What type of poem is the Unknown Citizen by William Blake?
"The Unknown Citizen" was written by the British poet W.H. Auden, not long after he moved to America in 1939. The poem is a kind of satirical elegy written in praise of a man who has recently died and who lived what the government has deemed an exemplary life.
What is the rhyming pattern of the Unknown Citizen?
Apr 30, 2020 · What kind of poem is the unknown citizen? Satiric Elegy in Rhyme An "elegy" is a poem about a dead person. These types of poems can be sad and mopey or grand and celebratory. "The Unknown Citizen" is of the grand and celebratory variety, but it's also a satire, which means that it is making fun of the person it pretends to celebrate.
What is the meaning of the Unknown Citizen?
Oct 15, 2018 · ‘The Unknown Citizen ‘ by W.H. Auden is a 32 line poem that utilizes a number of different rhyming patterns. The poem contains examples of both skillfully written rhyming couplets and seemingly patternless portions of verse that are variable in their end rhymes.
What is the theme of the Unknown Citizen by Auden?
Jan 30, 2020 · What type of poem is the unknown citizen? Satiric Elegy in Rhyme An "elegy" is a poem about a dead person. These types of poems can be sad and mopey or grand and celebratory. "The Unknown Citizen" is of the grand and celebratory variety, but it's also a satire, which means that it is making fun of the person it pretends to celebrate.
What is the structure of The Unknown Citizen?
“The Unknown Citizen” follows a somewhat erratic rhyme scheme: ababaccdeeffdgghhijjikmknnnoo. The poem concludes with a closed couplet—two successive lines that contain a grammatically complete statement. The final word of each of these lines rhymes with one another.
What is the theme of unknown citizen?
The unknown citizen is one of the most significant poems of W.H Auden with a recurrent theme, that is, the dilemma and chaos modern man faces in the rapidly changing world. The poem was written in 1939, during the horrific scenario of World War II and in the poem encapsulates this post-war chaos and up rootedness.
What is the tone of the poem The Unknown Citizen?
The tone of the poem is impersonal and clinical, the speaker more than likely a suited bureaucrat expressing the detached view of the state. The unknown citizen is reduced to a mere number, a series of letters; there is no name, no birthplace or mention of loved ones.Sep 9, 2020
What point of view is the poem The Unknown Citizen written in?
The speaker of the poem is a government worker who addresses readers and listeners in first-person-plural point of view (using our and we) to indicate that he is speaking on behalf of his fellow government employees.
What is the main idea of the poem *?
Answer: The central idea of a poem is the poem's theme or 'what it's about' if you like. Although many shy away from poems being 'about' something, at the end of the day, the poet had something in mind when it was written, and that something is the central idea, whatever it is or might have been.
What is the central idea the poet is trying to convey in The Unknown Citizen?
Modern society has told people what they should want and how they should live, which the poem implies makes it impossible for people to actually think for themselves. In such a world, there are right ways to live and wrong ways, and these are defined by the state.
What is the type of irony used in The Unknown Citizen?
The main type of irony used in "The Unknown Citizen" is situational irony. It is ironic that the state is honoring the situation of a man brainwashed into lockstep conformity. It is also ironic that the state is so indifferent to the citizen it is "honoring" that it does not know his name.
How is The Unknown Citizen described in the poem?
Interpretation. “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden describes, through the form of a dystopian report, the life of an unknown man. By describing the "average citizen" through the eyes of various government organizations, the poem criticizes standardization and the modern state's relationship with its citizens.
What type of poem is Hawk Roosting?
Hawk Roosting is a free verse poem of 6 stanzas, all quatrains. There is no set rhyme scheme and the metre (meter in American English) varies from line to line. On the page it appears formal, tight, restrained - perhaps reflecting the balanced control of the hawk.Jan 8, 2020
What does the title of the poem unknown citizen signify?
The concept of "The Unknown Citizen" suggests that the lives of many normal people are so conventional and uneventful that they might as well be unknown or anonymous. They're just an empty suit or a face in the crowd.
What kind of information does the speaker provide about the deceased in The Unknown Citizen?
What kind of information does the speaker provide about the deceased? The speaker provide about the deceased in The Unknown Citizen is to be like everyone else. Explanation: "The Unknown Citizen" is a sonnet composed by W. H. Auden in 1939, soon after he moved from England to the United States.Apr 12, 2020
What is the meaning of the poem The Unknown Citizen?
Auden describes, through the form of a dystopian report, the life of an unknown man. The poem begins with the speaker stating the fact that throughout his life there was never one “complaint” against the citizen. No one thought badly of him, in fact, he was more like a “saint” than anything else.
How many lines are there in The Unknown Citizen?
The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden. ‘The Unknown Citizen ‘ by W.H. Auden is a 32 line poem that utilizes a number of different rhyming patterns. The poem contains examples of both skillfully written rhyming couplets and seemingly patternless portions of verse that are variable in their end rhymes. It is impossible to escape ...
How does the speaker introduce the main subject of the poem?
The reader will only come to know him through the facts that the “Bureau of Statistics, “the Greater Community,” and other fictional dystopian sounding organizations , have seen fit to share.
Why do we capitalize in the poem?
Capitalization is utilized throughout the poem to acknowledge bodies, or official groups that exist in the world of the poem. The citizen served the community up until the day he died. The only exception was when he went to fight in the “War.”. Which war this is meant to be is not made clear. The citizen,
What does the speaker say about the man reading the newspapers?
The speaker also states that the man read the newspapers to a sufficient degree. He went to the hospital once, but left quickly, “cured,” as he should have been. The citizen consumed all the latest technologies, as a “Modern Man” should, and owned the proper devices. In the final section of the poem, the speaker concludes his report.
What is the Unknown Citizen about?
Often anthologized and read by students in high school and college, it is renowned for its wit and irony in complaining about the stultifying and anonymous qualities of bureaucratic, semi-socialist Western societies.
Why is Emmet praised as unknown?
He is praised as “unknown” because there was nothing interesting to know. Consider, in comparison, the completely normalized protagonist Emmet in The Lego Movie.
Is Auden's Unknown Citizen anonymous?
Auden’s “Unknown Citizen” is not anonymous like the Unknown Soldier, for the bureaucracy knows a great deal about him. The named agencies give the sense, as early as 1940, that a powerful Big Brother kind of bureaucracy watches over its citizens and collects data on them and keeps it throughout one’s life.
What does the state reward Auden with an epitaph?
He went through life like a zombie and so the state rewards him with an epitaph. The reader has a feeling of invasion of privacy by the state, which is very much a part of modern day life, whether we like it or not. It is, as if Auden had a premonition of what modern day life would be like.
Why is Auden's portrayal of an individual in today's society scary?
The portrayal of an individual in today’s society by Auden is rather scary because we have become immune to all those feelings that were meant to set us apart as human beings, the best amongst God’s creations. We have all lost our identity and are, let’s face it, a part of a faceless crowd.
Why is Big Brother registered by no name?
He is registered by a number, no name because a name would give him an identity.
What is blank verse?
Blank verse is a form of rebellion against the accepted norms of verse which were prevalent during the previous eras. The poet uses satire to caricature the life of "The citizen", who is just a numerical on the population register. He is supposed to lead a life which is to be led by a million other beings.
Where did Auden live?
His works exuded great influence on both sides of the Atlantic. He died in 1973 in Vienna, Austria. In the poem "The Unknown Citizen" Auden has very aptly described the life of a modern man, a faceless, assembly line produced entity and has also described modern society where any aberration to the rule is frowned upon.
Was the citizen in question a saint?
The citizen in question did whatever was expected of him and therefore in the "modern sense" was a saint. He did not create any trouble for anyone, did the right thing at the right time, he went to war when it was demanded of him and came back to work after the war.
What type of irony is used in the Unknown Citizen?
What is the type of irony used in "The Unknown Citizen"? The main type of irony used in "The Unknown Citizen" is situational irony. It is ironic that the state is honoring the situation of a man brainwashed into lockstep conformity. It is also ironic that the state is so indifferent to the citizen it is "honoring" that it does not know his name.
What is Auden's poem about the unknown soldier?
The title itself is ironic: Alluding to the Unknown Soldier--any of those soldiers killed in World War I who were unidentifiable--that have been honored by a monument to them for their valor in battle, JS/07/M/378 is ironically compared. But, he does have an identification number and was alive within his country where people should have known who he is. And even though he is "unknown," and has done nothing to draw attention to himself, he is, ironically, the most respected.
What is the main thrust of Auden's poem?
Though Auden employs a good deal of verbal irony and some dramatic irony, the main thrust of the poem is to express situational irony. The irony is that although the unknown citizen is being celebrated with a "marble monument" for his exemplary life, the poem, in reality, depicts a mindless person brainwashed to conform to the desires of the state. ...
What is dramatic irony in poetry?
In poetry, then, we might think of the people depicted or discussed as characters;
What does the poem "Do what you are programmed to do" mean?
The poem shows that simply doing what you are programmed to do robs a person of freedom and happiness. It is ironic to honor this way of living. It is also ironic that the state builds a monument to the "unknown" citizen, who is identified not by a name but by an ID tag number, just as an unknown soldier would be.
Why did Auden's Unknown Citizen receive a monument?
Auden's Unknown Citizen received a monument because of his anonymous nature —just a simple man doing regular life things. The Unknown Soldier, on the other hand, received greater plaudits for his heroism, and yet one knows nothing about his life or background.
Is the rhyme unbalanced in Auden's poem?
With another contrast to what is expected, the rhyme is unbalanced in Auden's poem, producing the hint of something wrong. Certainly, the last two lines make use of Auden's verbal irony that prevails throughout his poem:
What is an elegy poem?
An "elegy" is a poem about a dead person. These types of poems can be sad and mopey or grand and celebratory. "The Unknown Citizen" is of the grand and celebratory variety, but it’s also a satire, which means that it is making fun of the person it pretends to celebrate.
Did Auden write satiric elegies?
And, just so you know, Auden didn’t write satiric elegies exclusively; he also wrote two of the best heartfelt elegies of the 20th century: "In Memory of Sigmund Freud" and "In Memory of WB Yeats.".