Slough by Sir John Betjeman Essay -- Poems Poetry Analysis

Sir John Betjeman’s sonnet, Slough, opens with a great, sensational refrain. There is enormous strain between the thoughts of dairy animals touching and the possibility of death. Indeed, even in the initial line there is strife ‘friendly bombs’ is a logical inconsistency in wording, as bombs are never suspected of as benevolent, and Betjeman’s utilization of this characterizes what a terrible spot. Another device Betjeman utilizes is musicality; the verse is at a consistent, predefined pace until the last line where the mood is broken with the word ‘Death’, which gives a ground-breaking picture of Slough. In the subsequent verse, Betjeman shrewdly looks at people’s ‘minds’ and ‘breath’ to tinned items, giving everything a sentiment of disinfected bluntness, without natural air. He likewise utilizes the structure here, posting the ordinary tinned things and afterward including ‘tinned m...