The Use of Irony Tone In “The Unknown Citizen”
The use of ironic tone is a writer 's attitude he uses to express toward their subject, sometime conveyed using exaggeration, and sarcasm. In some poems, Irony is often used for satirical writing, which generally criticizes its subject. The uses of irony tone in “The Unknown Citizen”, by W.H. Auden have strong sarcasm and ridicule the government. The poem is about a bureaucrat 's report of a common man. The report describes the standardization of contemporary life, which is at odds with the value involved: individual freedom. "The Unknown Citizen,” can be interpreted as a cautionary message against losing the humanity among the bureaucracy of the twentieth century. The story shows the poet’s profound …show more content…
The use of ironic tone in the narrative structure of the poem sometimes becomes sarcasm pretending to otherwise imply or express displeasure towards the government. For instance, while the speaker calls the man, “in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint” (4), he only knows this because of the research prior to the event. Auden uses irony to satirize the value of the man. The narrative structure of the poem represents an address of the legal representative. The statue only has a reference number JS/07/M/378 “this Marble Monument is Erected by the State” (Aden 71) because the government 's behavior is more important than the man himself. This symbolism is a descriptive language that reveals what Auden thinks about government 's behavior. The representative is talking about how the man performs all the correct tasks throughout his life. The state does not care whether or not the man “was popular with his mates and liked a drink" (13) so long as he "wasn 't a scab or odd in his views" …show more content…
The speaker reveals that the man had served the state in every aspect of his life and was requite to show other people the benefit of doing the same . On the other hand, the poem states that “there was no official complaint” (2) against this model man, and it goes so far as to say “he was a saint” (4). The tone here is sarcastic because the speaker describes more of the man 's qualities for the purpose to show people what a model citizen should be like. Therefore, Auden explains that the man "never got fired, / but satisfied his employers" (7-8) and "paid his dues" (10) on time. By doing all this things, the citizen "had everything necessary to the Modern Man, / a phonograph, a radio, a car and Frigidaire”(20-21); these lines have an ironic tone because the speaker explains that questioning whether or not the citizen was happy "is absurd" (28) because only the man 's servitude to the state is important.
As a final point, in some line of the poem “The Unknown Citizen” contains dramatic irony, a type of irony in poetry in which a speaker says something that carries meaning beyond his own knowledge. For example, “Our researchers into Public Opinion are content /that he held the proper opinions for the time of year,” “yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his view” (72). The meanings of these expressions are negative because show the readers how the speaker admires lack
The use of ironic tone is a writer 's attitude he uses to express toward their subject, sometime conveyed using exaggeration, and sarcasm. In some poems, Irony is often used for satirical writing, which generally criticizes its subject. The uses of irony tone in “The Unknown Citizen”, by W.H. Auden have strong sarcasm and ridicule the government. The poem is about a bureaucrat 's report of a common man. The report describes the standardization of contemporary life, which is at odds with the value involved: individual freedom. "The Unknown Citizen,” can be interpreted as a cautionary message against losing the humanity among the bureaucracy of the twentieth century. The story shows the poet’s profound …show more content…
The use of ironic tone in the narrative structure of the poem sometimes becomes sarcasm pretending to otherwise imply or express displeasure towards the government. For instance, while the speaker calls the man, “in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint” (4), he only knows this because of the research prior to the event. Auden uses irony to satirize the value of the man. The narrative structure of the poem represents an address of the legal representative. The statue only has a reference number JS/07/M/378 “this Marble Monument is Erected by the State” (Aden 71) because the government 's behavior is more important than the man himself. This symbolism is a descriptive language that reveals what Auden thinks about government 's behavior. The representative is talking about how the man performs all the correct tasks throughout his life. The state does not care whether or not the man “was popular with his mates and liked a drink" (13) so long as he "wasn 't a scab or odd in his views" …show more content…
The speaker reveals that the man had served the state in every aspect of his life and was requite to show other people the benefit of doing the same . On the other hand, the poem states that “there was no official complaint” (2) against this model man, and it goes so far as to say “he was a saint” (4). The tone here is sarcastic because the speaker describes more of the man 's qualities for the purpose to show people what a model citizen should be like. Therefore, Auden explains that the man "never got fired, / but satisfied his employers" (7-8) and "paid his dues" (10) on time. By doing all this things, the citizen "had everything necessary to the Modern Man, / a phonograph, a radio, a car and Frigidaire”(20-21); these lines have an ironic tone because the speaker explains that questioning whether or not the citizen was happy "is absurd" (28) because only the man 's servitude to the state is important.
As a final point, in some line of the poem “The Unknown Citizen” contains dramatic irony, a type of irony in poetry in which a speaker says something that carries meaning beyond his own knowledge. For example, “Our researchers into Public Opinion are content /that he held the proper opinions for the time of year,” “yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his view” (72). The meanings of these expressions are negative because show the readers how the speaker admires lack