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Michael Liu

Peplow

English H-II

8 December 2010

Essay [ID Eng2H/DP/205/7 | Arch.12/8/10 by ML/15 M 162]

The Unknown Citizen could readily be described as a speculative dystopian poem where

the government has rejected individualism on the road to industrialism. In the poem, a citizen

who had done nothing outstanding was honored for it. Auden used many literary devices such as

metaphors (or lack thereof), symbolism, and irony to demonstrate his ideas on the current direc-

tion of society and individualism.

The Unknown Citizen had very few metaphors—in fact, only one, an anomaly when

compared to most poems. This metaphor occurred in line 4, where the unknown citizen was

named a so-called “modern day saint” (Auden 4). This was used to show the unknown citizen’s

devotion to the principles of the government (being normal and conforming to the standard),

such as a saint was devoted to the principles of his/her religion. This was also ironic, because

such religious saints were held in high regard, whereas this citizen’s name was not even known,

nor cared for. The resulting effect was to prepare readers for further irony. Also, this being the

only metaphor, the lack of others was startling. However, this dearth of comparisons itself fur-

thers the inherent mundaneness of the poem, and therefore exemplifying Auden’s idea.

Symbolism was more common than metaphors in the poem. Every government branch in

the poem paralleled a modern government branch. The Social Psychology workers paralleled so-

cial scientists, Producers Research and High-Grade Living parodied modern consumer analyst

organizations, and the Eugenist represented eugenic scientists at the time working on genetic fil-

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tration (Auden 1, 18, 26). However, in the poem, these associations appeared intrusive or even

oppressive due to their surveillance upon the people. Collectively, they represented the invasive-

ness of the government on everyday lives, which was bound to produce such mediocre citizens

such as JS/07 M 378. The many institutions mentioned gives the poem’s setting a very stifling

Auden used the symbolism to show how government interference upon the people would sup-

press creativity and individuality in the population, which is any bureaucrat’s goal. Also, the

company “Fudge Motors” mentioned in the poem, representative of all large companies employ-

ing factory workers, was used to further the Auden’s point of suppression of individualism to

further industrial efficiency (Auden 8).

In spite of the lack of other literary devices, there is a massive amount of irony in the

poem. Nearly every statistical fact about JS/07 M 378’s life was written down and recorded by

numerous government branches. However, the last two lines and the title ironically make obvi-

ous the fact that they knew nothing about who he was, thinking that only statistical information

dictated the quality of a person’s life (Auden 28-29). His life was not known in the way that a

friend would know it. Also, the unknown citizen had a marble statue erected for him simply for

the lack of official complaint for him (Auden Epigraph). He had not done anything significant,

he had simply been the most average, orthodox citizen possible. Such unwarranted praise would

not be awarded for today.

Auden’s use of literary devices plays a major part in expressing the poem’s meaning, like

all good poems. His successful employment of metaphors, symbolism, and irony effectively

bring across dystopian themes of modern society and individualism.