percivall mendaville analysis

In the narrative poem ‘percival mandeliville’ by john betjemen is mainly written to show the contrast between percival the perfect boy to betjeman who was anything but perfect .I would devide this poem into three seperate parts because they all show different emotions and acts .in this poem there are a variety of different emotions but the most powerfull has to be fear.
The first stanza of the poem is describing Percival Mandeville, the perfect boy was all a school master could wish to see. He was upright, honorable and had a sense of leadership that lifted him head and shoulders from the crowd. He also had an open smile that enchanted others. He was well-built and blue-eyed. He was good at games and had a neat handwriting that pleased everyone. He also frowned at anything unsporting, mean or base and unworthy of the spirit of the school, even the adjectives used by the poet show us this.you can also notice how betjemen takes advantage of percivals kindness.The second stanza shows us that the narrator is a bull but he is trying to hide it.in this stanza you can also notice that betjemen uses direct speech to make the poem more realistic.’i spewd with fear ‘,i greatly dreaded pain’and ‘emptied my bladder’are some phrases that show how afraid betjemen was from percival.with the phrase ‘blows and boots , upon the bum’an effect of violence and fear is also created.
The third stanza is about reconcileiation,going back to feeling sorry for him.a calmming down effect is created in the phrase ‘of hope,escape and insparation came’.betjem also uses italics to speak directly to the reader and to communicate with them.the excuse betjemen creates is that his mother is very ill , this shows us that he is a liar ,coward and takes advantage of percivals kindness.we say the last two lines of the poem are a recociliation because the poem starts with percivil as a perfect boy and ends with him being a perfect boy.
John betjemen uses a certain style of writing which is enjoyable and easier to believe and it is also narrative . we know that this poem is a narattive one because of the lack of rhyming sceame,lenght of verses,a lot of punctuation,change in tone,no metaphor or similies,uses italics and direct speech.i like this poem and i think betjemen has suceeded in narrating his experience with mandaville although he plays with our emotions.in my opinion i think the reader sympathises more with percival but we pity both.