This is an exemplar essay writing by one of my Year 10 students, responding to the essay question: Why do emos write poetry?

1. A preoccupation with the Human Condition prompts emo poets to write poetry. Emos are
people who think about the human condition and emo poets write about their thoughts or
questions on humanity. The Human Condition is a main part the majority of emos poetry
because it is a theory that deals with the inescapable features of being human. Poets such
as Yeats and Auden use aspects of the Human Condition, such as isolation, immortality,
existentialism and freedom, as a main theme in their poems 'Sailing to Byzantium' and 'The
Unknown Citizen'
Feelings of isolation are created in W.B Yeats' poem 'Sailing to Byzantium' in which Yeats
talks of his separation from the world of the young and his longing and desperation for the
afterlife. Rhyme "Caught in that sensual music all neglect monuments of unageing intellect"
emphasises the idea that Yeats feels unwanted and neglected by younger generations who
care more about the physical pleasures of life then the intellectual pleasures which he
creates. This makes his audience think more about how ignored intellectual literature, and
in turn Yeats, is by the young who aren't interested in learning or arts and more so in their
social lives. Moreover, first person narrative 'Sailing to Byzantium' allows W.B Yeats to
express the loneliness he feels from being unaccepted evident in "THAT is no country for old
men" which demonstrates that he feels like an outsider from life that is going on around
him. This makes the reader feel sympathetic towards Yeats but also nervous for their own
future and the realities of old age. Furthermore, imagery in "An aged man is but a paltry
thing, a tattered coat upon a stick" forces the reader to picture Yeats as someone who is
old, falling apart and broken, and conveys the idea that Yeats is seen by everyone as
someone who has nothing left to offer the world. Humanity fears isolation from each other
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2. and emos are people who experience a feeling of isolation, so emos such as Yeats use
poetry as a way to articulate their feelings on their isolation.
Desire for Immortality is also captured in W.B Yeats' poem 'Sailing to Byzantium'. Metaphor
is present in the lines "Consume my heart away; sick with desire and fastened to a dying
animal". Yeats expresses the feeling that his body is animalistic and dying while his soul
could be immortal if impure desire was removed from it. The intense desperation Yeats is
communicating unsettles the readers, making them sympathetic towards his obvious
suffering. In the line "Nor is there singing school but studying" Yeats declares the only way
to be immortalised is through studying the "Monuments of unageing intellect", which is the
art and literature that is so important to him. Through this, the reader begins to understand
how important poetry is to Yeats and how he wishes to become immortalised through it.
Symbolism is used in the lines "And therefore I have sailed the sea's and come to the holy
city of Byzantium" to convey the idea that he has died and gone to a place that is his
symbolic afterlife. The use of the word holy would make the audience imagine a place that
is beautiful perfection and think that perhaps Yeats will finally get his wish to be immortal.
Immortality has long been a concern of those who are interested in the Human Condition,
so emos such as Yeats use poetry as a way to express their worries with life and what comes
afterwards.
W.H Auden was an emo poet like Yeats was because although his opinions were different,
he too was fascinated with aspects of the Human Condition. Conformity of society is a
feature that is presented throughout W.H Auden's poem 'The Unknown Citizen' which tells
the story of a man who had, according to society, the perfect life and yet only ever did what
was expected of him. The point of view the poem is written in is very important to portray
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3. Auden’s ideas on conformity. The poem is written from the point of view of the voice of an
official. The line "And our Social Psychology workers found that he was popular with his
mates and liked a drink" creates the idea that the unknown citizen had no privacy and that
officials could find out anything they wanted to know about him. This suggests to the reader
that the officials were powerful and perhaps influential enough to persuade the unknown
citizen to act a certain way. The rhyme structure is also a vital component of this poem as is
displayed in the line "Except for the War till the day he retired he worked in a factory and
never got fired". Although most of the poems rhyme structure is complex, some lines rhyme
to emphasis certain points. The simple rhyming structure of this couplet seems to reflect on
how simple the unknown citizen's life was and how he was always doing what he was
supposed to do. The reader would focus on the rhymed lines and recognise the importance
of them through the simplistic presentation. Mood is another technique used in ‘The
Unknown Citizen'. The mood is deliberately detached and emotionless throughout the
whole poem, so as to convey the idea that there was nothing unusual about the unknown
citizen. This can be unnerving for a reader because they do not want to accept the effect
and forcefulness society has to make people conform. Society tries to make everyone
conform, emos see this and emo poets such as Auden write poetry to express their ideas on
conformity.
Existentialism, or the search for meaning in a meaningless world, was a dominant feature of
W.H Auden's poem 'The Unknown Citizen'. Rhetorical questions are used at the very end of
the poem in the line "Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything
been wrong, we should certainly have heard" to suggest that although the citizen had a
perfect sort of life, it had no meaning because he was never happy and he never did
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4. anything meaningful. These questions confront the reader and force them to rethink their
views on what a good life really is. Furthermore, rhyme "The press are convinced he bought
a paper every day and that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way". The
basic rhyme structure in this line emphasises how normal and dull the unknown citizens life
was. It forces the reader to reconsider what they think of as normal. When life is so
repetitive it can lose all meaning, W.H Auden used this line to express how everyday lives
can be completely meaningless. Irony is evident throughout the entirety of the poem and
especially in the line “That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint.”
Although the quote suggests the unknown citizen was a good person, the underlying
message is that he always did what he was supposed to, not because he wanted to but
because it was expected of him. The reader is confronted by this message because it forces
them to wonder if there is any meaning in doing good things if they are only done because
they’re supposed to be done. Many emos are interested in existentialism and humanities
concern with having meaning, Auden managed to use his thoughts on this to write a poem
that is thought provoking and confronting.
Originally, emo's were not people who were depressed or people who listened to a certain
type of music, but people who were interested in the core features of being human. Emos
are people who see the world and questioned it. W.B Yeats and W.H Auden are both emo
poets because they are questioning the world and humanity, and expressing their individual
thoughts through their poems. Emos write poetry to communicate their ideas on the
features of the human condition.
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