John Betjeman: A Centenary Tribute

He was the People’s Laureate, of course,
Observing things that others disregard:
Post-Toasties, Craven A and HP sauce
— Unworthy subjects for a royal bard?
He wrote of tea-shops and the electric train;
Of things familiar to the common man,
Things which his critics sneeringly disdain,
(Also maybe because he made his metres scan
And took care to make his verses rhyme).
He