https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s Post themes. en-us 2017-03-15 06:45:26 UTC 2017-04-10 15:57:17 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165702115 The poet's diction creates an undertone of sarcasm. Auden uses names like "Bureau of Statistics" and "Social Psychology" to make the poem sound like an official government report (1, 12). The author sounds educated and truthful. Auden uses words like "phonograph" and "Frigidaire" to place the unknown citizen in the time leading up to World War II (21). The poet wields the diction to work his way into our mindset about the poem. It seems to be supporting, even praising, the man's normality. Just as we start to believe this, Auden questions, "was he free? Was he happy? The questions absurd..."(30). This exposes the true argument of the poem. Auden argues that a person cannot perfectly conform to social norms and be happy. The unknown citizen is so caught up in being normal that he cannot express himself or come to know who he truly is. No one cares if the citizen is happy either. Society only cares that he is as he should be, shown by the word "absurd" (30). Auden subtly contorts the usage of words normal to the day to bash social norms.]]> 2017-04-10 15:33:47 UTC https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165702115 gallimimus63 https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165702768 Auden uses imagery to further his criticism of the Age of Conformity. The author contrasts the Unknown Citizen to a "scab" in an effort to undermine the Citizen's compliance (9). By listing he New Age necessities possessed by both the Citizen and the "Modern Man", Auden portrays the citizen as another ant in an anthill (20). The use of imagery throughout the poem highlights the consistencies of society in Auden's time. It is also important to note the use of satire when interpreting the text. Auden's analysis of Americans during the Age of Conformity is critical because of his experience in a foreign society.   The use of imagery in this poem is scarce, but when it is used, it paints a picture of coherence in America as he criticizes it.]]> 2017-04-10 15:36:03 UTC https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165702768 cssmith2 https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165703614 The poem, "The Unknown Citizen," utilizes the description of daily life to emphasize the normal aspects of the citizen. His life is catalogued in a monotonous feature that further emphasizes the unknown. First, he "served" his community, and worked in a factory, the "Fudge Motors Inc" (5,8). These details epitomize the ordinary and normal nature of the citizens' animation. Apart from physical tasks, the citizen possessed no unique mind of his own. The fact that he held no radical view and "his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way"(14-15) shows no distinctive personality. Another normal detail is his family life; "he was married" and had "five children" show a monotonous life (25). Together, these details strengthen the author's purpose of portraying the unknown citizen as being normal. ]]> 2017-04-10 15:38:48 UTC https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165703614 brnewby https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165704542 In the poem, "The Unknown Citizen," Auden creates the sentences into one stanza, which creates the idea that the poem is one thought. He utilizes the sentences in a way that makes his poems seem like bullet points. The poem seems to be a satirical elegy, meaning he is making fun of the dead man. His sentence structure varies; he switches between simple and compound many times. By capitalizing the words at the beginning of each line, the author creates a sense of importance for the individual lines and helps with the flow of the poem. He uses rhetorical questions such as, "Was he free? Was he happy?", which emphasizes how he wraps up the poem as a whole and leaves the reader thinking (29). Auden also utilizes many couplets such as "retired" and "fired" ( 6-7) and "sound and found" (11-12), and this makes the readers stop and think about the purpose. Auden's sentence structure helps with the development of the poem.]]> 2017-04-10 15:41:43 UTC https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165704542 mlallen1 https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165705122 In the poem "The Unknown Citizen", the language used is informative, simple, and informal. The poem states facts about the man's life and list the reasons why the man gets to be memorialized. He was a good man and could have been considered a "saint" (4). The diction is very simple which causes the language to appear to be directed towards the average population. It is informal which allows the reader to connect with the unknown citizen as just an average person. The language was very emotionally detached and fairly straight forward. The citizen is described as detached and normal because "his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way" (14-15). He was a normal man because he was a husband and a father of "five children", which was "the right number" of children to have during the time (25, 26). This style of language allows the poet to clearly convey his message about individuality.]]> 2017-04-10 15:43:30 UTC https://padlet.com/savannahmartins/h8p39p4bkc9s/wish/165705122