W. H. Auden was a social critic from the early 20th century and wrote this poem shortly after he arrived in the US from Great Brittain. Auden interestingly takes on the voice of someone – presumably from the government – compiling statistics on the “Unknown Citizen” but does not take on a specific voice to the extent that the speaker can easily be the “general” government employee. The statistics that he (I mean he only in the general sense) compiles on this “Unknown Citizen” are of an official nature in the sense that they are as factual as possible and can all be gathered without any contact with the “citizen.” Moving through the poem these lists of facts are simply viewed as an argument that the “citizen” was a true citizen in every way and perhaps they try to give him some form of identity- he is unknown after all. But giving him an identity is strange in the way that they know who he is – strictly speaking (his name. etc.) – so what more could they hope to know? The speaker is looking for his soul – simply put the part of him that gave him life – he seeks to answer the question: what did he live for?

click here for a recording of the poem

The Unknown Citizen

W. H. Auden

(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
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.
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,
(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.
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,
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,
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:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

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