Poetry 1
Running Head: POETRY
Analysis of “The Unknown Citizen”
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Introduction
A literature can be defined as a written form of the ideas and viewpoint of some one.
The literature can be in the form of poem, essay, story, drama and so on. The expression of
the ideas that can touch the inner soul of the reader or listener is the main motive of a
literature. In relation to this, successful literatures are the literatures which are capable
enough to connect to the emotions of the reader with its content. The contemporariness and
impact of the literature on the society are some other major parameters, which are being used
by critiques in the evaluation of a literature (Mitias, 1988). A good literature work introduces
the realities of life to the society. Thus, creating awareness among the people for different
social issues is the main social function of the literatures. Moreover, a sound literary work
also can be characterized by some specific aesthetic qualities, such as, comprehensiveness,
expressiveness, creativity and so on. Such types of qualities are very helpful for evaluating
the social viability of the literature work (Hanfling, 1992).
Bridge
The poem which is being taken for the purpose of analysis in the essay is “The
Unknown Citizen” written by W.H. Auden. Basically, “The unknown citizen” is a story of a
common man who is desperate to have a unique identity. The poem is actually cursing the
bureaucratic governmental system, which is not capable of giving common man, a different
identity. The man who is focused in the poem possesses some genuine characteristics of
happiness and efficiency, as he satisfies his employer with his effective and quality work, he
is a famous personality among his co-workers, has no official complaints against him and so
on. In all, he can be well described as a saint of the modern era. But the main issue arises
from the questions, like, is he actually happy or can he feel free actually? Such questions are
presented in the form of a poem in an aesthetic manner. The depth of words used in the poem
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facilitates the poem with comprehensiveness and more aesthetic value (Auden, 1940).
Thesis statement
The poem “The unknown man” is articulating a negative aspect of the government
system, by sketching a rough and positive diagram of the condition of a common man. The
paper is aimed to prove the hypothesis that “The poem 'The unknown man' can be considered
as a good literary work because it is able to portray the real picture of the society free from
any bias”.
Analysis of the poem
W.H. Auden's poem “The Unknown citizen” is the effort of the poet to extract the
deficiencies of government system, which are pointing finger to the existence of a well
efficient citizen of the country.
The paragraph is aimed to prove that the poem is comprehensive enough to articulate
the actual scenario of the current society. The content of the poem was pointing towards the
condition of a common man in that period of time. As, the poem is describes that
“He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc”.
In the lines the poet has articulated the condition of the hero of his poem as a worker,
who works with full of his efficiency for satisfying his employer, Fudge Motors Inc. Further,
in the poem, the poet has covered all the aspects of personal as well as professional life of the
common man. The comprehensiveness of the poem reached to its peak when the author
sketched a rough picture of the family of the hero by saying that “He was married and added
five children to the population”. In this way, it can be proved that the content of the poem was
comprehensive enough; covering each and every aspect of the life of an individual (Auden,
1940).
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Further, in order to evaluate the poem it is necessary to reveal that “whether the
language used in the poem is easy smooth enough for a reader to understand the central
theme of the poem”. The author has used simple and apprehensible words in the poem so that
it can be easily understood by a common man. The main reason for this is that the poem is
written in the context of a common man and central hero of the poem was also a common
man. Because of this reason, it becomes important that the poem is completely understood by
the common man. In relation to this, the poet avoids using highly sophisticated and complex
literary terms. The lines of the poem“Was he free? Was he Happy? The question is absurd:”
are describing the main problem of the society with a lot of simplicity. Such simplicity of the
poem is the core feature of the poem (Auden, 1940).
The next section of the analysis is reveals, whether the content of the poem is
presenting the negative aspect of the governmental system as well. The poem is articulates
this because of the bureaucracy in the government system; a man that has all the good
qualities is struggling for having his own identity. The poem is states that a common man is
still stuck with the question, whether he can feel himself free and happy. The poem states that
the problems of a common man are not heard by the governmental institutions. The social
policies of the government are insensitive and are imposing the common man to have a
serious concern about his existence. Such problems of the common man is being articulated
in the poem in the words
“Was he free? Was he Happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”
In these words, the poet is presents the problem of a common man which make him
an unknown citizen in his own country (Auden, 1940).
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In all, the analysis is presents that the poem is able to articulate a negative perspective
of the society with simplicity and comprehensiveness, which, can be counted as the most
important characteristics of a good literature.
Refutation
The evaluation which is focused on different aesthetic qualities of the poem, such as,
comprehensiveness, simplicity, and its content is provides a broad platform, on the basis of
which, the viability of the poem in the context of the society. There is another type of
evaluation that can be used for the poem. This type of evaluation judged the poem on the
basis of its Rhyming, ambiguity, and memorability. On these scales, the poem can not be
considered good because the poem neither has any rhyming nor any kind of complex literary
and sophisticated terms. Such qualities do not give any information about the impression of
the poem on the society, which is the measurement of importance of the problem. In this way,
it can be considered that the evaluation approach used in the paper is a viable approach for
analysis.
Conclusion
As per the analysis of the poem, it can be revealed that certain problems are being
faced by a common citizen of any country. The poem is discusses that although, a common
man possesses lots of qualities and facilities, but still his identity is lost somewhere because
of the deficiencies in the social policies of the government. Despite of being an efficient and
capable citizen he is unknown in his own country. He always imposed to think that has he
done something wrong or are the qualities of him not capable enough to give him an identity?
Such type of question are raised in the poem comprehensively. The evaluation of the poem is
aimed to demonstrate different aspects of this literary work which can the overall thinking of
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user more comprehensive and multidimensional. Furthermore, the poem also directed
towards enhancement of the knowledge of the reader. In all, in the light of the discussion it
can be concluded that a comprehensive reading of the poem will be important and worthy for
the reader.
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References:
Auden, W.H. (1940). The Unknown Citizen. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from
http://theliterarylink.com/un.html
Mitias, M.H. (1988). What makes an experience aesthetic? Rodopi.
Hanfling, O. (1992). Philosophical aesthetics: an introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.