Examine how William Wordsworth and John Betjeman present their views on the Urban world of Man.

Imagery plays a key part in both the poems and is frequently used throughout both. In William Wordsworth’s poem he says “This City doth like a garment wear”, this technique is known as personification (giving objects human characteristics). By using this phrase he makes it seem as London is wearing the morning like an item of clothing, for instance a cloak. He has also given the word “City” a capital letter which suggests it is more like a person. This also makes London sound more harmonious with nature. Later on in the poem Wordsworth uses the phrase “the river glideth at his own sweet will” This again is personification as he uses the word “his”. The word “glideth” makes it sound as if the river is alive and is gliding along through London. He also makes the river sound more alive by saying it can make its own decisions and is free by using the phrase “his own sweet will”. In addition to this, he uses the expression “Dear God! The very houses seem asleep”. This would suggest that London is currently quiet and that the people will soon wake up and bring noise and bustle back to the City. The final piece of imagery Wordsworth uses is he suggests London is a “mighty heart is lying still”. The heart represents city life and the fact that it is lying still suggests it is currently peaceful. It also implies that the city is powerful like a giant beating heart, where the activity of people would be like the beating of the heart.

John Betjeman also creates many images in his poem “Slough”, for instance he describes people living in Slough to have “tinned minds” and “tinned breath”, which implies that the people are trapped in an unnatural environment and it gives the idea that all their emotions, speech and ideas have all become artificial. Betjeman hints that the people are scared of something by using the sentence “daren’t look up and see the stars”. This suggests that they are afraid of nature and are not able to under stand it. Perhaps also it shows that the people are afraid to follow their dreams and break out of urbanization. In the last stanza John Betjeman uses two very interesting sentences. The first one he uses is “the cabbages are coming now”, which could be seen as a metaphor for the bombs. It can also be seen to show nature returning to Slough, perhaps going back to the old ways of farming. Maybe Betjeman imagines the cabbages falling as the “friendly bombs” upon Slough. Betjeman would probably have been aware of the real meaning of bombs as he lived through World War I. This shows that he must really hate Slough as he would be aware of the devastation bombs cause. In the last line of the poem he uses the words “the earth exhales” this shows that the Earth is breathing a sigh of relief because Slough has been destroyed.

In both poems the structure plays a key part, for example in Composed upon Westminster Bridge the structure resembles the meaning. The river is describes to “glideth” which makes it sound as it is calm, smooth and evenly flowing. This is like the structure of poem because the lines flow on from each other, this technique is called enjambment. Composed upon Westminster Bridge is a sonnet which means it contains fourteen lines and is usually written about love. It was probably written as a sonnet because Wordsworth wanted to write about his love for London and the beauty of the City. The end of each line tends to rhyme with the next one which helps the lines to flow.

Slough also uses some enjambment to help the stanzas flow; Betjeman also made the last word of the first and third sentence rhyme. The pace of the poem is also quite fast perhaps because Betjeman wishes to destroy slough quickly as well or the fast pace could show Betjeman’s anger towards Slough.

The two poems were written at very different times in history, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” was written in 1802 by William Wordsworth, “Slough” was written in 1937 by John Betjeman. This would mean that the different writers would have had different experiences of urban environments. Composed upon Westminster Bridge was written before the modernization, which was caused by the industrial revolution, so Wordsworth’s views would be different to Betjeman’s which were written in 1937 after the modernization. Their views are clearly shown in the two poems. In the poem “Slough” the clerks “talk of sports and makes of cars”, which suggest modernization, as cars were only recently introduced. He also talks of the wives with “synthetic hair” and “painted nails”, products which had only just become available. In Composed upon Westminster Bridge he talks of “smokeless air” which would have only occurred before the urbanization of London. He also makes London seem quiet which we know is not true now after modernity.

If Wordsworth had lived in Betjeman’s time he would have probably changed his view on cities because when he wrote his poem it was before modernization/urbanization, so the cities were not overcrowded and horrible places. Nowadays this has changed and most cities are extremely busy and very artificial places.

Both poems have a different overall affect on the reader for example the poem “Slough” is about destroying the town, so it would make the reader feel hatred towards it. However Betjeman’s words also evoke sympathy for some of the people in the poem, for instance the clerks who had to suffer working for the man with the greasy chin. Wordsworth’s poem “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” makes the reader realize how beautiful a city can be, so it evokes happiness, love and appreciation. Overall “Slough” makes the reader feel the most heartfelt as they begin to feel sorry for the people as modernization has taken control of their lives. A reader may criticize that Betjeman words were rather cruel towards Slough however Betjeman is only describing modernization and how it has affected society. Other readers may criticise that Wordsworth was ignorant of London’s problems. For example he uses the phrase “open to the fields” which makes it seem as if it were open and easily accessible, however the reader knows this not to be true so perhaps Wordsworth was being ignorant. I believe both poems show urbanization and the urban world of man well because both the good sides and the bad sides of modern man are shown, for instance the beauty is shown in Composed upon Westminster Bridge and the foulness is shown in Slough.