The poem
Kind o'er the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy, White o'er the playpen the sheen of her dress, Fresh from the bathroom and soft in the nursery Soap scented fingers I long to caress.
Were you a prefect and head of your dormit'ry? Were you a hockey girl, tennis or gym? Who was your favourite? Who had a crush on you? Which were the baths where they taught you to swim?
Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle, Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge, Home and Colonial, Star, International, Balancing bicycle leant on the verge.
Trace me your wheel-tracks, you fortunate bicycle, Out of the shopping and into the dark, Back down the avenue, back to the pottingshed, Back to the house on the fringe of the park.
Golden the light on the locks of Myfanwy, Golden the light on the book on her knee, Finger marked pages of Rackham's Hans Anderson, Time for the children to come down to tea.
Oh! Fullers angel-cake, Robertson's marmalade, Liberty lampshade, come shine on us all, My! what a spread for the friends of Myfanwy, Some in the alcove and some in the hall.
Then what sardines in half-lighted passages! Locking of fingers in long hide-and-seek. You will protect me, my silken Myfanwy, Ring leader, tom-boy, and chum to the weak.
Reprinted with the permission of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
Wonderful poem...Betjeman captures that lost aura of post-war home-counties upper middle class privilege. Always reminds me of south-west London - round about Putney Common or Barnes. Definite hint of eroticism - "fortunate bicycle"...recommend the song version by David Essex: the tune fits the lyric perfectly, an aching longing for a disappeared past.
This poem is quite an innocent poem, I think it shows Betjeman's fantasies about strong domineering women, I see what Tony is saying about the bicycle, but i think that the poem is quite childish. It is writen in the first person, I think Betjeman has made up an imagery character. I also think that Myfanwy is much older that the other person, so perhaps Betjeman has a crush on her, but she doesn't know who he is?
I love this piece, it shows his almost unique ability in writing in cinemascope, moving from her childhood to her life as a mother in seamless fashion. Myfanwy is rather feminine by his tastes with her "soap scented fingers" though he does say she is a tom boy. I think she is the embodiment of the very sensible, pretty but practical middle-upper class lady that Betjeman, and I adore. The outdoor, sporty girl but still tender enough to read Hans Christian Andersen. A delightful love poem that leaves a lot to the reader's thought.
Kind o'er the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy....what is or was a kinderbank?
Myfanwy was his childhood nanny, Emma!
I too came to this poem via the David Essex song, but now I love both. It always bring tears to my eyes, tears of nostalgia I suppose, particularly towards the end. The Liberty lampshade shining at teatime means it must be autumn or winter, which for me conjures a perfect picture of the cosy house, fireside, tea and cake...
I had to look up Kinderbank but apparently it's a sort of bench seat, presumably for children?
poem-Myfannwy
Had not known poem before hearing it sung by David Essex.Just one of those life changing pieces of prose that you can never forget. I wore a navy gymslip to school. Would love to talk to anyone who fels the same.
Myfanwy
I wonder if I came to this poem prior to the David Essex version. Reading the poem now suggests I didn't. I wondered for year if a was a lesbian, schoolgirl crush thing, but reading the poem I see it is from the perspective of a husband, or is it? Now I read that Myfanwy was Betjeman's nanny. All plausible. The beautiful thing is that the poem is open to interpretation. Tony Griffin's observation about the "fortunate bicycle" is a a bit gross but is a sure observation. The Essex music fits the words and the mood perfectly. And the capture of privilege and a lost culture, as Tony points out, rings true. The First World War ended all that.
Cheers
According to the obituary of Myfanwy Piper, published in the "Independent" 22nd jan 1997,
"She and her husband John moved into the abandoned farmhouse at Fawley Bottom, beyond Henley, at first with no water, electricity or heating. Only slowly becoming less uncomfortable, it nevertheless became the focus of a group of friends, especially John and Penelope Betjeman, Geoffrey Grigson, and Osbert and Karen Lancaster. Betjeman so adored Myfanwy that he wrote poems about her in the totally imaginary character of a nanny, and as an undergraduate, equally unlike, at Oxford."