Analyzing the Irony in “The Unknown Citizen”

Analyzing the Irony in “The Unknown Citizen”

The United States of America is a minor power nation. It does not have the human resources to counter unemployment and facilitate the citizen’s security. The above statement is pure irony. According to Mirriam Webster dictionary, the irony is a word or phrase that means the opposite of what is said. In real sense, the United States is a superpower. It has more than adequate resources to counter unemployment. Research has indicated that most people, especially from some parts of Africa, are seeking employment in the United States. So saying that the United States does not have adequate employment vacancies is the opposite of reality. However, that is how irony is used in context. The denotation is often different from the connotation of the phrase or a word. Irony incorporates the usage of tools such as ridicule, sarcasm, satire, or juxtaposition in context to pass the message. There are three forms of irony: verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatical irony. Most writers and poets use these aspects of irony to make the piece of work interesting and appealing to the reader. Irony makes a piece of writing fun and more fascinating.  “The Unknown Citizen” is a poem that has significant instances of ironical approaches. (Kim, np). The speaker has incorporated this linguistic device in giving the poem its appealing and amusing effect. This paper focuses on deeply understanding the use of irony by analyzing the poem, “The Unknown Citizen.”

Irony often points out a point or seeks to manipulate the reader’s emotions. As such, there are many ways of interpreting irony. (Booth 67-70).  However, regardless of the interpretation, readers ultimately converge at a contrasting reality. In many sense, irony manipulates the reader’s sense of understanding by contrasting what the reader already knows by presenting a different version of the same. Nonetheless, the speaker is always intent on passing the message from a differing perspective. This creates interest in the reader and finally gets to align with the speaker’s point of view. The title of the poem by W.H Auden is a perfect irony. A reader gets a straight understanding of the title by a glimpse. The unknown citizen depicts a person probably less recognized in society. However, devouring into the poem, one gets a contrasting content from the expected as described by the title. Furthermore, the title creates a situational irony. A citizen is a person recognized and registered in his/her country. One cannot be registered for citizenship if he/she does not meet the standards set forth by the nation. Taking the literal meaning of the title, there can never be unknown citizens. This is because before one gets declared a citizen if a certain country, he/she has to be cleared by the authorities set forth. Unless one is a fraudster or a criminal, you cannot be a citizen who is not known. However, the speaker has the title of the poem. This contradicts what a reader already knows. Such a contrast of reality is called situational irony.

The speaker describes the unknown citizen as a person who lacked freedom and individuality. He is described as a person who went along with the flow. Whenever there was peace, he was for peace. In the same manner, when there was war, he still went. This is a person who totally lacked a stand. He moved along with the wave despite the direction. Such a person has no regard in society and does not command social respect. The speaker further implies the unknown citizen was recognized by anybody. He was only referred by his social number. The irony of this unknown citizen sets in when the speaker describes his character. The unknown citizen is described as a law-abiding citizen, and he even owned radio and a car as the rest of the population. In a sense, one would wonder a non-recognized citizen bothers with abiding by the laws of the state? Such a person was not recognized anywhere within the systems of the state. As such, even if such a person decides to dishonor state laws, he would never be found out. However, the speaker describes him as a law-abiding citizen. This creates a situational irony. The reader would expect such a person to never abide by the laws since he could not be recognized anywhere within the database of the system. However, it does not turn out like so. The speaker depicts the unknown citizen as a law-abiding citizen.

The speaker depicts this unknown citizen as a nobody in society. He was just a worker at the factory who has never been fired. The speaker suggests ironically that the unknown citizen had no spine, that’s why he could not stand for his right. Sarcastically, the speaker describes how unimportant the citizen was. He could not afford to stand for his rights or articulate that which he thinks should be right or wrong. In a sense, it can be understood that such a person lived under the shadow of others in society. Such a person has no say regarding social issues. The unknown citizen is an example of people whose voice has been drowned by society’s view. Their thinking and reasoning are embedded in the social structures, and they cannot provide a solution or a point of view within the society’s settings. Such people are often stigmatized or despised.

He is construed as a nameless figure within the community. He is only popular among his drinking buddies, although he subscribed to a daily newspaper. However, despite all this, no one really knew his name perfect explanation for the speaker’s title probably. Far from that, a person of such depiction commands no respect in society. Such a person is never recognized for anything. He does not have a specific address attached to his locality. Although the speaker hints to us that the unknown citizen was married, no one knows who he was married to neither his children. The speaker does not offer insight into that.  However, the speaker creates a situational irony further through how this character is treated. The speaker states that after his death, the state erected a marble monument in his remembrance. In a sense, one would wonder why the state would get into so much trouble for such a person? What would be that point of the state erecting a monument in remembrance o such an-recognized character? As the reader ponders over the authenticity of the state’s action, one gets to understand what the speaker’s perspective is. The speaker manipulates the reader’s knowledge by creating dramatical irony. In a sense, one gets shocked by how the character is treated after his demise. It also depicts situational irony since the reader does not expect such a faceless individual to be treated in such regard. That realization of being wrong is created by the speaker’s incorporation of several aspects of irony in his work. The ironical approach of the poem by the speaker creates so much fun that intrigues the reader.

The speaker further incorporates irony through impersonation while describing the character. All through the poem, one gets the realization that the unknown citizen’s identity is described passively. He is not allowed to speak anything for himself. All descriptions about him have been created and rendered by an observer, probably a law enforcer or federal agent. The speaker intentionally blurred his description to deny him a sense of individuality. The speaker deliberately uses passivity in depicting his description. This further accentuates the person’s lack of individuality. Furthermore, he was not found by a federal agent or a state officer, instead; he was found by the bureau of statistics. This describes him as just a number and not a person or a breathing individual. This impersonation distances the person from the faceless crowd into obscurity. Additionally, the speaker does not describe the character by his name. Instead the speaker uses impersonal pronoun “one.”  Overly, the speaker creates a character that is far from the reality of individuals. The imagery created in the readers mind aligns to the speaker’s point of view. The speaker further uses obscure words that do not derive any meaning in the contextualized usage. Such words as “saints” create imagery further from the reality which is what the speaker intends. He creates a character that is distanced from the reality and the world people are living by denying him identity and individualistic features. Such contemplated dehumanization is meant to intensify the ironical approach employed by the speaker.

The speaker further incorporates irony by punctuating words not supposed to be punctuated. By capitalizing some of these words, the speaker creates a far from the reality irony. Some of these words include: “Union,” “Social Psychology,” etc. the speaker capitalizes words that should not be capitalized. By doing so, the speaker punctures the real meaning of the words to sound pompous and so formal. This creates a feeling of these agencies being more crucial and vital than the human. In a sense, the speaker could have capitalized the name of the persona. However, the speaker does not even gibe the persona an identity. The speaker do not hesitate capitalizing words which are not supposed to be capitalized. He portrays these agencies being more important compared to human life. This is because, the speaker ought to have given the persona a clearly defined identity other than describing him using impersonal pronoun. The speaker is hinting on human beings serving these governments agencies which are supposed to serve us. (Simpson,np)

Irony can also be represented through a tone. (Curran,279-293). In the poem, the speaker employs a disdainfull tone while describing the characters life. To start off, the speaker seems to celebrate the demise of the unknown citizen. However, the irony is deeply embedded in the tonal context of the wordings. Getting a deeper analysis of the tone used by the speaker, one gets to comprehend the contextual usage of the ironical tone the speaker employs. Taking a critical analysis of the personas life, everything he did was approved by the system. This is to say he was a compliance of the states requirement. He adored the rules so much that even his personal decisions were impacted by the regulations. In school, the speaker portrays an image of a less concerned father. He does not bother about his children’s education. He does not question his teachers neither does he bother about consulting with hi children’s teachers. He is depicted as person who cares lees. But a further analysis of the poem, describes him as a person who cannot stand for his rights or his beliefs. As such, he follows the wave despite the direction followed. The ironical tone here is condescending. All the personas private issues are approved and accredited by the government’s agencies. The real meaning the speaker was passing with the tone, is disapproval of such action. the speaker depicts him as a fool, stupid or a morron. However, the speaker does not directly describe him as such. Only by paying close attention to the disdainful tone the speaker employs, can one get the deeper meaning embedded in the condescending tone. As such, one can see that tonal variation can be used ironically to disguise derogative and disrespect comments. Such comments that are demeaning and seemingly despising, could be dressed through ironical tonal variation to reduce the sting caused by the direct usage if the words.

In conclusion, irony is a feature of style that is used to create a contrasting reality from what is already know. There are three types of iron; verbal, dramatical and situational irony. Verbal irony is witnessed from verbal usage of words or phrases that mean differently from the real meaning. Whenever a situation turns out to be different from the reality expected, it is referred to as situational irony. On the other hand, when a character does not know a thing that the reader knows is called dramatical irony. All these aspects of irony are meant to create a fascinating and amusing appeal to the reader. As witnessed from the poem discussed above, most writers incorporate irony to manipulate the reader’s sense of understanding, which ultimately creates the amusement.

Works Cited

Curran, Stuart. “Romantic Poetry: The I Altered.” Romantic Writings. Routledge, 2017. 279-293.

Kim, Yoon. “Irony In W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unknown Citizen””. Owlcation, 2019, https://owlcation.com/humanities/irony_Auden_unknown_citizen. Accessed 16 Dec 2019.

Booth, Wayne C. A rhetoric of irony. Vol. 641. University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Simpson, David. Irony and Authority in Romantic Poetry. Macmillan, 1979.