decisions affect
the lives of people he has never met. You could consider it a poetic version of
George Orwells 1984 or Aldous Huxleys Brave New World, in that it concerns
a Big Brother-like state that knows everything about its citizens except the
things that really matter. But the poem doesnt sound as pessimistic or tortured
as either of these novels It uses good old-fashioned humor to protest the
numbing effects of modern life. Its not the most "intellectual" of Audens
works, but that doesnt make it any less powerful to read. "The Unknown
Citizen" is proof that great poetry doesnt have to take itself seriously all the
time.

Why Should I Care?

"The Unknown Citizen" is a great poem to read in an election year. Fortunately,
its always an election year in the U.S., so its always a good time to read the
poem.
Why? Because so many American politicians that run for office, no matter how
interesting and extraordinary they might be, pretend to be the equivalent of the
"The Unknown Citizen": a sensible, good worker and consumer, with no major
vices or strange opinions, and (usually) happily-married with bright, smiling
kids. This is funny, because we know that no ones life could possibly be so
picture-perfect. Even if life were this perfect, we would probably find that
person to be dull and even creepy.

The person Auden calls "The Unknown Citizen" is a composite of information

from every poll and survey that politicians use to figure out what the people
called "swing voters" are really like. Union member? Check. Served in the
military? Check. Reads the morning paper? Check. Buys things on credit?
Check. His life is measured in statistics. Nowadays, the speaker wouldnt even
have to visit "Bureau of Statistics" or "Producers Research" to learn about the
habits of "The Unknown Citizen"; he could just hop on the Internet.

With his completely inoffensive background, we think the Unknown Citizen

would do well running for office himself. But Audens point goes even deeper
than that. He is arguing that the myth of a perfect citizen is created by those in
power. The fictional monument and epitaph (inscription) that celebrate "The
Unknown Citizen" are actually the means by which this power is exercised.

The manipulative "State" in Auden's poem celebrates "The Unknown Citizen"

as the ideal citizen: he never thinks about whether a war is just or not, he creates
a lot of government revenue because he spends money on expensive, taxable
appliances, and, most importantly, he never rocks the boat by voicing opinions
that are different from those around him. He is the kind of person who says,
"My country, right or wrong." This reminds us of a quote from the writer G.K.
Chesterton: "My country, right or wrong, is a thing that no patriot would think
of saying except in a desperate case." In Auden's opinion, being a conformist
and going with the flow all the time isnt just mind-numbingly boring; its also
dangerous and unpatriotic.