Betjeman's Poem

[woodelf]

What is the meaning of John Betjeman's poem "The Cockney Amorist"? Ta Muchly.

[Captain2]

I've never been able to really look into a poem, but isn't this just about unrequited love? he won't go to places that remind him of/played a part in a relationship

[sandyRoe]

The speaker in the poem has an interest in old churches, much like Betjeman himself, but here he's also lamenting the break up of a relationship.
Maybe he's saying shared interests are the necessary foundations of a lasting one.

[woodelf]

That's good enough for me, Cap!...thanks a lot.

[woodelf]

That will do even better Sandy - but don't worry Cap, Many Thanks to Both of You.

[Baldric]

As an aside, when I was just a Lad, Betjeman and his Wife were Family Friends, remember him as a very nice person.

[Guilbert53]

I am no poetry fan, but have a soft spot for John Betjeman.

Reading it on a surface level it seems to me he is lamenting the break up of a relationship with another person (a girl I assume).

When you are "in love" with a person the whole world seems to revolve around what you do together, places you visit together have a different meaning.

So, for example, he says they discovered and visited many churches together as in "The vast suburban churches, Together we have found:
The ones which smelt of gaslight, The ones in incense drown'd;

But now they have broken up and he has no one to share these events and memories with the churches are just that, churches, and "I'll use them now for praying in"

From my own point of view I can see where he is coming from.

A few years ago my wife were in Norfolk and we wanted to take a boat trip but we arrived 2 hours too early as the tide was out.

So we just sat on a wall at the edge of the beach and for 2 hours watched the tide slowly come in, going round rocks, filling in rock pools etc.

I have great memories of that day, but if I had been on my own it may have been boring. Only because I has someone to share it with did the day mean something to me.

I think that is the sentiment Betjemen is trying to make.

[Captain2]

No problem woodelf; I said I was rubbish anyway.

Maybe his partner has died ("When on the limelit crooner, The thankful curtain falls") and too many things remind him of her and he also questioned why he is all alone now and not taken with her. ("Is why since you have left me, I'm somehow still about").

[kvalidir]

I like it a lot, and I think it's about death and the way that when you have loved someone this much everything in your life is linked to and becomes part of them, and going anywhere alone is ridiculously hard. The end phrase is almost comic and yet all the sadder for that revealing a sense of utter confusion, dismay and loss. I love it and I'm proper jealous of that Baldric.

[woodelf]

Thank You All Very Much Indeed, especially Guilbert with a Very Illuminating and Poignant answer.