John Betjeman

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 rcits) or historical continuity (the presence of the past) have specific relevance to postmodern and, especially, environmental concerns. Dennis Browns book assesses Betjemans 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 Betjemans lyrics, and his verse-autobiography Summoned by Bells, is considered as indicative of Britains post-imperial self-revaluation. It is shown how the poets technique offers an accessible alternative to more complex neo-modernist poetics. Overall, the book stresses Betjemans contemporaneity, and his relevance to an era of contingency, irony, and solidarity.