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Compare and contrast Four of your Favourite Betjeman Poems. Which do you Prefer and Why?

In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast four of my favourite satirical poems by Sir John Betjeman. I have chosen "Meditation on the A30", "The Diary of a Church Mouse", "In Westminster Abbey" and "Slough". I have chosen these because I thoroughly enjoyed them for a number of different reasons, and they are all different in their own way but are also linked. The satire is used to a different effect in each poem. All contain different variations and techniques of satire. First of all I will explore the content and message of the poem and then I will go on to analyse the other aspects involved. The content of the four poems are all interesting and in some I feel Betjeman is trying to make us think about the many problems in the world. "Slough" is all about the modern development that was all too rapidly taking place then, and how Betjeman opposes it with strong views and is angry about it. He explains the horrible development that is happening and how all the buildings and people in Slough are "tinned". Betjeman mentions the "air-conditioned, bright canteens" showing hate for the artificial materials. He obviously believes in conserving the natural beauty of the countryside because he wants "friendly bombs" to "fall on Slough" in order "To get it ready for the plough". The women in Slough are also satirised when they "frizz out peroxide hair" and "paint their nails", trying to look beautiful. The message here is strongly against the fake, artificial development of Slough. Although the poem is obviously aimed at Slough itself, I think Betjeman is making a point against the modern towns in general, not just Slough, because many new towns have the same structure as Slough. It probably reflects the general view Betjeman has on life. "In Westminster Abbey" is a poem that tells us the prayer of an obviously upper-class and affluent lady, living in London during the Second World War. She starts the prayer by asking God to"bomb the Germans", but to "spare their women", showing that she thinks that she has the right to ask God a favour. After this, she goes on to ask for God to place her house under "special care" and she thinks she will repay God by going to evening service, "whensoever I have the time". This persona that Betjeman has used is extremely satirical and ironic, and her absolute ignorance of the Christian faith shows she is only praying for her own personal benefit. In the last verse, she says, "Now I feel a little better" proving it was just for herself. The message here is about judging others. Betjeman could be trying to make us think about ourselves, and look at our flaws before even thinking about judging others, and we must always treat each other as equals. He tricks us into looking down on this woman and class her as a snob, when this is the exact thing he is satirising and against. "The Diary of a Church Mouse" uses another persona of a "church mouse". The whole poem is about the thoughts of the mouse who attends church everyday and lives in a "dark forgotten room" with barely any food all year. The only feast he ever gets is on the Harvest festival, which he feels he deserves for his attendance all year, so when other "rodents" join in the feast he feels angry. The poem is separated into three parts: the description of where he lives and what he eats to survive, the hate of all the other rodents that steal his food and then the sarcastic part where he says that "such goings-on could not be so" in the human world. The message in the poem is to make you think about the

attitudes and behaviour of those who go to church. The poem is satirising people who go to church just for the benefits of themselves, or just on occasions. Betjeman uses the mouse persona to put across a serious message in a light hearted manner. I think the message here is linked to that of "In Westminster Abbey", because the attitude of snobbery with the mouse is also similar to the snobbery of the woman. Both poems are looking at the religious attitudes of people and the way they look down on others. "Meditation on the A30" is a short poem about an angry and shallow man who has had a row with his wife and uses the car to vent his personal frustrations. He puffs on a plug of tobacco left unlit in his pipe (a dottle) and reflects on his wife and how eagerly he hates her. His thoughts keep switching from his home life and the present time because people keep annoying him. This shows that he is not concentrating on his driving, and being careless. After a mini and a lorry block his way, and somebody blows their horn at him, his anger builds up to a climax when he tries to overtake somebody at a corner and dies trying. ***The message in this poem, is to learn from this mans mistakes and to be more responsible about your actions.All three of these poems have important messages to society and for life in general. Betjeman writes poems carefully to make the reader think about himself and enjoy his poems. Next, I am going to explore the satirical effect that these poems have and the way in which Betjeman handles the humour. All of the poems I am studying have a light hearted comical side to them except for "Slough". Although "Meditation on the A30" handles the subject of death, the rhythm is that of a limerick which is always a comical poem. This allows Betjeman to write about serious issues in the world, but in a way that allows the reader to interpret it how they like. For example for "In Westminster Abbey", Betjeman uses the persona of a posh lady and he writes an extremely satirical, ironic and sarcastic prayer, where this lady offends God many times and shows no sign of being a Christian, but because of this comical aspect the poem can be taken lightly. When this lady prays, she says that if God makes a mistake "We will pardon Thy mistake", putting herself and whoever she means by "we" above God. Also, she says "Although dear lord I am a sinner, I have done no major crime" which shows she is ignorant of the Christian religion because it states that any sin is a major crime. Furthermore, she asks god to "bomb the Germans" but then says "Don't let anyone bomb me" because she is self-centred and selfish, and she finishes the prayer to go to a "luncheon date" letting us know that God is not one her priorities. Finally, the line that lets us take the poem comically and shows us Betjeman is satirising is when she says "What a treat to hear Thy word", when she is the only one to have spoken and never waited to listen. All of this gives the poem a feel of humour. "The Diary of a Church Mouse", is more subtle as a satirical poem than "In Westminster Abbey". As I have said before, Betjeman is satirising the people who only go to church rarely, and he is letting us know what it may feel like to the dedicated Christians that actually go to church every week, just to see people who only go to take the benefits of God. He is also hinting that those people should not look down on those who go to church rarely, because the way the mouse looks down on the other rodents is almost like a snob. In the last stanza of the poem the mouse says that "human beings only do, what their religion tells them to", which is Betjeman's way of conveying that he thinks that the religious situation is bad, because this is exactly what humans do. "Meditation on the A30" starts off as a comical poem and then slowly gets more and

more serious until, at the end, you are surprised by the severity of the last line, "And the corner's accepting its kill". I think Betjeman shows us that anger whilst driving is taken very comically in the world, but he thinks it is a very big problem. We read the poem and we think it is just a light poem with no meaning, until the last line when we are shown the consequences of behaving like this man. Betjeman is satirising the way road rage is thought of, and the people who use the car to relieve their stress. This has the effect of making us think about people we know and how foolish we can be without realizing it. He lets us know that this man is shallow when he says, "I'd like a nice blonde on my knee", and the way he will "only give way to a Jag". "Slough" is a contrast to the other poems because it uses angry satire. We get more impact and emotion from "Slough" and we can tell Betjeman really despises these towns because we can sense a frowning poet behind the words instead of a smiling poet. Words like "death", "hell" and "belch" are used to add a sense of hate and satire to the poem. Betjeman is angry about the mid-century development and so satires it and everybody who takes part in helping the process like the "man with the double chin", and the "bald young clerks". This contrast is good to read and makes the poem successful in its meaning and purpose. I will now study the tone and atmosphere that Betjeman creates in the four poems and see the links between them. "Meditation on the A30" and "In Westminster Abbey" both have a comical tone, but the latter is also ironic, cynical and sarcastic. Betjeman uses this tone because it ties in with the juxtaposition he uses by placing an ignorant lady in a glorious place like Westminster Abbey. This has the effect of us hating this woman and the atmosphere is also humorous, even though we are In Westminster Abbey. I think the tone has similarities to "The Diary of a Church Mouse" because in both we are wary about the subject Betjeman is handling. "Slough" is obviously an angry poem throughout and Betjeman does not stop the assault on Slough until the end. However in the penultimate stanza, I detect sarcasm as he says "Their wives fizz out peroxide hair, And dry it in synthetic air", because he thinks they cannot be beautiful through artificial materials. Betjeman could genuinely feel sorry for the "bald young clerks" but he may also be being sarcastic here, and just pointing out that they are ageing early. I am now going to study the rhythmic pattern, the effects of it, the diction and the syntax together because I think the are all linked. One of the most interesting poems in this aspect is "Meditation on the A30" because it uses a variety of effects to have the feeling of speed and anger. For example, Betjeman is writing about the speeding car and the angry man thinking about his wife and so he uses internal rhyming to speed up the pace of the poem. "He open the throttle and bubbles with dottle" is in the first stanza, which could represent this man changing gear to go at a faster rate. In the last stanza there are two lines of internal rhyming to show the immense speed in which the car is going to"overtake" the other cars, and could represent either his growing anger as well or his death closing in on him. The rhyming pattern is variable, but the second line always rhymes with the fourth line of the stanza, which allows the poem to flow more smoothly. The diction of the poem fits in with the character created by using words such as, "bastard" and all of his thoughts are aggressive with questions like, "Why can't you step on it and shift her!". This all adds to the agression and the last line, "And the corner's accepting its kill" has personification of the corner and makes you imagine the corner as a

predator that wants this man to die. The sentence structure is just like a normal limerick, has a similar rhythm and is often ribald. For example he uses words such "bastard". This helps you to imagine a more comical and stereotypical character with a pipe and a "pitiful life". "Slough" has an interesting rhyming pattern where the first three lines of the stanza rhyme and the fourth rhymes with the fourth line in the next stanza. I think this is to make the fourth line of each stanza to stand out, because each one is important. The hate of Slough is easily seen, from the diction used to create imagery. "Come, bombs, and blow to smithereens" is strong language to show the anger inside Betjeman and his will for "friendly bombs" to fall on Slough. Also repetition of the word "tinned" is used to add effect into his poem and it gives us the image of rations and wartime restrictions. Also he displays his love for the countryside when he says "to get it ready for the plough". The syntax of "Slough" is interesting because the last line of each stanza is shorter than the others which makes it stand out even further. To add more impact the words used in these lines are strong. The last line of the poem is, in my opinion, very powerful. "The earth exhales" could represent John Betjeman sighing after his assault on Slough, the Earth could be ashamed of Slough or it could represent the bomb going off. "In Westminster Abbey" uses a complex rhyming pattern of ABCBDD in each stanza. This gives the effect that this woman is very graceful and adds to the upper class image used. Betjeman likes to use stereotypical characters or situations and turns them into an interesting poem like in "Meditation on the A30" and "In Westminster Abbey". The language he uses always fits the character being created and so for "In Westminster Abbey" he uses words like, "Thy" and "interr'd". The syntax used has plenty of commas and lists which makes it seem like she is asking God for even more and it is just a monologue. Finally, "The Diary of a Church Mouse" uses rhyming couplets all the way through which helps to keep you interested and it reads well. The words used are thoughtful and seem to show the mouse's thoughts effectively. Opinions are often said by the mouse to try and persuade you to his way of thinking. Also in the last part of the poem, enjambement is used to slow down the poem and to conclude it in a way that enables you to think about the way you are with your religion. Overall, I would conclude that my preferred poem is "In Westminster Abbey". This is because when I first read it, I was immediately interested, and when I analysed it further I could admire the way Betjeman created the persona of an upper class lady and used it to great effect, to convey his satirical thoughts on those that take Gods benefits eagerly, but when there is no benefit for them they detach themselves. I did enjoy all the others, but they all have some bad points that I cannot find in "In Westminster Abbey". The complexity of the rhyming scheme and the language change he uses is all successfully carried out and so it makes a brilliant poem. The obvious irony and satire allows you to interpret the poem in your own way. Also, I agree with the message it puts forwards: always treat others as equals and never judge.

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