In this poem we see views of the church and of different people. We can see from the beginning of stanza two the mouse shares its ‘dark forgotten room.’ The word forgotten prompts us about the church and its presence in society. It is also forgotten by most and only when it suits people, that religion shows importance and they come to feast on what the church has to offer, which is usually after the harvest.
The mouse in the poem represents the type of people Betjeman was critical of. The mouse itself is not concerned with the religious aspects of the church but more with its status within the church. The mouse is hypocritical of the people who come to the church, as they come not for worship, but to satisfy themselves.
We can see that the people that come to the church are only there as some sort of social meeting, few come there as it is part of their lives to be a good Christian. Many are there as it is what is expected of them and is a time to show off their finest clothes. We can see by Betjeman’s use of the word ‘business’ shows that the mouse is not at all following the church because business is all about profits which are completely contradictory to what the church is.
When reading further on through the poem we realise that the mouse seems bothered by other rodents coming to eat and making the most of the harvest. This seems contradictory as the mouse is not bothered about taking food itself and does not see it as stealing, but when others come to feast it seems bothered.
The end of the poem seems to sum it all up. It is put in an ironic way as ‘its strange to me how very full the church’ is with people the mouse never sees ‘except at Harvest Festival.’ We can see by the poem there are few that are religious and stay dutiful for the rest of the time they are out of church.
The poet’s intention of publicising and criticising various communities and classes seems successful. He has successfully highlighted the problems and hypocrisy in society which is portrayed using the mouse, although the mouse seems contradictory in everything he says, it does show us about various societies and how only when it suits them, they attend church, only to make the most of the harvest.
