When Lucy travels back to Jamaica, she realises it has changed and nothing is as she remembered it. She is glad to come back but feels she doesn’t really belong there either anymore. Some things like the sun, the sea and the fruit they eat hasn’t changed:
“I eat a mango under tree
A soursop ripened for me
A pawpaw kept.”
She appreciates the sun more after being in London for so long as well and she is pleased these things are as she remembered them. The landscape has changed but more importantly, the people have too. Everyone she knew has changed and she is no longer friend with everyone. She writes about her holiday in the poem ‘From Lucy: Holiday Reflections’:
“I see
Puppa is bones in the groun’,
Mumma can’t see to climb mount’n
Lan’.”
She knew her father was dead but it doesn’t really hit home until she sees it for herself because in her mind he was still alive. She uses personification when describing the landscape, writing, “Big fig tree gone as ghost.” The one thing that hasn’t really changed is Leela who is just as she remembered her. She is glad they are still friends though, even though Lucy has changed, finishing the poem by writing:
“Too many sea waves passed between
Us, chile. Let us remind the other,
‘Length of time gets length of rope buried’.”
Betjeman’s poems are named after counties and describe the country lifestyle he was used to when he was younger. His county poems are written in two contrasting sections. In the poem ‘Hertfordshire’ Betjeman writes of how he was made to join his father’s shooting syndicate. His father thought he was a milksop after he accidentally fired a gun into the ground, saying:
“How many times must I explain?
The way a boy should hold a gun?”
In the second half of the poem, Betjeman writes of how that large, open countryside has been replaced with rows of identical and box-like houses. He writes of how the old flint churches and thatched cottages look, “strange and ill.” He sums this up by writing, “One can’t be sure where London ends,” this relates to an earlier line in the poem, naming villages that used to be miles away from London which are now part of it. It caused his father great pain to see his son couldn’t shoot, which contrasts greatly with the happy relationship between Leela and Lucy in Berry’s poetry. Betjeman ends the poem with the words:
“Far more would these have caused him pain
Than my mishandling of a gun.”
This mean even though he was upset that his son couldn’t shoot, it would have broken his heart to see the Hertfordshire countryside had been urbanised. It is also ironic that the ones who appreciated it were also the ones who destroyed it for the next generation.
In the poem ‘Essex’, Betjeman writes as he looks at a colour plate book. The book contains pictures of Edwardian England. Betjeman describes it as being:
“Like Streams the little by-roads run
Through oats and barley round a hill
To where blue willows catch the sun
By some white weathered boarded mill.”
The poem describes Edwardian Essex as being tranquil, with its hollyhocks and anglers. Betjeman describes three areas of Essex: Far Essex, Near Essex and Deepest Essex. Far Essex is wetlands. Betjeman describes it using phrases such as, “The level wastes of sucking mud.” Far Essex also contains canals; we know this because Betjeman writes of barges. Near Essex is home of the River Lea, popular with anglers and Epping Forest. Deepest Essex is pure unspoilt beauty. It is full of thatched cottages and old churches. The scene is very traditional unspoilt beauty, with sights such as, “Rise flinty fifteenth century towers.” Betjeman then offers a comparison with modern day Essex:
“Now yarrow chokes the railway track
Bramble obliterate the style
No motor coach can take me back
To that Edwardian ‘Erstwhile’.”
Both poets mention change in their poems. Lucy is shocked at how much Jamaica has changed and Betjeman dislikes the way the English countryside has been urbanised so much. Both poets prefer the past. Berry illustrates this by using phrases such as:
I meet a young face I get
The pain we don’t know each other”
Lucy preferred the past because back then she felt she belonged. She knew everybody and everybody knew her. Nowadays she doesn’t feel at home in London because she doesn’t know anybody and she doesn’t feel at home in Jamaica because everybody has moved on. This saddens her greatly because she is now not only alienated from the people in London but also has nothing in common with her old Jamaican friends either. Betjeman doesn’t like the changes in the England either. Even though he was ashamed that his father thought him to be soppy and he knew this caused his father great pain, he knew that what had happened to the English countryside would hurt him even more.
The scenery described by the two poets is very different. Berry’s account of Jamaica describes it as being very sunny and peaceful.
The structure of the poetry written by both poets is very different. Betjeman uses very regular four lined stanzas, each with a regular rhyming pattern, which reflects his routine and uniform lifestyle. The way Berry’s stanzas are irregular with no real rhyme reflect the easygoing lifestyle in Jamaica.
Betjeman writes his poems in Standard English with no colloquial phrases, reflecting his uniform and very English lifestyle further. He uses archaic language, reflecting in some ways the way he dislikes change and also the way he is quite traditional. Berry, however, uses Creole phrases and grammar in his poetry. In the poem ‘Lucy’s Letter,’ Berry uses the phrase, “ I long for we labrish bad,” meaning Lucy longs to gossip without restraint. Berry uses figures of speech in his poetry unlike Betjeman. For instance, in the poem ‘Lucy’s Letter’, Berry uses the metaphor, “I really a sponge” and in ‘From Lucy: Englan’ Lady,’ he uses similes such as, “ Like a seagull flyin’ slow slow.”
Berry and Betjeman have very different writing styles, partly because of the influences of their very different cultures. Berry’s easy going Jamaican upbringing is reflected in his poetry through his use of Creole and the structure of his poetry. Betjeman reflects his English upbringing through his regular, ordered stanzas. Although they are very different they both work very well and make for very enjoyable reading.
