Please scan the poem "The Unknown Citizen."

The politicians of every nation express their respect and
honor perfunctorily to the memories of the martyrs who had laid down their lives in
safeguarding the country by building an impressive monument dedicated to the 'Unknown
Soldier,' and visiting this monument occasionally to place a wreath on it. This is a
charade which became popular especially after World War
I.

Auden's ironic poem "The Unknown Citizen" sarcastically
suggests that the anonymous ordinary citizen also deserves a similar monument for
conforming exactly to the rules and regulations of a mediocre modern civilization. Just
like how the monument of the 'unknown soldier' will never reveal the true feelings of
the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in serving their country, the modern state will
never know, leave alone care whether the 'unknown citizen' was free and
happy:

Was he free? Was he
happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have
heard.

The poem is a
bitter satire against  modern forms of government whose only aim is that all its
citizens conform to its sterile norms. The  'unknown' citizen who is only given a number
- JS/07 M 378 - sacrifices his unique personality  by abiding by the norms of the state
to 'serve the Greater Community.'  By doing so he is canonized by the state which honors
him with a marble monument!

The rhyme scheme of "The
Unknown Citizen" is irregular and it alternates between a few different, simple rhyme
schemes.

The poem begins with an ABAB pattern, but then
changes to a rhyming couplet (AA, BB,) after which it becomes very irregular. Some of
the rhymes are sandwiched between other rhymes. For instance lines 8-13, which follow
the pattern ABBCCA ; and Auden very erratically rhymes 'Inc' with 'drink' five lines
later:these two words are so far away that one might not even realize he was
rhyming.

Finally, the rhythm of the poem roughly centers on
the anapest, a metrical foot that has two unstressed beats followed by a stressed
beat:

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"He was FOUND
by the BUReau of
STAtistics to BE"

So the rhythm of
the poem can be characterized as largely Anapestic Tetrameter.