This poem is written in a satirical tone which carries on throughout the poem. The poet has chosen to write it in this manner to hide his criticism of the “unknown citizen”. We could see that the entire poem is praising the achievements of this man. The poet describes him as a “saint”, “modern man”, “he was popular with his mates” and “ he was fully sensible”. However, the writer isn’t proud of this model citizen. It is because he conforms to society and follows the rigid rules that are passed by the state. The poet then uses a satirical tone to convey his sentiments toward this man.
The two poetic devices that are used by the poet to emphasize the tone of the poem are rhyme and rhythm. A special rhythm called the anapestic rhythm is used by the poet. The beat of the rhythm makes the poem dull. On the other hand, the last two lines have a different rhythm “Was he happy? Was he free? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.” It is telling the reader that people in that era conformed to the norm and followed what the government felt was right. In addition, they could not think for themselves as this wasn’t allowed in society. Hence, the poet raises up this important concern, are the people happy? It is a technique that allows the readers to finally see the people’s sympathetic situation and to have a climax in the Eulogy. Also, the rhyme scheme of the poem is constant. However, there are a few lines that do not rhyme. I feel that this is done to put emphasis on certain lines that are critical.
The voice that speaks the eulogy is the poet. He is conveying his view of the society as well as what the government wants. The entire Eulogy is talking about how great this man was and what he has contributed to the country. However, this Eulogy is unrealistic as it does not include the person’s character and his true feelings. It is just merely stating facts that the government wanted to hear and not what the person really felt. Therefore the poet wrote this poem to show the readers that in reality, this person should not be proud of what he has done as he is just conforming to his duties as a citizen of that era. Thus the poet wrote the poem in a sarcastic tone to show to the reader what he felt, because by praising his achievements, he is demonstrating the government ideals.
From the phrase “when there was peace, he was for peace; when there is war, he went”. This shows that people in that era do not have a mind of their own. They follow the rules and regulations that were set for them without thinking for themselves. As the “unknown citizen” is the government’s ideal citizen, we can conclude that people at that period were similar to this character. They are restricted by the rulers and pressured by society to do things that they may not want to do; an example of this is going to war.
Unlike today, people in the Eighteenth Century had to conform to all the rules set by the government. They did not have the luxury we have of being able to express our own opinions freely. The poet had successfully made the readers understand the structure of society in the past by extensive use of satirical tone, rhyme and rhythm.
