AP Multiple Choice Questions for “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden

The Unknown Citizen

W. H. Auden, 1907 - 1973

1 (To JS/07 M 378

This Marble Monument

Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

5 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.

10 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 wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,

For his Union reports that he paid his dues,

15 (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.

20 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,

25 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,

30 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:

35 Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

1. Everything the man did served thea. Governmentb. Churchc. Greater Communityd. Higher Authoritiese. State

2. The reader can infer from lines 18-19 thata. The man was averageb. The advertisements were unoriginal

c. The man enjoyed the daily paperd. Nobody liked the mane. The Press spied on the man

3. The Unknown Citizen is all of the following excepta. A veteranb. Representative of the Modern Manc. A fatherd. A symbol of rebellione. Popular with his friends

4. The reader can infer that the speaker isa. The Presidentb. Unintelligentc. A Bureaucrat d. Judgmentale. A Modern Man

5. The poem includesI. AllusionsII. SatireIII. Complex Language

a. I and IIIb. II and IIIc. I, II, and IIId. II onlye. I and II

KEY:1. ANS: C

The answer choice is C. It is directly stated in line 9 that “for in everything he did he served the Greater Community.”

Option A is incorrect. While many of the man’s activities benefited the government, it is not directly stated. The Greater Community is meant to

refer to the community as a whole, so as to make the man look honorable, when he really is not.

Option B is incorrect. There is no mention of, or reference to, a church in the poem, nor is there any religious aspect to it.

Option D is incorrect. There is no mention of any “Higher Authorities.” This option is not meant to be synonymous with the government members.

Option E is incorrect. Though the monument was erected by the State, the man never directly served the State; otherwise, he would have had a job associated with it.

2. ANS: A The answer choice is A. It is mentioned multiple times throughout the poem

that the man did average things; “his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way” (19) and “when there was peace, he was for peace” (28). He never strayed from the norm. Therefore, the Unknown Citizen is the average citizen.

Option B is incorrect. The man’s reactions to the advertisements were said to be normal, but that does not indicate anything about the nature of the advertisements.

Option C is incorrect. The man bought a paper every day; however, that does not mean he enjoyed it. Because he acted in the same way as every other citizen, he could just as easily have been conforming.

Option D is incorrect. Line 17 directly states that he was “popular with his mates.”

Option E is incorrect. There is no evidence to suggest the press spied on the man; they simply reported that he bought a paper every day, as every other citizen likely did.

3. ANS: D The answer choice is D. The man is the exact opposite of a symbol of

rebellion; he did everything exactly as he was supposed to, so as to please the government. He was a symbol of the average citizen.

Option A is incorrect. Line 10 states that he fought in the war, making him a veteran.

Option B is incorrect. The man is, in every way, representative of what the government calls a “Modern Man”, as he owns a phonograph and Frigidaire.

Option C is incorrect. Line 29 states that he was married and had five children, making him both a husband and a father.

Option E is incorrect. Line 17 directly states that the man was popular with his friends.

4. ANS: C The answer choice is C. Given that the speaker is reporting statistics from

various organizations within the community, and is ultimately responsible

for the writing on the Unknown Citizen’s monument, it is likely that he or she is a bureaucrat.

Option A is incorrect. Given that there is a single “Eugenist”, amongst other made-up organizations, it is unlikely that this community is meant to be representative of a democracy. There is also no indication in the poem that there is a President, let alone that the speaker is the President.

Option B is incorrect. There is no indication that the speaker is unintelligent; in fact, it is unlikely that a bureaucrat – especially one who is in charge of writing the elegy for the unknown citizen – is unintelligent.

Option D is incorrect. The Unknown Citizen is spoken highly of – even if his accomplishments aren’t really accomplishments. This poem is an elegy, and elegies are not meant to be judgmental. The speaker also has hardly anything to judge about the citizen, as he is only defined by numbers and statistics.

Option E is incorrect. A “Modern Man” would not be working for the government, nor would he be in charge of writing an elegy for a fellow citizen.

5. ANS: E The answer choice is E. The title of the poem is an allusion The Unknown

Soldier, and there are allusions to Good Housekeeping and Ford Motor Vehicles within the poem (lines 22 and 13, respectively). The poem is also, in its entirety, satirical, as it pokes fun at the “accomplishments” of the man, who is actually incredibly average and has no identity whatsoever, which the government fails to recognize.

Option A is incorrect. There is use of satire throughout the poem. Also, there is no complex language in the poem; it is meant to be average, like the Unknown Citizen.

Option B is incorrect. There are allusions in the poem, and there is no complex language.

Option C is incorrect. While there are allusions and satire throughout the poem, there is no complex language.

Option D is incorrect. While there is satire in the poem, there are also allusions.