Style
Both poems have a very distinct style. A Subaltern’s Love Song has a very strict and orthodox rhythm which emphasises the idea of how the man gets closer and closer to his dream woman. The steady rhythm occurs as a result of a strict verse length and rhyme scheme. “The Hillman is waiting, the light’s in the hall, The pictures of Egypt are bright on the wall.” Watching Tennis is a condemned poem. It has a steady rhythm in the first two verses as he thinks about the woman and gives us his thoughts. This smooth rhythm gives a sense of harmony as he describes the woman and her grace. As the verse length and rhyme scheme change, it adds an element of loss of control. This is because the man is making love to the woman and the change in form results in an unorthodox sounding poem. This helps visualize the man’s nothing-to-lose attitude for love.
Another way Betjeman emphasises the fact that the man constantly thinks of this woman is how he starts the poem with “Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn” and ends the poem with “…Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.” We can see that not only has he started and ended with the same name, to emphasise his love, but he also makes a slight change. “Miss J. Hunter-Dunn” is mentioned at the start of the poem and “Miss Joan Hunter-Dunn” at the end. The difference is that he changes the J to Joan. This emphasises how he has become familiar with her as he is now engaged. He is, in a sense, emphasising his happiness and smugness on getting engaged with her by deliberately changing her name.
He includes two words next to each other which sound very similar, although one is an adjective and the other is a noun. “Carefullest carelessness.” These juxtaposed words create the image of delicacy. This same idea is not used in the other poem for the woman, but the same idea of repetition is used. In the first line, there is some repetition of light, “Light, in light breezes…” This perhaps indicates how the man would love to play sport outside in the sun instead of sitting disabled inside.
Heath-Stubbs also includes some half-rhyme, “Sport…Thought.” Betjeman also shows us his contrasting views of losing the game to the girl. He adds in an oxymoron, “How mad I am, sad I am, Glad that you won.”
Theme
Both poems contain the same theme. Tennis and Love. A Subaltern’s Love Song gradually builds to a relationship with the girl. He starts by thinking of her dreaming and ends the poem as her fiancé. This can be seen as rather ridiculous as the couple are engaged only a few hours after meeting. Watching Tennis also uses a similar theme of love. The man starts off complementing her from a distance, and ends up in bed with her. The man feels that the woman is out of his league, this happens in A Subaltern’s Love Song as well. Both poems describe the men as being “nor apt at any sport” and Heath-Stubbs mentions the man “struggle with double-end evening tie”.
Tone
Both poems talk about a man dreaming of a woman they believe is out of their league. However, A Subaltern’s Love Song talks more in a hopeful, jocular light. The man believes that the girl is in a different league to him. He also talks in a very graceful, pleasant and sweet way about the girl, “Speed of a swallow, Grace of a boy.” He talks in less of a seductive sexy way as Heath-Stubbs does. “Your mouth on mine found its silent need.” However, Heath-Stubbs also talks about how the girl is graceful and delicate, “You move like a dancer,”
Conclusion
In conclusion, although both poems share very similar ideas and themes, they differ on the technical side. A Subaltern’s Love Song is written in a much more orthodox fashion than Watching Tennis. However, one major concept which both poems share is that they both commence with the idea of the man and woman in love with each other as hopeless, and end with that idea a being hopeful.
