What is the message in The Unknown Citizen?

What is the message in The Unknown Citizen?

In the satirical poem, The Unknown Citizen, by W.H. Auden, the central message is that the government can look at a man’s life and from their eyes it can be a fulfilling one, but in reality, a man’s life is so much more than that.

What does Auden says about The Unknown Citizen?

Interpretation. “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.

What are the main themes of the poem unknown citizen?

In the poem “An Unknown Soldier,” Auden speaks of the dangers of modern society to the individual including anonymity, conformity, and government control. The anonymity of the unknown citizen is shown in Auden’s repeated use of metaphor.

What is the purpose of The Unknown Citizen?

The Unknown Citizen is a poem that Auden wrote at a turning point in his life, when he left England for the USA and left behind the idea that his poetry could make anything happen in the world. The year was 1939, Hitler had plunged Europe into darkness and the young Auden was horrified.

Is there any symbolism in the poem The Unknown Citizen?

“The Unknown Citizen” is meant to recall the idea of “The Unknown Soldier,” or a soldier whose remains could not be identified after a battle. Line 4: The word “saint” is a religious term, so the Unknown Citizen can’t actually be one, except in the modern sense, which means that we’re dealing with a metaphor.

What literary device is used in The Unknown Citizen?

An example of a literary device in the poem “The Unknown Citizen” is allusion. Allusion is the indirect reference to a commonly known source. In our poem, W.H. Auden lends an example of allusion to George Orwell’s “1984” a novel about a dystopian society.

Was The Unknown Citizen happy justify?

The unknown citizen was neither happy nor free. The poem raises this question at the end of the poem and then calls it “absurd,” saying: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

What does the title of the poem the Unknown Citizen signify?

The concept of “The Unknown Citizen” suggests that the lives of many normal people are so conventional and uneventful that they might as well be unknown or anonymous. They’re just an empty suit or a face in the crowd.

How is the Unknown Citizen identified in the heading of the poem?

Terms in this set (4) How does the state identify the unknown citizen in the poem’s subtitle? What do these numbers suggest? It identifies him as numbers. It implies an impersonal nature and that the state knew nothing abt him but statistics.