Texts are subjective constructs which represent a composer’s perspective on political motivations, thus revealing the reasons for and the impact of these particular political acts on individual lives. Composers select the textual form which most effectively conveys their perspectives and ideas, elucidating the reasons behind political acts. The repercussions of such motivations are evident in the implementation of power and control which may result in corrosion of humanity. Auden’s poems ‘The Unknown Citizen’ and ‘September 1st 1939’ effectively explore these ideas whilst responding to their respective contexts, illustrating the impact of political acts and portraying the dehumanising nature of despotic political agendas and the motivations behind them.
In ‘September’ Auden explores the ramifications and reasons for political motivations, examining the influence of these acts on individual lives. The poem is a scathing critique of America’s reaction to Nazi Germany invading Poland, which signalled the commencement of WW2. Auden castigates the complacency and apathy of the US towards the war, exposing their underlying vulnerability to the conflict. He employs personification, ‘waves of anger and fear circulate over the bright and darkened lands of the earth’, depicting the sense of anxiety and dread permeating through the US, whilst the juxtaposition of ‘bright’ and ‘darkened’ depicts the ubiquitous impacts of the war, conveying the invasive nature of political acts and their influence on individual lives. He utilises visual imagery, ‘faces along the bar cling to their average day’, capturing the complacency and mediocrity of everyday American lives and denouncing their refusal to acknowledge the conflict overseas. Auden manipulates the metaphor, ‘make this fort assume the furniture of home’, demonstrating the false sense of security constructed by the American people and exposing their true vulnerability through the metaphor of the ‘fort’, therefore implicating the desperation of Americans to continue living under the false premise of safety. Auden also ironically likens the US to lost children by alluding to mythologies, ‘lest we should see where we are, lost in a haunted wood, children afraid of the night’, portraying the hidden fears of the individuals. Auden’s manipulation of language shapes socio-political insight into the necessity of an unconstrained voice in breaking through the chains of apathy and complacency towards institutions that have been eroding our free will and choice, thereby impacting humanity.
In ‘September’, Auden informs us of how political acts impact individuals, in a context of America’s apathy towards Germany’s invasion of Poland, representing a society whose detachment stems from ignorant optimism and wilful blindness. Auden communicates the need for meaningful action against totalitarian powers, achieved through pointing out the competing ideas of power and conflict in the US, ‘proclaim strength of collective man… pours its vain competitive excuse.’ Auden highlights these constructs as a symbol and testament to the vast power, technology, progress and modernity that the US possesses. Yet, this is all undermined by their ignorance of the injustice around them. Furthermore, the word ‘competitive,’ can be seen as a direct criticism towards capitalist societies whose belief is that wealth equates to power and are ironically less inclined to fight. This satirical depiction puts us in a position to feel disdain at the complacency that such states have. ‘Who can release them now, who can reach the dead, who can speak for the dumb?’ He uses a biblical allusion to say that his voice will be the one to guide and free us. This is instantly juxtaposed with the soft and gentle, ‘All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie, the romantic lie in the brain,’ the impact of which is only accentuated with the cathartic resolution. His unrestrained voice can destroy the illusions or propaganda in people’s heads, the pretty lies and comfort that apathy brings, and confront his audience with the political impacts and realities of war on the individual.
‘Citizen’ conveys Auden’s profound concern for the modern world in that citizens in the totalitarian socialist state will have no scope to develop their initiative or to assert their individuality. The citizen’s life is summarised in terms of the bureaucracy as he is monitored and capitalised by ‘his Union’, ‘Social Psychology workers’, and ‘the Press’. Each of these are capitalised to show their importance and control, in contrast to the subject who is always referred to as ‘he’ in lower case. The apathetic nature of the citizen and the authority of the State are evident in the language used to describe what he has not done rather than what he did, ‘no official complaint’, ‘never got fired’. This use of negative language implies that what one doesn’t do is just as relevant and strictly regulated as what one does. The poem indicates that the citizen led a life of docility and submissiveness which undoubtedly led to a happy, ‘contented’ life; however the final lines ‘was he free? Was he happy…’ point out the loss of humanity and individuality and the dismissal of this as a concept by a totalitarian society. The implication that his life must have been ‘happy’ and freedom is a notion that is ‘absurd’ is a final confident evaluation of the control that the State had over the life of the citizen. This is evident through the affirmation that ‘we should certainly have heard’. This therefore indicates that political acts and statistics cannot sum up an individual and physical facts are inadequate to evaluate an individual’s happiness and the impacts that political acts have on character.
In ‘Citizen’ Auden highlights the disempowered role of the individual and the increasingly faceless bureaucracy that can arise in any country, with any type of government, through its satirical and disturbing nature. The rhyme scheme shows that, while some of the rhymes are close together, in couplets, triplets or in alternate lines, ‘complaint/saint’ and ‘population/generation’, other rhyming lines are faint, ‘fudge motors Inc./liked a drink’ and ‘declare/Frigidaire’. The language in the poem is simple and straightforward. It is also impersonal, with no feeling. ‘He was married and added five children to the population’. The use of the word ‘added’ suggests that the Unknown Citizen and his family were statistics, not people. It is delivered in a monotonous tone, utilising the passive voice, ‘he was found’, and ‘policies taken out in his name’, which is a reflection of the bureaucracy under which the citizen served. The satiric tone of the poem accentuates the ridiculous lengths a totalitarian government will go to control its citizens and then portray this control as care and concern. Auden thereby satirises the implications for the individual through this reduction. The poem is a powerful reminder to us all that the state, the government, the bureaucracy we all help create, can become a faceless, indifferent and often cruel machine. It’s a reminder of the potential dangers inherent in any system of government, in any bureaucracy, how the individual can lose their unique identity and become a non-person without a voice.
Auden’s poetry exhibits a harsh dissension between people and politics, due to oppressive diplomatic regimes which suppress human individuality. Political truth is regarded as a fluid concept that is constantly re-evaluated depending on contextual events, through the form of the composers fervent representations, reflecting Auden’s cautionary view towards government oppression and how political acts impact individual lives.