Poem of the Week
PotW.org
Founded August 1996
<   PotW #2   >
This Week's Poem

Past Poems...
...by Poet
...by Title and First Line
...by Occasion

Contact about...
...Free Subscription
...Submitting a Poem
...other Questions

The Fine Print...
...Copyright Information
...Page Mission
...Privacy Policy

Links to...
...other Poetry Sites


 

 

               W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

                    The Unknown Citizen
                           (To JS/07/M/378
                      This Marble Monument
                      Is Erected by the State)

First Line: He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

This poem was written in March of 1939. As such, it is protected by copyright and cannot be displayed without permission of the copyright holder. It can be found, for example, in:

  • Auden, W.H. Collected Poems. Edward Mendelson, ed. London: Faber and Faber, 1976.
  • Abcarian, Richard, and Marvin Klotz, eds. Literature: The Human Experience (Shorter Fourth Edition with Essays). New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.

    Auden was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1948, the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1953, and the National Book Award for Poetry in 1956.