Does war overcome hypocrisy? John Betjeman partially answers this question in the poem "In Westminster Abbey." The poem is about a self absorbed woman doing the least she possibly can to ensure a good life and a place in heaven. She has to pray to God to put her conscience at ease, she gives prayer no special value and assigns it's merely another appointment during her day. She prays at Westminster Abbey for the sake of appearances and to make herself feel important. The poet has used many language, sound and poetic devices such as; enjambment, alliteration, repetition, assonance, sibilance, metaphor and imagery to bring out the main idea of the poem which is; Religious Hypocrisy.

The first stanza of the poem describes an upper class English woman (Sunday church goer) who enters Westminster Abbey, whilst removing her "glove", which in this case is a symbol of War...