On a Portrait of a Deaf Man John Betjeman

Learning Objectives AO1 – respond to texts critically and imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations. AO2 – explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and setting.

On a portrait of a Deaf Man The kind old face, the egg-shaped head, The tie, discreetly loud, The loosely fitting shooting clothes, A closely fitting shroud. He liked old City dining-rooms, Potatoes in their skin, But now his mouth is wide to let The London clay come in. He took me on long silent walks In country lanes when young, He knew the names of ev’ry bird But not the song it sung.

And when he could not hear me speak He would have liked to say good-bye, He smiled and looked so wise Shake hands with many friends, That now I do not like to think In Highgate now his finger-bones Of maggots in his eyes. Stick through his finger-ends. He liked the rain-washed Cornish air You, God, who treat him thus and thus, And smell of ploughed-up soil, Say ‘Save his soul and pray.’ He liked a landscape big and bare You ask me to believe You and And painted it in oil. I only see decay. But least of all he liked that place Which hangs on Highgate Hill Of soaked Carrara-covered earth For Londoners to fill.

On a Portrait of a Deaf Man The kind old face, the egg-shaped head, The tie, discreetly loud, The loosely fitting shooting clothes, A closely fitting shroud. Oxymoron used to show character. What is ironic about the word ‘loud’? This poem seems quite straightforward – a quality that, in his time, made Betjeman rightly famous and popular; but it still might be surprisingly difficult for some students and the less-than-obvious words will need glossing. Like all poems, for some students it can be helpful for them to visualise themselves in a situation in which the poem is spoken to them not as a poem but as a conversation of some sort. Very many poems are amenable to this treatment and it can really help those students who view poetry rather negatively. A poem, after all, is like all language, an attempt at communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings to someone else and with a little stretching of the imagination can be visualised as a part of a conversation between two people. To think of it as a “poem” isn’t always as helpful to some students whereas thinking of it as just someone speaking their thoughts, ideas and feelings can be. The students can be asked to visualise the scene, where and when it might be and what the circumstances would have been, perhaps thinking about how they might themselves film it for a BBC documentary – not as a recitation, of course, but as a piece of non-fictional speech. This poem is not so obviously amenable to this treatment – but it will work to imagine a person having a conversation with God – perhaps as a kind of prayer? The structure of the poem is regular 4 line stanzas, the first 3 lines seem light-hearted and warm, relating to the deaf man when he was alive and the last line cold and harsh, relating to the deaf man after death. The use of ‘loud’ is ironic – the one thing that the man couldn’t do is hear volume, even of his tie seemingly!

He liked old City dining-rooms, Potatoes in their skin, But now his mouth is wide to let The London clay come in. Why does the tense change? The tense changes to show the contrast between the man when he was alive and as he is now he is dead. The eating of the potatoes is contrasted with the death man’s gaping mouth looking as if he were eating the earth in his grave.

He took me on long silent walks In country lanes when young, Why are their walks ‘silent’? He took me on long silent walks In country lanes when young, He knew the names of ev’ry bird But not the song it sung. Why does he not know the songs? This stanza deals only with the deaf man during life. It paints a picture of two friends walking in the country together. This is a peaceful picture, shown by the word ‘silent’ which refers to the man’s deafness as well as the peace of the countryside. The deaf man has knowledge of the birds but because he is deaf he has no knowledge of their songs. There is a certain sadness about this.

And when he could not hear me speak He smiled and looked so wise That now I do not like to think Of maggots in his eyes. Contrast between living and dead. Again there is a contrast between the deaf man when alive and dead. The thought of his friend as a decaying corpse upsets the poet yet he cannot help thinking of it.

He liked the rain-washed Cornish air And smell of ploughed-up soil, He liked a landscape big and bare And painted it in oil. Use of senses. This stanza uses the senses to create imagery of the deaf man as he was when alive. The senses employed are those not related to hearing and therefore remind us that despite being deaf, the man lead a full life.

But least of all he liked that place Which hangs on Highgate Hill Of soaked Carrara-covered earth For Londoners to fill. Why doesn’t he call it a cemetery? Italian marble often used for headstones and tombs. The poet avoids the use of the word cemetery – perhaps it is too close to reality. He prefers to remember his friend as he was. The deaf man didn’t like Highgate cemetery – link back to previous stanza where we are told the types of places he did like – he liked place full of life.

He would have liked to say good-bye, Shake hands with many friends, In Highgate now his finger-bones Stick through his finger-ends. Contrast between the living man and the dead man. The contrast is emphasised between the living and the dead man. The idea of saying good-bye is a common one when talking about people who have died – friends and relatives seem to get comfort if they have been able to say good-bye to their loved one before they die and there is a sense of regret if they have not said good-bye, as if this is an important rite of passage.

You, God, who treat him thus and thus, Say ‘Save his soul and pray.’ Who is the focus of the final stanza? You, God, who treat him thus and thus, Say ‘Save his soul and pray.’ You ask me to believe You and I only see decay. What tense is this stanza written in? The focus changes here from the deaf man to God. The poet is questioning God about the way his friend was treated by God – presumably referring to his deafness. The tense in this stanza is the present tense so the poet is talking to God about things as they are not as they were when his friend was alive. He sees the idea of praying for his soul as a waste of time, seeing only the decay of death.