Analysis of Old Town Types No.17- Mr Bodge the Banker
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Mr Bodge, the banker, was a power in the land;
His city bank had granted him an autocratic hand;
For our town was most remote from commerce centres then,
And only Mr Bodge could know who were our solid men.
So Mr Bodge within his bank reigned with a pride immense,
And rich men and poor men, they paid him deference;
For who could know when droughts would come to jeopardise some plan?
And one word from Mr Bodge might save or sink a man.
He shone among the 'silvertails,' a leading social light,
Well dressed, well groomed and painfully polite.
He entertained the Governor, when he was in our town,
Magistrates and M.P.'s and others of renown.
In full beards and top hats, with such a fancy spread
That the fat cook at Flynn's pub went nearly off her head
Cold collations, caviare, foods till then unknown,
And all were sure that Mr Bodge had money of his own.
He beamed on Peter Connor when he came into the bank,
For Connor was our squatter and a man of social rank.
He beamed on all the 'silvertails' of his exclusive set;
He frowned on cocky farmers who were over-long in debt.
'My bank considers character,' he'd sternly say to those.
'If you can't pay the fifty pounds, I fear we must foreclose.'
And, tho' small men called him a snob, most of the town agreed
That Mr Bodge, tho' hard at times, was very just indeed.
He once went on extended leave, and all the town's elect
Gave him a champagne send-off. 'Twas the least one might expect.
But when he overstayed his leave there was a mighty din,
The bank sent its inspectors up and called its money in
Or tried to. But old Connor failed, and Collins at the store,
The chemist and the auctioneer and half a dozen more.
And men long talked with bated breath of that depression dire
When Mr Bodge, the banker, left the old town in the mire.
Scheme | AABBXXCC DDEEFFGG HHIIJJKK LLMMNNOO |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101010001 1101110110101 11011101110101 010101111010101 11010111110101 011011111100 111111111111 0111101111101 110101010101 1111010001 10101001110101 1001010101 011011110101 1011111110101 11111101 01011101110111 11110101110101 110110100011101 111101110101 11110101010101 11010100110111 11110101111101 01111101110101 11011111110101 11110101010101 11001111011101 1110111110101 01110101011100 11111101010101 0100001010101 01111101110101 11010101011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,775 |
Words | 343 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 348 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 85 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 120 Views
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