John Betjeman

By Dennis Brown and Dennis 3rown

Sir John Betjeman remains the most popular English poet of today. He has been termed a 'national teddy bear', and some commentary has addressed his work in
rather such terms. However, it is evident that most of his key themes - the spirit of place (or 'place-myth'), mundane lives ('petit r cits') or historical continuity (the 'presence of the past') - have specific relevance to postmodern and, especially, environmental concerns. Dennis Brown's book assesses Betjeman's contribution in the light of this, emphasising its ironic self-reflexivity, its rendering of Englishness and a 'soft' masculinity, and its ecumenical Christian tolerance. The popularity of Betjeman's lyrics, and his verse-autobiography Summoned by Bells, is considered as indicative of Britain's post-imperial self-revaluation. It is shown how the poet's technique offers an accessible alternative to more complex neo-modernist poetics. Overall, the book stresses Betjeman's contemporaneity, and his relevance to an era of 'contingency, irony, and solidarity'.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0746308957
• ISBN13: 9780746308950
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"