This poem, a satirical elegy, was published in 1939 shortly after Auden moved from England to United States. This poem was published on 6th January, 1940 in the “New Yorker’ and appeared in Auden’s first collection “Another Time” (1940). This poem is a satirical elegy and a critique on the standardization and regimentation of modern life suggesting that people lost sight of what it means to be an individual when they focus exclusively on the status symbols and markers of achievement like having the right job, the right number of kids, the right car and so forth.
This poem builds a frightening picture of a world ruled by total conformity and state of oppression in which the bureaucratic government dictates and spies on every movement of its citizens in their daily lives. This poem pokes at and criticizes the modern world for granting too many powers to the state that oppresses common people through close surveillance. This poem mocks at the attitude of the state which tries measure a person’s happy life in terms of materialistic possessions without taking into account his individual tastes and preferences. The modern society in an effort to optimize production had made everyone the same and robbed life of individuality and freedom. The poem also makes a sharp attack on the evil intentions of advertising which misleads people and encourages them to make purchases as a way of expressing their individuality. The repeated mention of the Government departments is another way to make fun of the standardization of modern life and modern man’s obsession with brands, celebrity culture and media.
In this poem
W.H. Auden interprets the predicament of an average citizen who was forced to
lead a life inconformity with state-made rules and regulations just for the
sake of his survival. In the name of equality and promotion of common good, the
state enforces the principle that everyone must follow the rules if things are
to run smoothly. This poem is an elegy delivered by the government for a
citizen who recently died after retirement. The setting of the poem is a
cemetery with a marble monument to commemorate JS/07M378, the number given to the
unknown citizen. Though the government seems to know everything about him, he
is for all practical purposes an unknown citizen without any specific name. He
is just reduced to a number without any individuality. Although many facts
about the citizen are known, he remains unknown because the details
highlighting his individuality are ignored.
He was
basically a perfect citizen because he did everything, he was supposed to do in
order to serve his society. He worked in the same job till he retired apart
from a break when he served in the war. His employer Fudge Motor Inc was fine
with him. He had the proper insurance and his health records show that he only
needed to stay in the hospital one time. The public opinion department asserts
that he always had the right views on big issues. He had a wife and five
children, the correct number of human beings according to the department of Eugenics
in order to optimize the gene pool. He let the children’s teachers do their
work without questioning their teachings. It is ridiculous to ask whether he
was happy since we would have known if there was anything wrong with him.
He conforms to set standards and practices
dictated by the mass organizations and institutions that shape the society. The
unknown citizen was being honoured for his conformity just like a soldier for
his sacrifice. The bureaucrat acts as a speaker and pays tribute to a model
citizen identified only by numbers and letters. He speaks in an impersonal and
clinical way expressing the detached view of the state.
According to Bureau of Statistics the unknown
citizen was a good worker who never got fired. He was praised as a saint
because he meekly followed the rules and was acclaimed as a role model. He
maintained the standards expected of him by those in power. He was a part of
the Union but never broke rules except during the war time. So, he was treated
as a popular member of the workforce. He is not a scab who returns to work
before the strike has achieved its goals. Though scabs are considered cowardly,
they have at least individual thinking to take their own stand for their own
personal gains. The Social Psychology investigated his background when he died
and found that all was normal according to his mates.
He bought a newspaper every day and read the
propaganda dished out by the biased press and had no adverse reaction to the
advertisements in that paper. “He had “everything necessary to the modern man”.
He moved with times and bought all modern gadgets like the Frigidaire, a radio,
a phonograph and a car. He adhered to
all societal rules. According to researchers of Public Opinion, he was an
average citizen who was conditioned to routine and had not questioned the norms
of the society. “When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he
went.” He led a settled life and obeyed the government when he was called for
war services. The unknown citizen was described with words like “normal”,
“right”, “sensible”, “proper” and “popular” to indicate that he is the ideal
citizen. The citizen is unknown because in the statistical data the man’s
individuality and identity are not at all considered. The professionals in the poem such as the
bureau of statistics, ‘Social Psychology”, “Eugenics” are also persons devoid
of any individuality. The evidence of his life shows that the unknown citizen
is just one more cog in the faceless, nameless bureaucratic machine.
The poem
begins with ABAB pattern and then switches to a rhyming couplet (AA, BB)
pattern after which the poem follows an irregular rhyme scheme. The lines from
8 to 13 follow the pattern ABBCCA. The rhyme scheme is not regular throughout
the poem though mostly rhyming couplets are used. In some lines though same
number of syllables are used, they are not in iambic pentameter. They are often
11 or 13 syllables long with differing lengths.
The tone of
the poem sounds monotonous filled with dry facts without any humane feeling and
sentiments. It reflects the image of bureaucracy and the state as a faceless,
indifferent and cruel machine. It manipulates, exploits and keeps all under its
control even without their awareness. Just like in Orwells’1984” and Huxley’s
“Brave new World”, ideas such as freedom of speech, nonconformist and
individual expression are not entertained. According to Auden “Poetry is not
concerned with telling people what to do, but with extending our knowledge of
good and evil.”
This poem is renowned for its wit and irony in
exposing the stultifying and anonymous qualities of the bureaucratic and
totalitarian governments which do not care about individual choices and freedom
of thinking. This poem shows how the state, the government and the bureaucracy
become a faceless, indifferent and cruel machine and how it manipulates,
exploits and keeps all citizens under its ruthless control without their
knowledge or awareness. As a leading spokesman of his generation Auden warned
people against the dangers of totalitarianism. As a detached observer, using an
ironic and discursive style he could accommodate the language of prose and the
concerns of science. He tried to interpret the times to diagnose the ills of
the society and deal with the intellectual and moral problems of public
concern.
The main type of irony used in this poem is situational irony. The state is honouring the situation of a man who was compelled to lead in conformity with state-run rules and regulations. It is also ironical that the state does not know the name of the person whom it has honoured. The unknown citizen is praised as a “saint” in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, ironically implying that he is not a saint in actual sense but a person who blindly obeys the state without any sense of independent thinking and freedom. This poem is also a satire as it is making fun of the person it pretends to celebrate. The poem ends with a rhetorical question “Was he free? Was he happy?” to emphasize the point that the citizen was neither free nor happy.
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11th November, 2021 Somaseeshu Gutala
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