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In Slough, Betjemen presents a large number of ideas about his views on technological progression. Most of these opinions are bad, and he comes off as being incredibly cynical from the system, and also portrays a sort of violent hate towards the industrialisation and go up of capitalism in Slough.
However , he also has some optimism the future.
Primarily, Betjemen uses lots of duplication of words such as ‘tinned’ to emphasise his views. The phrase ‘tinned mind, tinned breath’ may possible be applied to recommend even the very things that make persons human ” such as the head and the breath of air ” possess too become commercialised and artificial as a result of growth of market and capitalism in Slough. Furthermore, he compares head and breath to ‘tinned milk, tinned beans’, that could possibly be used to symbolise how ‘mind and breath’ taking all benefit or which means.
In addition , this individual refers to ‘peroxide hair’ and ‘synthetic air’. This could regularly be used by Betjemen to represent the manufactured nature of recent living and exactly how unnatural and superficial it is.
This cynicism is definitely emphasised by the way in which this kind of poem makes use of lots of enjambment. This could quite possibly suggest that this poem is a sort of ‘rant’ by Betjemen, and that he launches all his views in a sort of ‘stream of consciousness’. Alternatively yet , the fact that full prevents are used by the end of each stanza could possibly claim that Betjemen provides structured this kind of poem intentionally, to emphasise every point made in each stanza, which this poem is used to provoke believed in the reader.
John Betjemen is also pictured as being quite angry in these occurrences in the composition. The fact that he necessitates ‘friendly bombs to land on Slough’ is quite major, and the oxymoron of ‘friendly’ and ‘bombs’ is quite peculiar, but also portrays how he would like Slough to be destroyed. Furthermore, he writes ‘Swarm above, Death’, which again, is very drastic, but Betjemen quite possibly uses this phrase to portray the extent that he cannot stand Slough today. He also asks these kinds of ‘bombs’ to ‘blow’ Slough ‘to smithereens’, which could regularly be used to claim that he wants the town to be destroyed for the point of no return, and that he won’t want in this way of living to come back. Additionally , Betjemen writes ‘smash his desk of polished oak’ and ‘smash his hands’. The use of violent language including ‘smash’ accurately portrays Betjemen’s fury and anger toward Slough, plus the description of ‘polished oak’ could possibly signify how Betjemen wants this new method of opulent and capitalist living to get rid of.
However , Betjemen also shows the way in which there may be possibly optimism the future. In the poem, he asks for the bombs to spare ‘the bald fresh clerks’ which it’s ‘not their fault’, showing just how Betjemen keeps having hope in humanity, and that it is the people at the top of the device who are responsible for all problems. In addition , the very fact that Betjemen writes that they can ‘daren’t look up and see the stars’ can suggest that this matter of industrialisation and mercantilism is thank goodness confined to this place, and that hopefully, other area of the world will stay the way they are.
Furthermore, Betjemen writes which the ‘cabbages are coming now’, which could perhaps suggest that this is all likely to end, and this eventually almost everything will revert back to normal, staying ‘ready for the plough’. The fact that the ‘earth exhales’ could possibly be a ‘sigh of relief’ that the is all more than. However , additionally, it could claim that it is the Globe’s ‘final breath’ before death due to the serves of the human race, and the full stop at the end from the poem may suggests that there is possibly not any future.
Total, Betjemen appears to very critical of the improvements of human beings, and identifies its various downfalls. Yet , it is evident that this individual keeps a mind, and hopes for a much better future.
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