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"The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

This poem was published in 1939 in The New Yorker, before WWII and George's Orwell's novel "1984". It seems quite similar. Orwell would probably have read this poem. I'm impressed by Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) who you can har reading it here:    • Видео   It's a satirical reference perhaps to "The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior" in Westminster Abbey where a soldier lies buried who was killed in WW1. There are similar tombs in other cities. The picture is of the one at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris There seems to be a mixture of British and American idioms. British companies don't use the designation "Inc"; Frigidaire too is more American. "Mates" and "scab" seem more British though, the latter meaning an employee who won't join a union or who works while others are on strike. Eugenics was in vogue and had a following among intellectuals at that time, before WWII made its terrible consequences obvious. It is Chinese traditional ideology that the Quality of Life depends on the "The Four Goods" . The Four Goods (si hao) have been variously defined. In Mao regime they were politics, economics, organisation and ideology. A more modern manifestation is good neighbours, good friends, good comrades and good partners. There are also the Four Goods of the mind - information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. The concept that a fulfilled life depends on the possession of the Four Goods, here defined as a Phonograph, a Radio, a Car and a Frigidaire was also later paralleled in China when there were only four luxury possessions available; so The Four Goods became a Washing Machine, a Cassette Radio, a Television and a Refrigerator. Material ambition was limited to ownership of all four of these. (To JS/07 M 378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State) He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be One against whom there was no official complaint, And all the reports on his conduct agree That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint, For in everything he did he served the Greater Community. Except for the War till the day he retired He worked in a factory and never got fired, But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc. Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views, For his Union reports that he paid his dues, (Our report on his Union shows it was sound) And our Social Psychology workers found That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink. The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way. Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured, And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured. Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire. Our researchers into Public Opinion are content That he held the proper opinions for the time of year; When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went. He was married and added five children to the population, Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation. And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education. Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.