"The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden

Music: Message To Bears - To Make A Portrait
Speaker: Tom O'Bedlam (SpokenVerse)
Full poem:
(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.
Video: All royalty free from on Pexels.com
#Auden #WHAuden

[@itsjaveriaaa]

raise the volume of the music more, i can still hear the poem.

[@boxfox2945]

😂

[@kephaminiga6239]

Society and it's victims. Uncountable I must say

[@DeathYaahdude]

I like this video the best ik the music mut it was the only way I could remember

[@sublimeister9630]

Amazing poem. Just heard it just now… This one is right up there with Bob Dylan’s Workingman’s Blues. 👍😃

[@laurainel]

Love the poem, love the reader but frustrated by the loud music…how unfortunate.😢

[@alexkozhukhar8979]

Discovered tonight WH. It's an exciting poetry. Really like it even I need to translate some of the words or read through twice.

[@Dave-Sepesy]

When there was war, he went.

[@johnsimpson225]

The clutches of mediocrity pull at us all, taking nothing, and leaving nothing as well. So it is easy to fall into those hands, held wide. And there is no shame in that. For we all need a normal

[@goodfun3709]

The sound of the music is louder than the sound of the speaker in the end of the poem

[@BawzGames]

Jan van der wiel may we one day meet

[@skh2978]

Use headphones for this one. Maybe while riding a subway or a train to work.

[@RodentHunter]

The music is there to avoid copyright infringement. Of course he is not going to state that reason here on KZbin.

[@schechter01]

Conformity... It is necessary to some extent, but oh so banal. And at times, oppressive.

[@jon780249]

Please cut the music

[@dwanderful1]

Loud music destroys great poem

[@ammgnero]

The music is getting louder and louder while the narrator's voice getting lower and lower! This is senseless.

[@domagojbodo]

Exactly, why is voice so loud at start? I can’t hear the music…

[@Gabriel-se9el]

@@domagojbodo trying to be too smart there i think

[@waynesmith3767]

Playing music at all is just stupid.

[@suckmyballsihateyoutube]

very insightful poem