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The Best of Betjeman
In addition to the best of Sir John's poetry, this acclaimed selection includes prose that reveals him as architectural critic, social historian conservationist, short story writer, railway enthusiast, country lover, humorist, eccentric and christian.
236 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 9, 2016
A selection of his poetry. Marvellous, dark and humorous.
June 9, 2024
This selection from the works of John Betjeman features poems, prose and a television script. He is most famous for his poems, but to be honest I don't regard these as demonstrating his true strength, despite the fact that some poems such as 'Slough' really are tremendous. For every great poem there are several that are (to me at least) rather insipid. His prose, on the other hand, is nearly always engaging. The big surprise for me was the early short story 'Lord Mount Prospect', a tale from 1929 (when he was only 23 years old) that is beautifully written and evokes a genuinely strange, muted and somewhat blackly comical atmosphere with exquisite skill. I wish he had written more tales along these lines. As for his non-fiction: despite his obsession with the minutiae of church architecture (an obsession I don't share) the easy erudition, inclusive tone and pleasing progression of his prose makes him a very good article writer indeed. The television script was interesting enough in its own way, but surely the film must be seen to be fully appreciated (I have not yet had that pleasure but I hope to one day).
January 31, 2015
It is clear that Betjeman is a master of language: his ability to make the reader not only understand the literal story behind his poetry but also feel the atmosphere and emotions he is writing is astounding. Yet this collection fell short of my expectations. Whether it was the poems and prose selected, or a failure of the poet himself, I found I very quickly tired of repeated use of rigid poetic structures and simple rhymes. As for the prose, while his commentary on churches in England was genuinely interesting and written in an approachable manner, the many sections detailing Betjeman's feelings towards various English towns and cities felt dull and repetitive. I aim to read more Betjeman to see whether it was this collection that I had problems with or the man himself, but this was not a promising start.
September 16, 2024
idk not worth it
February 16, 2015
This is a book full to the brim of a selection of weird and wonderful poems byJohn Betjeman Some poems are serious, some are confusing and some are darn right strange but all of them whether they are understood or otherwise are enjoyable to read. The differing rhythms between the poems unique to each other as opposed to being uniform to the author. Great book to keep going back to.
October 8, 2024
I enjoyed the dry cynicism of "Slough" and "Metro-land" (sadly the blandness of this suburban dystopia has expanded and multiplied to our detriment). Some crisp writing showing a love of the landscape and the unique beauty of the parish church.
February 11, 2013
His wonderful use of English and huge range of subject matter has made this an enjoyable read. His chapters on English Church architecture show th edpth of his knowledge on the subject.
December 3, 2025
John Betjeman was a curiously prosaic poet. He does not deal in the abstractions of the Romantics, or express himself in the opaque and elusive manner of the Modernists. Everything is on the surface.
Betjeman deals with the concrete and the mundane. Admittedly it is the mundane life of the well-to-do man, the man who plays golf, visits teashops, and went to university (albeit without finishing). This helps to date Betjeman, as many of the day-to-day aspects of ordinary life in Betjeman’s time have passed on, leaving us puzzled about some of his references.
Here is no nature poet, even if Betjeman does describe his environment. More often, Betjeman describes life in all its insignificant detail. He was dismissed as a “songster of tennis lawns and cathedral cloisters” when originally considered for the position of Poet Laureate (though he later became one of the best-loved poets to hold this position).
It is hardly surprising that Philip Larkin, another observer of the insignificant details of life, should like Betjeman. Yet Betjeman was the opposite of Larkin. Larkin sees the dullness of daily life as comically dreary. Betjeman simply loves the little details about his world. His use of bathos is comically good-natured.
This is Betjeman's strength and weakness. He is never likely to be admired for the depth of his observations because everything is clear for us to see. The critic has less work to do in understanding Betjeman’s poetry. Nonetheless, there is something admirable about Betjeman’s eye for detail, his fascination with that which is in front of us every day, but which only Betjeman seems to notice.
Love is featured in these works, but Betjeman sees in a more comical manner. Think of the delightfully tongue-in-cheek ‘A Subalterns Love Song’. The love for Joan Hunter Dunn is there, but his constant repetition of her name emphasises its amusing cadences:
Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun
Never mind that Betjeman was married to someone else at the time when he was in love with Miss J Hunter Dunn. The poem is still one of his most endearing. Betjeman genuinely loved women, though his camp known suggests possible bisexuality.
There is no religious fervour here. Betjeman was an Anglican, but there is none of the intensity of a John Donne work. Betjeman was a doubter who struggled with his faith. Some of poems assert his religion strongly; some weakly. Even in ‘Christmas’, he makes pious statements in a curiously lukewarm and flippant manner. Think of the poem’s last line:
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
Bitterness rarely creeps into Betjeman, but it is often around death. He laments those who have passed before him, and this seems to cause him more religious doubt than anything else. This is most notable in ‘On the Portrait of a Deaf Man’. Describing the kind man that he misses, Betjeman offers the following gruesomely poignant verses:
He took me on long silent walks
In country lanes when young.
He knew the names of ev'ry bird
But not the song it sung.
And when he could not hear me speak
He smiled and looked so wise
That now I do not like to think
Of maggots in his eyes.
The poem end with Betjeman at his most doubting:
You, God, who treat him thus and thus,
Say "Save his soul and pray."
You ask me to believe You and
I only see decay.
Of course the most famous of Betjeman’s poems is the one that is most biting of all. This is of course ‘Slough’, the drably industrialised town which the old-fashioned Betjeman (who liked architectural heritage) despised. He famously said: “Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough”.
Later Betjeman would regret his savage depiction of the town, one that naturally upset its residents. However, great poems are not penned by men who write with restraint. If Betjeman had said, ‘I don’t like the town myself, but it has its good points, and I’d happily bomb the buildings out of existence if I wasn’t concerned about killing people’, then we would find the poem’s poise and balance unremarkable, and nobody would remember it. It is the snappy and catchy cruelty of ‘Slough’ that makes it such fun to read.
I must admit I did not read the prose sections of this selection, as I only wanted to read Betjeman’s poetry. Betjeman is not in the top drawer of poets, but had a nice sense of rhythm, an observant eye, a mischievous sense of fun and the ability to occasionally rise to moments of touching lyricism.
Betjeman deals with the concrete and the mundane. Admittedly it is the mundane life of the well-to-do man, the man who plays golf, visits teashops, and went to university (albeit without finishing). This helps to date Betjeman, as many of the day-to-day aspects of ordinary life in Betjeman’s time have passed on, leaving us puzzled about some of his references.
Here is no nature poet, even if Betjeman does describe his environment. More often, Betjeman describes life in all its insignificant detail. He was dismissed as a “songster of tennis lawns and cathedral cloisters” when originally considered for the position of Poet Laureate (though he later became one of the best-loved poets to hold this position).
It is hardly surprising that Philip Larkin, another observer of the insignificant details of life, should like Betjeman. Yet Betjeman was the opposite of Larkin. Larkin sees the dullness of daily life as comically dreary. Betjeman simply loves the little details about his world. His use of bathos is comically good-natured.
This is Betjeman's strength and weakness. He is never likely to be admired for the depth of his observations because everything is clear for us to see. The critic has less work to do in understanding Betjeman’s poetry. Nonetheless, there is something admirable about Betjeman’s eye for detail, his fascination with that which is in front of us every day, but which only Betjeman seems to notice.
Love is featured in these works, but Betjeman sees in a more comical manner. Think of the delightfully tongue-in-cheek ‘A Subalterns Love Song’. The love for Joan Hunter Dunn is there, but his constant repetition of her name emphasises its amusing cadences:
Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun
Never mind that Betjeman was married to someone else at the time when he was in love with Miss J Hunter Dunn. The poem is still one of his most endearing. Betjeman genuinely loved women, though his camp known suggests possible bisexuality.
There is no religious fervour here. Betjeman was an Anglican, but there is none of the intensity of a John Donne work. Betjeman was a doubter who struggled with his faith. Some of poems assert his religion strongly; some weakly. Even in ‘Christmas’, he makes pious statements in a curiously lukewarm and flippant manner. Think of the poem’s last line:
No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
Bitterness rarely creeps into Betjeman, but it is often around death. He laments those who have passed before him, and this seems to cause him more religious doubt than anything else. This is most notable in ‘On the Portrait of a Deaf Man’. Describing the kind man that he misses, Betjeman offers the following gruesomely poignant verses:
He took me on long silent walks
In country lanes when young.
He knew the names of ev'ry bird
But not the song it sung.
And when he could not hear me speak
He smiled and looked so wise
That now I do not like to think
Of maggots in his eyes.
The poem end with Betjeman at his most doubting:
You, God, who treat him thus and thus,
Say "Save his soul and pray."
You ask me to believe You and
I only see decay.
Of course the most famous of Betjeman’s poems is the one that is most biting of all. This is of course ‘Slough’, the drably industrialised town which the old-fashioned Betjeman (who liked architectural heritage) despised. He famously said: “Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough”.
Later Betjeman would regret his savage depiction of the town, one that naturally upset its residents. However, great poems are not penned by men who write with restraint. If Betjeman had said, ‘I don’t like the town myself, but it has its good points, and I’d happily bomb the buildings out of existence if I wasn’t concerned about killing people’, then we would find the poem’s poise and balance unremarkable, and nobody would remember it. It is the snappy and catchy cruelty of ‘Slough’ that makes it such fun to read.
I must admit I did not read the prose sections of this selection, as I only wanted to read Betjeman’s poetry. Betjeman is not in the top drawer of poets, but had a nice sense of rhythm, an observant eye, a mischievous sense of fun and the ability to occasionally rise to moments of touching lyricism.
May 9, 2023
I come away from this book a Betjeman fan! Yet I can only give it three stars. The poetry is beautiful. Some of the poems went straight to my heart. The prose is interesting, but hardly exciting and not something I would normally read. The television script really gave me nothing. So therefore, taking into account this entire volume, I can only give it three stars. But I will buy and read his collected poems and I’m quiet sure I will love it.
August 17, 2018
Really enjoyed the poems and although Betjeman also writes prose beautifully, sadly some of the subject matters that he chose to cover were a bit dry. But he certainly had a way with words; makes me think I ought to read more poetry.
May 20, 2022
Betjeman is one of my favourite poets and the poems chosen in this books shows off just way he was the Poet Laureate.
My personal favourite poems in this collection are
- Felixstowe
- Christmas
- In a Bath Teashop
- On a Portait of a Deaf Man
My personal favourite poems in this collection are
- Felixstowe
- Christmas
- In a Bath Teashop
- On a Portait of a Deaf Man
March 31, 2024
I'm glad he was Poet Laureate, as that's exactly the kind of poems these appear to be: exceedingly accessible and exceedingly British.
October 7, 2024
Trop de mots…
Read
December 10, 2024metrolandmetrolandmetroland
April 14, 2018
Not for me bit too Pam Ayres.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews