Betjeman and the Beats: Britain and the USA

I recently bought a couple of second-hand books, one in Dupont Circle (Second Story Books), the other in Adams Morgan (Idle Times Books). It may seem unlikely that the same reader can appreciate the poetry of both John Betjeman and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poems as different as Betjeman's "Summoned by Bells" (1960) and Ferlingetti's collection "A Coney Island of the Mind" (1958), or Ginsberg's "Howl" (1956).

For me they represent, as much as any cultural works of the same period can do, the profound cultural differences and modes of expression between Great Britain (or England, in this case) and the USA.

John Betjeman was also "one of the best minds" of his generation, even if he wasn't "an angelheaded hipster" or an "angry young man"!

I wonder how well the American edition of "Summoned by Bells" sold in the USA? Apparently there are over one million copies of "Howl" in print. The older I get, the more I prefer Betjeman to Ginsberg. Best of all, William Barnes!

My old copies:

Is There a Beat Generation? With Jack Kerouac and Kingsley Amis (1958)

 Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection.

Allen Ginsberg, The Art of Poetry No. 8, Paris Review


Summoned By Bells, John Betjeman, BBC iPlayer (1976 film)