The Unknown Citizen – W. H. Auden

How does W. H. Auden  draw a pen picture of a socially-regimented citizen in a materialistic Utopia of Modern Age in his poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’?

W. H. Auden is a sensitive citizen, a poet, lover of freedom and desires that every citizen should enjoy freedom. With his remarkable social and political awareness, he opposed totalitarianism which destroys the freedom of an individual by imposing too many controls on one’s freedom and reduces him to a mere ‘number’ on an identity card. According to him, modern society is like a goodly apple rotten at the core.

It is a mockery and irony that the state which is directly responsible for the dilution of individual freedom and appreciates the unknown citizen and makes him known, through a marble monument, to perpetuate his memory. The poet wonders that the monument might have been erected to commemorate his tolerance, even after losing his freedom under the controls of the state. Happiness and freedom for such citizens become words of no substance, and no significance. The actions of the state seem merely to mock these noble concepts.

Auden opens his poem ‘Unknown Citizen’ with reference to a citizen who is unknown. This ordinary citizen was remembered by a marble monument erected by the state in his honour. The bureau of statistics which is there to look after the citizens’ conduct and welfare, made no complaint against this particular citizen at any moment. All the reports on his conduct give him a clean chit. The old-fashioned word ‘saint’ can be used to regard him, although he belongs to the modern times.

Whatever he did, he did only for the benefit of the society. Auden certifies that he served the greater community till the day of his retirement. He worked sincerely in a factory where he was never found to be guilty and no one suspended him or dismissed him from his job. He always satisfied his superiors and his employers. Auden sarcastically describes the company where he works is Fudge Motors Inc.

The citizens never refused to give their opinion of his co-workers, nor did he owe any dues to the trade union. He was as popular with his colleagues as he was with others. Like many ordinary individuals he enjoyed a drink now and then. The press was happy that he read a paper, daily. He never over-reacted to any advertisements. His insurance policies proved that he was fully covered by the insurance. The health card maintained in his name showed that he was healthy. He visited a hospital only once during his long years of service.

He enjoyed all comforts which a common man could afford. He had a gramophone, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire. Public opinion surveys revealed that his opinions about men and matters had nothing offensive. In peace, he enjoyed peace and in war, he went to war when he was called upon. Like many ordinary citizens, he was also married and had five children and at that time population experts considered that this was the right number for any parent. Teachers reported that he never interfered with his children’s education.

Auden concludes his poem very sarcastically saying that he may not ask the citizen a question that whether he was happy. The question, the poet feels, is absurd. If anything had happened wrong, it would certainly have been reported.

Thus, Auden represents through the character of the unknown citizen, modern man who is reduced to a part of a machine. He has no individuality. He accepted the views of the state, without any resistance. So the government was happy with him, but the citizens cannot be called happy in any true sense of the word, as the citizen never enjoyed the benefits of freedom. He lived like a slave without any opinion which could be called his own.

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