An Audio Guide to Poetry Recitation - 31. "The Unknown Citizen"

An Audio Guide to Poetry Recitation - 31. "The Unknown Citizen"


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Sometimes a story is as much about the speaker as the person being described. In W. H. Auden's satirical poem The Unknown Citizen, the bureaucratic speaker is as important as the ananomous citizen being described. Listen to Alfred Molina capture both sides of the story.

The Unknown Citizen
by W. H. Auden
[Read by Alfred Molina]

(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.
 

所有跟帖： 

• 天路 -走馬讀人- ♂ (160 bytes) () 01/17/2015 postreply 04:03:03

• Nice poem and nice description. Thanks 肖莊 for sharing, have a ni -南山鬆- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/17/2015 postreply 05:49:57

• 問好走馬兄和鬆鬆，周末快樂！ -肖莊- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/17/2015 postreply 21:13:40