Analysis of Cheek



When PHARAOH chased the chosen Jew, and perished in the sea,
Things seemed to hint at failure in the PHARAOH policy.
For 'tis written that the Opposition leader had his way;
But we've never been enlightened on what PHARAOH had to say.
But probably before the wave came over him he swore:
'This is the naval policy I've always battled for!'
And continued to enlarge upon his policy's success,
Till a mouthful of the salt Red Sea cut short his brief address.

For there's nothing like a cool, calm cheek;
And there's wisdom in a big bold bluff.
If you find you've made a blunder,
And your policy goes under,
You've a chance if you can bellow loud enough.
That's the time you need a brass-bound cheek;
When your theory to smithereens is blown,
Seize the other fellow's notion
In the subsequent commotion
And declare, by all the gods, it is your own.

When BRUTUS punctured CAESAR in his quaint old Pagan way,
A lot of folk were almost sure that BRUTUS won the day.
'Twas the popular opinion, and was backed by solid facts;
But we are not told what CAESAR thought about these ancient acts.
For it was not 'Et tu BRUTE' that he murmured as he fell,
But 'I'm charmed to see my policy is carried out so well.'
And if we are allowed to make a sporting sort of guess,
He's skiting still in Hades of that policy's success.

For there's nothing like a hard-boiled cheek;
And there's virtue in assurance when its strong;
In claiming a11 the credit,
And declaring that you said it
Would occur just as it happened all along.
No, there's nothing like a steel-shod cheek;
And there's something in a tall, tough skite
Should it be the white you back,
And the winner turn out black,
Buck up, and say you meant a blackish white.

0, ye proud and haughty Britons, quondam rulers of the waves,
Have you ever once reflected why it is ye are not slaves?
Nay, the glorious foundation Britain's freedom stands upon
Is the firm and fearless policy of glorious King JOHN!
For when the Barons waited on him, asking him to sign
The grand old Magna Charta, did he hesitate and whine?
No!  Spake that grand old monarch, with a rather bitter smile:-
'This is the policy I've advocated all the while!'

Ay, there's nothing like a cast-iron cheek,
When you 'fuse' to give away a doubtful gift,
Saying, 'This is what we'll give
This or - some alternative.'
Lie low and watch which way the cat will shift.
Just wait and watch and polish up your cheek;
And when the Dreadnought hurling back is sent
With the curt advice to spend it
On yourself - well, let that end it;
And remark: 'Precisely.  That is what we meant.'


Scheme AABBCCDD EFGGFEHIIH BBJJKKDD ELMNLEMOOX PPQQRRSS ETUUTEVNNV
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101010001 11111100010100 11101001010111 111010101110111 11000101110111 1101010011101 001010101110001 1011011111111 111010111 011000111 11111010 01100110 10111110101 101110111 111010111 10101010 00100010 00111011111 11010100111101 0111011110101 101000100111101 111111101011101 11111111110111 111111100110111 01110111010111 1110101110001 111010111 01100010111 0100010 00101111 10111110101 111010111 011000111 1110111 0010111 110111011 1101010110101 111010101111111 101000101010101 101010100110011 11010101110111 011101111001 1111111010101 1101001100101 1110101101 11111010101 1011111 1110100 1101110111 1101010111 010110111 10101111 10111111 00101011111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,531
Words 481
Sentences 23
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 8, 10, 8, 10, 8, 10
Lines Amount 54
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 332
Words per stanza (avg) 79
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:28 min read
84

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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