The Unknown Citizen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CDCEDCFGHIIJJHKCKLML NOONPNNPQRQNQGG| To JS M This Marble Monument | A |
| Is Erected by the State | B |
| - | |
| He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be | C |
| One against whom there was no official complaint | D |
| And all the reports on his conduct agree | C |
| That in the modern sense of an old fashioned word he was a | E |
| saint | D |
| For in everything he did he served the Greater Community | C |
| Except for the War till the day he retired | F |
| He worked in a factory and never got fired | G |
| But satisfied his employers Fudge Motors Inc | H |
| Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views | I |
| For his Union reports that he paid his dues | I |
| Our report on his Union shows it was sound | J |
| And our Social Psychology workers found | J |
| That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink | H |
| The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day | K |
| And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every | C |
| way | K |
| Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured | L |
| And his Health card shows he was once in hospital but left it | M |
| cured | L |
| Both Producers Research and High Grade Living declare | N |
| He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan | O |
| And had everything necessary to the Modern Man | O |
| A phonograph a radio a car and a frigidaire | N |
| Our researchers into Public Opinion are content | P |
| That he held the proper opinions for the time of year | N |
| When there was peace he was for peace when there was war | N |
| he went | P |
| He was married and added five children to the population | Q |
| Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of | R |
| his generation | Q |
| And our teachers report that he never interfered with their | N |
| education | Q |
| Was he free Was he happy The question is absurd | G |
| Had anything been wrong we should certainly have heard | G |
W. H. Auden
(2)
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