Version 1
: Received: 23 February 2020 / Approved: 24 February 2020 / Online: 24 February 2020 (02:26:06 CET)
How to cite:
Christinawati, C.; Pandin, M. The Representation of Modern Government in W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unkown Citizen”. Preprints2020, 2020020339. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202002.0339.v1
Christinawati, C.; Pandin, M. The Representation of Modern Government in W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unkown Citizen”. Preprints 2020, 2020020339. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202002.0339.v1
Christinawati, C.; Pandin, M. The Representation of Modern Government in W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unkown Citizen”. Preprints2020, 2020020339. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202002.0339.v1
APA Style
Christinawati, C., & Pandin, M. (2020). The Representation of Modern Government in W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unkown Citizen”. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202002.0339.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Christinawati, C. and Moses Pandin. 2020 "The Representation of Modern Government in W. H. Auden’s Poem “The Unkown Citizen”" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202002.0339.v1
Abstract
This study aims to identify modern bureaucratic government phenomenon expressed in W.H. Auden’s poem “The Unknown Citizen” (UC). This phenomenon will be revealed through the use of figures of speech, symbols and imagery in the poem. This poem is chosen as the object of the study since phenomenon happened in the poem represents people’s life and government practice in the modern era. Government, in the poem, seems to be very dominant. Its bureaucratic apparatus is powerful. Through its sophisticated technology, the bureau of statistics is able to detect the citizen’s identity. But, ironically, it could have not identified UC’s name as he lived in the world. He, then, was honored by the state by being erected the marble monument. The poem is analyzed by applying phenomenological criticism. The analysis finds that the representation of modern government is expressed through symbols emphasized by dramatic irony and supported by the use of internal sensation imagery. UC is the allegory of the average person with his bravery he sacrifices for the country. The state ought to give him an honor. In this poem Auden, actually, wants to write a parody for establishing monuments in some countries to honor the struggles of their soldiers who died in the World War I. Those monuments are really tombs since the function of a monument is a state’s thanksgiving for their sacrifice.
Keywords
citizen; modern government; monument; phenomenon; representation; statistics
Subject
Arts and Humanities, Literature and Literary Theory
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.