On a Portrait of a Deaf Man

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On a Portrait of a deaf man The poem Portrait of a deaf man was written by John Betjeman who was born on August 28th 1906 and this poem was written in tribute to his late father Ernest Betjemann. However the poem is very unusual with the way Betjeman talks about the aspects of death which are very rarely talked and he is also quite open about stating his religious view - or rather his lack of religious views in this poem which seem to be quite blunt. The opening stanza is very different in terms of Betjeman's other poems one main reason being no verbs are used everything just gives descriptions of Betjeman’s father.The very first phrase ‘the kind old face’(L.1) is very affectionate giving the idea that Betjeman considered his father to be good natured. He introduces the oxymoron ‘tie discretely loud’(L.2) as to say that his father would be seen usually wearing bold and bright coloured ties to perhaps give himself a more vibrant way of seeing to compensate for his loss of hearing.Betjeman gives these wonderful descriptions of his father then quickly seems to undermine it all with this bold line describing how his father is dead ‘a closely fitting shroud’.(L.4) The first two lines in the second stanza describe how his father enjoyed eating out in old styled restaurants ‘he liked the old city dining-rooms’(L.5) which gives us the indication that he was rather old fashioned. Betjeman apparently enjoyed old style restaurants himself which gives reason to believe that he wrote this line to feel closer to his father. He also writes what type of food his father enjoys but once again quickly diminishes all of this with an unsavory image of death ’But now his mouth is wide to let the london clay come in’.(L.8) The third stanza is rather beautiful and gives the reader a sense of relief, being that it is one of the only stanzas apart from five that do not give the

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