"It's not their fault they often go
to Maidenhead
And talk of sports and makes of cars
In various bogus Tudor bars…"
A bitter, satirical type of humour is used throughout 'Slough',
"Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now"
Slough almost welcomes the idea of being bombed, hence "friendly bombs", or the author does - Perhaps he thinks it will improve it. Full of sarcasm and resent, it isn't 'funny' as such, more critical or 'comedy of manners' style. 'Slough' is very critical about the actual town, which is defined as basically a 'hole' - "Mess up the mess they call a town".
The two poems by Thomas are neither humorous nor sarcastic but occasionally in 'Cynddylan', a slight sense of resent is apparent because it is dealing with progress and change. It may be that Thomas is somewhat unsure about advancing technology and perhaps is afraid of change. Thomas was a reverend in a small farming community in Wales, so any changes such as a member of the village acquiring a tractor would have a big affect on everyone.
As he was a religious man, God and parallels from the bible appear in his poetry - especially in 'Soil' - as poetry would have been a way of expressing his opinions and views.
'Slough' was written around the time of the second world war whereas Thomas' poems are dated earlier than that. Although this is the case, there is no 'generation gap' between the poems. Of course, apart from the fact that the war referred to in 'Slough' had not occurred when 'Soil' and 'Cynddylan' were written. Again, Thomas was a religious man and this is reflected in his poems, for example, his opinion that man came from the soil and will ultimately return to it is shown with the line "…the blood seeps home to the warm soil from which it came." The main theme of the poem 'Cynddylan' is progress and it is likely that Thomas felt threatened by this subject. This may be because he thinks people might neglect their faith when things like technology influence them and that they might prefer the new 'tractors' of the world to religion - "He's a new man now, part of the machine". Machines such as the tractor do not rely on the things that say, the plants in 'Soil' do (mainly the sun) and because of the independence of the machines they are above nature, like God.
In 'Slough' the author is apparently un-threatened by progress, although he does comment on the possible affects of it;
"Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans, Tinned minds, tinned breath"
'Slough' is more a mixture of comments and opinions on society it's falsehood/artificiality. The author has clearly got a communist attitude, agreeing to equal classes, rights and incomes and targeting the rich and important:
"And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears…"
The poems seem to reflect the life and upbringing of their author; for example soil, tractors, hens, fields and swedes are all small parts of farm life of which Thomas would have been accustomed to; living and serving in an agricultural community. Betjeman was more of a 'townie' as he attended Oxford University and lived in the Oxford area and sub-urbs for some time. Thomas probably did not get the chance to go to university or learn much about city life, so his poetry is centred around things that he understands and knows best, like religion.
Although 'Slough' is not focused on anything particularly biblical, it does contain some slight bible parallels. The idea of the bombs falling on Slough and wiping it out is similar to the story of Noah's ark, when God decided to give the earth a 'clean sweep' and start again. This was done to put all the mistakes of man in the past. The same idea occurs in 'Slough', to clear the world of "that rich man with double chin" and make a fresh start, but to spare the hand working, poor clerks. The clerks represent Noah and his animals, which were taken on the ark and saved from God's 'ex-o-sketch remake of the world'.
Interestingly, 'Slough' and 'Soil' both have similarities to George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen eighty-four', in the way that a sense of entrapment, or the knowledge of a higher being is present. This is just like the atmosphere in Nineteen eighty-four, being unable to escape the eyes of Big Brother and The Thought Police. In 'Soil' there is a definite awareness of a higher being above the worker,
"This his world, the hedge defines…only the sky is boundless, and he never looks up…"
He is enclosed and contained by his boundaries (hedges) and can be viewed only by that above him.
Overall the poems are of a completely different sort, style and address different issues. The authors write in their own individual ways and use words in contrasting ways for their desired affect. This is expected as the authors have completely divergent backgrounds and education, and no two poems can ever be the same. However, it is interesting to see the different approaches the authors take to create the environment of their poems, like the sense of entrapment found in both 'Soil' and 'Slough', with actual material boundaries ('Soil') and verse structure and repetition ('Slough').
Although the authors may share similar opinions and may share the same morals and messages, the poems by Thomas and Betjeman are understandably more different than alike in the ways of structure, style and content.
Rowan Yemm
10F1 - 18/02/02
