Death in Leamington and Devonshire Street Essay Example For Students

Death in Leamington and Devonshire Street Essay Do you agree with this assessment in the light of your reading of Death in Leamington and Devonshire Street, W.1.?  Betjemans lexis in the poem Death in Leamington exemplifies only dark and decaying imagery, expressing death itself through powerful metaphors and thus exhibiting a sombre mood which is significant in its reflection of the death of the woman. Indeed, through his diction, Betjeman is able to conjure a world himself, which is put across quite carefully to the reader in its specific detail. The poem Devonshire Street, W.1. is equally a construction of a world by carefully chosen detail. It is itself ridden with symbolism and literary contrast what with the building being personified as lofty, thus an impersonal mood is brought about, which is symbolic of the age itself and portrays a world of apparent negativity.  The death of the woman in Death in Leamington is ironic in its presence to the Nurse. As she comes to wake the woman up, she realises that she is in fact dead: a crude and lonely happening, which provides greater emphasis to the evning that the poem takes place in. Indeed, the statement the light of the evning star is an antithesis in itself, with the very dichotomy between light and dark being portrayed here, thus adding to the sense of confusion that exists in Leamington Spa. The stucco is peeling in stanza six, implying through such symbolism that there is a sense of decay, a symbolic death of both the woman and of an era, with this ambiguity only strengthening the pessimism throughout. Furthermore, as the gas in the hall is turned down, greater symbolism is created, as this has connotations of a turning down of life of a grey decay.  The very satire that exists in Chintzy, chintzy cheeriness is dark in its deeper meaning. The fact that a woman has died is anything but humorous and yet Betjeman includes such satire, perhaps to reflect upon a world in which we do not understand death for what it is a passing of life but something altogether lighter. This would indeed give meaning as to why the nurse carries on with her business-like manner as she tiptoe gently away from the scene of death, with Betjeman providing greater meaning to our obliviousness as man and woman, and the way in which we do not appreciate perhaps all that we should, thus this womans life (who is alone in the frame of such eight quatrains), is dismissed without any attention being paid to her stop of the heart . Through Betjemans purposeful diction, a reflective world in itself is hence created, which is careful in its detail. The poem Devonshire Street, W.1. uses language by Betjeman to construct a world in itself of carefully chosen detail. The door is heavy with a wrought-iron screen, which is in fact symbolic of a divide in life: a division of compassion and of emotionlessness, which cannot be reunited as this metaphorical divide is one of wrought-iron. The narrator repeats No hope, with this repetition providing emphasis to the negativity which seemingly permeates both Death in Leamington and Devonshire Street, W.1. Indeed, the adjectives merciless, cold, silly, timidly and iron all also contribute to the creation of a world that exists in the heart of London which is, again, oblivious of the needs and sorrows of others, thus a world by carefully chosen detail is in fact created by Betjeman as his lexis is greatly infused with symbolism of deeper meaning.