Loading the lesson
Loading the lesson
Search AllRounder.ai
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Learn it your way
A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
Sign up free to listen. Transcripts are free to read.
Who is speaking in this poem? Is it Auden?
No, it is the State. It keeps referring to its own reports and researchers.
And what is the occasion?
A marble monument has been put up to a man identified only by a code.
Does the speaker think it is praising or criticising the man?
Praising him. It thinks he was the perfect citizen.
Good. The State is sincere; the satire comes from Auden standing behind it.
Let's go through the report. What does it say about his work?
He stayed in one factory all his working life, was never sacked, and his employer had no complaints.
And his social life?
His workmates liked him, he enjoyed a drink, he read the daily paper and he reacted to adverts as expected.
What did he own?
A car, a radio, a record player and a fridge, bought on credit.
And his opinions?
They always matched official policy. He supported peace until the nation went to war, and then he fought.
The poem ends with two questions. What are they?
Whether he was free, and whether he was happy.
How does the State reply?
It calls the question absurd, because it assumes it would have been told about any problem.
Is that a good answer?
No. No complaints does not mean he was happy. Maybe he never felt able to complain.
the State speaks as "we" in the inscription on a monument to a man known only by a code.
the citizen counts as a saint only in a thin modern sense, because no one complained about him and all his actions served the community.
work, union, social life, reading, insurance, health, possessions, opinions and family are all reported by official bodies.
his views always matched official policy, so he backed peace until the nation went to war and then fought.
the State dismisses the questions of freedom and happiness, assuming it would have been told of any problem.
the man is unknown because the State recorded everything except who he was.
Summarising a section in your own words: the citizen stayed in one factory all his working life, was never sacked, kept Fudge Motors Inc. content, paid his union subscriptions and avoided unusual views.
Summary with comment: the State lists his car, radio, record player and fridge as proof that he owned everything a modern man should have, which shows that possessions have become the measure of a good life.
Separating speaker and poet: the State sincerely praises the citizen for never complaining, but Auden uses this praise to expose how little the State actually knows about him.
A one-sentence summary for an introduction: in "The Unknown Citizen" the State honours a numbered man for perfect conformity, then dismisses the question of whether he was free or happy.
Worked and paid and bought and read, thought what he was told and wed; five small children, never wrong; was he happy all along?
A museum guide shows visitors a statue with only a number on its base. She reads out a long list of the man's records, then a child asks whether he was happy. The guide frowns and says no one ever complained.
Work, Union, Friends, Paper, Insurance, Goods, Opinions, Family, Questions follows the order of the report.
W.O.R.K.E.R. - Work at the factory, Opinions on time, Radio and car, Kids numbered five, Everyone satisfied, Real self unknown
Term
Who speaks in "The Unknown Citizen"?
Click to flip
Term
Why is the citizen called a saint?
Click to flip
Term
Where did he work, and for whom?
Click to flip
Term
Which four possessions does the State list?
Click to flip
Term
What was his attitude to war and peace?
Click to flip
Term
How does the State answer the questions of freedom and happiness?
Click to flip
A short text in memory of a dead person, often inscribed on a tomb or monument.
A government office that collects and analyses numerical data about the population.
The society or nation as a whole, which the State says the citizen served.
An insulting term for a worker who refuses to join a strike or takes a striker's place.
The regular payments a worker makes to belong to a trade union.
A way of buying goods by paying for them in small regular amounts.
A specialist in eugenics, the discredited idea that the state should control human breeding.
A brand of refrigerator, used in the poem as a general word for a fridge.
A clear summary of W. H. Auden's "The Unknown Citizen": the State's official tribute to a man known only by a code, praising how perfectly he fitted in at work, in society, as a consumer, in his opinions and in his family, and then brushing aside the question of whether he was free or happy.
"The Unknown Citizen" is written as the inscription on a marble monument that the State has put up in honour of one of its citizens. The speaker is the State itself, an official "we" reading out what its departments have discovered. According to these reports, nobody ever lodged a complaint about the man. He spent his working life in one factory, kept his employers content and stayed a loyal union member. He was well liked, kept up with the daily news and responded to advertising exactly as expected. He was insured against every risk and owned all the modern goods. His opinions always matched official policy, he went to fight when the nation went to war, and he raised a family of the officially approved size. The poem ends by asking whether he was free and happy, and the State dismisses the question as absurd. This lesson summarises the poem in order and shows what the summary reveals.
The poem takes the form of an epitaph, a tribute on a memorial. Its dedication tells us that the State has put up a marble monument to a man identified only by a code of letters and numbers. The voice we hear is not Auden's own but the State's: a bureaucratic "we" that speaks of its own reports, researchers and teachers. It sincerely believes it is praising an ideal citizen. Auden, standing behind this voice, is satirising both the speaker and the society it represents. The poem is one continuous verse paragraph, but for study it can be divided into the stages below.
The poem opens with the State's statistics office: it has no complaint on file against the man. All the official reports agree that he deserves to be called a saint, though only in today's thinned-out meaning of that ancient word, because all his actions benefited what the State calls the Greater Community. Sainthood has been redefined: it no longer means holiness or goodness, but never causing trouble and always serving the system.
Apart from his war service, he spent his whole working life in one factory and was never sacked. Fudge Motors Inc., his employer, had nothing to complain about. He never broke a strike and never held unusual views. According to his union, his subscriptions were always up to date, and the State notes that it has investigated the union itself and found it reliable. Even the organisation meant to protect the workers is being watched.
The State's social psychologists discovered that his workmates liked him and that he enjoyed a drink. The newspapers are certain that he bought one every day and that he responded to advertising exactly as an average reader should. His friendships and his reading are recorded as evidence of normality, not of personality.
His insurance covered him against every risk, and his medical record shows a single stay in hospital, from which he recovered. Two consumer-research bodies, Producers Research and High-Grade Living, confirm that he appreciated the benefits of buying on credit through the Instalment Plan, and that he owned all the equipment a modern man was supposed to have: a car, a radio, a record player and a fridge.
The State's opinion researchers are pleased to report that his views were always the correct ones for the season. He backed peace in peacetime, and when the nation went to war, he went off to fight. His views changed exactly when the State's needs changed.
He married and fathered five children, a family size that the State's Eugenist approves as ideal for men of his generation. The State's teachers add that he did not interfere with his children's education.
The poem ends with two short questions: was he free, and was he happy? The State brushes them aside as absurd. If there had been any problem, it reasons, the authorities would have been informed. This closing couplet turns the whole tribute upside down.
Every fact in the poem comes from an official record, and every record measures how well the man fitted in. We learn what he did, owned and bought, but nothing of what he thought, felt, loved or feared; we never even learn his name. The State knows everything about him except the two things that matter most, his freedom and his happiness, and it cannot see why anyone would ask. That is why he is "unknown": not because information is missing, but because the right kind of knowledge was never sought.
The State raises a marble monument to a citizen known only by a code. Its offices have no complaint on file, and its reports call him a modern saint who served the community. Apart from the war, he worked in one factory all his life, never lost his job, kept his union subscriptions paid and avoided unusual views. He was well liked, read the daily paper and reacted to advertising as expected. He was insured, recovered from his one illness and owned every modern appliance. His opinions followed official policy, he fought when told, and he had five children. Asked whether he was free or happy, the State calls the question absurd.