The Unknown Citizen And Wb Auden Analysis

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

Auden’s poem is a criticism of human perceptions and how we use them to detect, or suppress human suffering. In the first half of the poem Auden “compares versions of indifference by portraying youth and age, animals, and humans” (Shmoop, 2014). In the first few lines of the poem, Auden comments on the perceptions of the “Old Masters” and how they were never wrong in their discernment of suffering. He then compares the old masters perceptions to the perceptions of children and animals and how they are unaware of,

William Butler Yeats is one of the most esteemed poets in 20th century literature and is well known for his Irish poetry. While Yeats was born in Ireland, he spent most of his adolescent years in London with his family. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he later moved back to Ireland. He attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and joined the Theosophical Society soon after moving back. He was surrounded by Irish influences most of his life, but it was his commitment to those influences and his heritage that truly affected his poetry. William Butler Yeats’s poetry exemplifies how an author’s Irish identity can help create and influence his work.

The W.H. Auden of the 1930s is quite a different man compared to his to his 1940s counterpart. Not only did his personal viewpoints and opinions dramatically change, but his but the subjects of his poems also demonstrated a marked shift. Characterized by powerful political rhetoric, his earlier work may appear to have little in common with his later poems, which examined religious themes. However, while the subject matter of Auden’s work changes, his poems consistently forcing the audience to reexamine their own world views.

This poem is also about Art, and the Irish people's response to it. It is structured around the contrast between the Yeats' dream to write for the Irish people, and the reality.

However both poets created a smaller target group to aim their poetry at. Auden’s piece focuses heavily on the idea that all life should be stopped so the mourning can endure the silence and fully feel the pain of the death. This poem could also be seen to be targeted at people that have deeply loved a passed loved one. A deep love, that in order for people to understand life won’t end they need to be stuck in silence for a period of time. Auden wanted his audience to feel like death is the worst thing to happen in life and although it’s horrible for those that are gone those who feel worst are the ones that are left behind. Because of this Auden works on bringing thoughts of the pain of separation in his

The theme mortality was expressed in similar manners but had opposite meanings in “When I have fears that I may cease to be” by John Keats and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman. Bits and pieces of nature were used to personify mortality. Additional historical context showed that the poems are reflections of their respective authors’ view on mortality. The interpreted meanings of the theme from the poems were greatly different. Despite being written four decades apart, similarities between the poems were rampant.

A hero is described as a person admired or idolized for courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities. Typically, when honoring a hero, a person would list the traits such as bravery, selflessness, and humility that distinguish the hero as noble and outstanding. Imagine worshiping a hero with no specific identity. In the poem, “The Unknown Citizen” by W. H. Auden the government tries to commemorate a man they only know the records and documents of. Auden uses irony, symbolism, and the structure of a eulogy to evaluate the disconnect between the government's idea of a model citizen and a person's individuality and personality; that disconnect suggests large government lacks genuine care for its citizens.

     “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden, is a commentary on government and the materialism of modern man. The poem is written in the form of an obituary inscribed on a monument built by the government in commemoration of an average, upstanding, and decent community member. Throughout the passage, the speaker lists facts about the citizen’s life which he believes prove that the deceased was a valuable person. In actuality these facts represent nothing more than the socially accepted values and actions instilled in society by materialistic views. This makes the government appear unconcerned with the true thoughts and feelings of its people, seeing them only as statistics. We can see this in the subtitle “To

Here he accepts life with Joy and Sorrow. Before Ode to Auttumn, Keats is a poet with an insatiable desire for the joy of life but in the ode Keats reaches a stage of impersonality where the process of death and decay are acceptable to him. It is the most perfect of the odes of Keats. Keats with all his poetic qualities is here in the poem which has a unique and perfect expression even the severest critic finds no fault. In it there is no looking before and after, no pining for what is not, but a complete negation of his own self. It is an objective presentation of the truth of life. The poem was written at a time when Keats had a lot of pain and adversity around him. Tom was already dead, Goerge wanted to go to America and Keats being the eldest had to arrange for money. His own love for Fanny Brawne was a cause of much agony for him. There is much pain at the back but the delights of literature are also with him. The Sunday walk by the River Itchen proved soothing and he drank deep the screne beauty of nature which resulted in his Ode to Autumn. Keats narrates a beautiful season to us and he does it in an objective way, “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness/ Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;/ Conspiring with him how to load and bless/ With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run.” (Garrod,

Life was a prominent subject in nineteenth century literature. Poems, books, and even everyday conversations contemplated the topic. From exploring its meaning, its purpose, and its impact, individuals were obsessed with it. Two such pundits were Philip Freneau and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They accepted the challenge and broached the subject of life in their poetry. Their perspectives, however, were anything but concurrent. By focusing on Freneau’s “The Wild Honey Suckle” and Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” the authors’ contrasting views become exceptionally clear. While one valued humility and acknowledgment of human fragility, the other sought to spark ambition and enliven a sense of dutiful perseverance. Paying close attention to the time frame in which each author wrote is also significant in identifying the reason behind such differing perspectives. Not only does the era play a part, but also each writer’s personal beliefs and values. Freneau was extremely realistic and literal; Longfellow was optimistic and indicative. Taking an in-depth look at each author respectively and analyzing their contrasting opinions as well as their reasoning facilitates a deeper understanding of not only the writers but the works themselves. If one thing is agreed upon, it’s that life truly is short; however, its purpose is entirely subject to opinion.

Auden was an innovative and influential poet. During his lifetime he tried to write in every possible poetic form. His importance to poetry is so great that his influence, like Eliot’s has become almost a subconscious one. It is his choice of words and the particular care with language that had an

Yeats’ elegy, details a metaphoric spiritual journey of renewal to “the holy city” seeking intellectual refuge within an “artifice of eternity” (Yeats, Lines 16,24). His use of figurative language elicits both the somber and nostalgic tones evident throughout the poem. Metaphorically, the speaker emphasizes the theme of obsolescence by alluding to his own physical limitations and concern for his own mortality living in a “country” unfit for “old men” among

Several conflicts are dramatized in The Unknown Citizen, the most prominent being: conformity of the middle class, government manipulation, and the loss of individualism to the standards of an average citizen. The speaker of this poem is non-traditional as the poem is, in fact, an inscription on a “marble monument erected by the State.” The inscription is dedicated to a “JS/07 M 378”—presumably, “The Unknown Citizen,” although this term only appears in the title. The Unknown Citizen is essentially an elegy, a lament for the dead, written by either a government official or a strong believer in the government. This becomes clear

It is difficult to make poetry with commentary on social and political issues. It is even more difficult to make poetry with commentary on social and political views that is both enjoyable and humorous. Poet W.H. Auden did this. As the 1930s seemed to be drawing closer towards war, Auden became a leading spokesman of his generation, a political writer who warned against dangers that are caused by totalitarianism. His socialism and distrust of nationalism during this period was strong, influenced mostly by his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, but his social views were always more complex labels that were given to him. Three works of Auden that can be analysed are “September 1, 1939”, “The Unknown Citizen”, and “Funeral Blues” all by