Slough by Sir John Betjeman Essay -- Poems Poetry Analysis

Sir John Betjeman’s poem, Slough, opens with a wonderful, dramatic stanza. There is huge tension between the ideas of cows grazing and the idea of death. Even in the opening line there is conflict ‘friendly bombs’ is a contradiction in terms, as bombs are almost never thought of as friendly, and Betjeman’s use of this defines what a bad place. Another tool Betjeman employs is rhythm; the stanza is at a steady, predefined pace until the last line where the rhythm is broken with the word ‘Death’, which gives a powerful image of Slough. In the second stanza, Betjeman cleverly compares people’s ‘minds’ and ‘breath’ to tinned products, giving everything a feeling of sanitised dullness, without fresh air. He also uses the form here, listing the everyday tinned items and then adding ‘tinned m...