The Unknown Citizen

After reading the poem "The Unknown Citizen" I found that it had many things going well for it. I thought the poem was clear and easy to understand because of the language that was used. This poem had Symbols to go along with its theme as well. These literary elements make the story a more enjoyable experience and make the theme understandable when most poems struggle to make their theme clear. The story praises an unknown citizen to the point where it almost sounds like a joke. The Unknown Citizen's life was so "perfect" that he did not distinguish himself from anyone else.

This poem is about a regular person just like the everyday average Joe who happens to be the ideal citizen. The unknown citizen has died at some point which makes this poem an Elegy. An Elegy is a poem that deals with death or mourning. We can figure this out because the speaker refers to him in past tense." That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint" (Clugston, 2010 section 12.1) refers to the fact that he is no longer with them.

Practically the entire poem used symbols as a means to represent the main character. "That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint" (Clugston, 2010 section 12.1). They refer to the main character as a saint meaning that he could do no wrong and was a good person. The poem also goes on to say that he wasn't a scab or odd in his views. In life a scab is something that comes after a wound and looks out of place on your body, what this says about the main character is that he never was apart or did anything that would wound the country and or get involved with anything suspicious.

This story is about a man who was so perfect that he had not accomplished any personal achievements of note. The poem even mocks the nameless protagonist by saying "And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured" " (Clugston, 2010 section 12.1), joking that he actually healed the hospital instead of the hospital healing him. The theme goes with the title because it is mocking a man so perfect and ordinary that he has no name because we do not remember him.

I thought that these literary elements added to the story overall. My opinion of the story was strengthened by the fact that these elements made the story easier to understand. After assessing the poem I did tend to lend towards how these elements added to the theme of the entire story, however I only did this because the poem and its elements worked well together and the Arthur did an amazing job depicting the nameless protagonist.

In all, this story tied several key literary elements together to create an interesting poem. With easy to read language and a poem that flowed together. After reading the poem the Arthur gets across his point that being perfect is not all what it's cracked up to be. The perfect citizen went down as someone ordinary because