“The Unknown Citizen,” a poem written by WH Auden, alludes to a time of great change in American history, where the poem is meant to mocking the government's view of the perfect model for an unrealistic and impractical citizen. The author, WH Auden, writes and intends the historical context of his poem to be in the late 1930s when America was going through the Great Depression. Citizens were losing any sense of nationalism about America and began to have a negative view of the government. During this period, the government had also begun distributing Social Security cards with personalized federal numbers to American citizens, which was a hallmark of the depersonalization of the American political system. As a result, the tone is one of mockery, satire and above all irony. The ironic aspect is evident in some of the following aspects of the poem: the speaker, the speaker's portrayal, the audience, the speaker's situation, the incongruity between the character's words and the situation, the use diction, use of humor and originality. characteristics of the poem. The author's poem is told from the point of view of a member of the American state or government; however, the author and speaker are different people in this particular poem. Textual evidence of the poem's speaker is evident in the poem's parenthetical title: "This marble monument is erected by the State." In this case, "the State" is the U.S. government, since the speaker is a member of the State. The State closely monitors an American citizen who constitutes in the eyes of the government a perfect model for his fellow citizens. In addition, the speaker supports his political journey by reporting his sources on how he discovers the citizen...... middle of paper ...... like going to war, but also his private life, like having children. Thus, the title is ironic and represents the author's satirical point of view which indirectly comments on the total control of the state over its citizens. Thus, “The Unknown Citizen” reveals irony. The poem is a bitter satire against forms of government that only want their citizens to conform to the standards of government. The state recognizes the unknown citizen for his compliance with government rules and carefully examines and records all aspects of his life. In turn, the speaker of the poem, a member of the state, poses two rhetorical questions to the audience at the end to determine the relevance of the citizen's happiness. The state treats the citizen as an individual when describing his life, but marks him as a number like everyone else; therefore, the tone of the poem is pure irony.