Analysis of The Calm
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Brothers, have you observed the calm?
Even the leaves of that symbolic palm
That denotes peace, political and otherwise, are scarcely stirred
By the faintest breath of controversy. Not a word
Is heard,
Excepting, here and there, the belated spouting
Of some overcharged politician giving his vocabulary an outing.
Brothers, what does this denote?
Is there no longer any competition for your precious vote?
Nay, have you ever heard that alleged political axiom over which the
wily old campaigners oft make goodly sport:
'The memory of the sap-headed elector is short.'
Do you believe the allegation, brothers, or do you doubt it?
And, anyhow, what are you going to do about it?
Brothers, if ever you hope to know enough to come in out of the wet,
Mark this: They are giving you time to forget!
What of those great National Questions,
Those fine, broad, far-seeing and statesman-like suggestions,
Those urgent matters of life and death,
About which the politicians were so busy talking a while ago that they
had hardly time to draw breath?
Are they dead?
Have they been fatally bashed on the head?
Have they been decently interred attended by those solemn obsequies
usually afforded the remains of respectable and right-thinking
persons who impressed us in this life with their top-hats?
Rats!
What of the settlement of the Northern Territory?
Is this an abandoned story?
What of our sea defence?
Has this question been cast hence
Into the outer darkness and the gloom
Of the tomb?
What of efficient Protection?
Is this now merely a matter for maundering retrospection.
Amongst senile and toothless old parties whose minds ever dwell amongst
the dead and mouldy things of the past?
Oh, Blast, brothers! BLAST!
Blast those rocks of apathy that bind your sense of true citizenship!
Get a fresh grip.
Spring off your tall!
Give your political perspicaciousness a ball,
Revive it with a long, cool, refreshing drink,
And sit down and THINK....
Do you imagine for one moment that old 'Party Government' is asleep?
Do you picture it sunk in slumbers deep?
If you do, brothers, you never made a bigger mistake.
It is very, very wide awake.
That fine, old British institution, Party Government, that was
introduced into this suffering country before the thistle and
previous to the rabbit,
And nursed so assiduously by politicians till our acceptance of it has
become a sinful habit -
This pestiferous System, my brothers, never sleeps;
Watch and ward it keeps.
And while you are mooning, sporting, smoodging, drinking, dreaming,
It is engineering, planning, plotting, scheming.
The Hon. Mr. Black is aiming at the political downfall of the Hon. Mr.
White;
While the Hon. Mr. White is playing for the shoving of the Hon. Mr.
Black and his friends into the darkness and gloom and solitude of
political night.
But both, my brothers, both are toiling with the energy of a 200-h.p.
triple cylinder motor,
With the object of eventually and effectively sprinkling a little salt
upon the tail of that dull but desirable bird, the free and independent
voter.
Brothers, do ye feel like taking tickets on yourselves? Do ye feel
flattered and exalted?
For, behold, ye are to be numbered among the salted!
And, while these plots and plans are brewing,
What, my brothers, are ye doing?
Whilst the wily politician is chewing
The cud of sinful reflection, with his eye upon your votes,
Are uou acting otherwise than after the manner and fashion of unreflective
goats?
While you, brother, are canoodling with a soft and fluffy person, in a
Magyarblouse, upon the silvery beach,
Striving to convince her that you think she is a perfect peach;
And while you, brother, are vainly endeavoring at the races,
To watch the impossible nags you back run into places;
And while you, brother, are sinking the long 'un, and the gin-squash, and
the soder-with-dash.
And recklessly doing in your cash;
Sly old Party Government and its minions
Are busy manufacturing your political opinions.
Yes, you, the intelligent electors, fine fellows of quite unusual
brain and brawn,
Are each of you regarded merely as a puppet, a pawn
In the Game.
Shame!
Attention, and I shall tell you exactly what old Party Government is doing
at this precise moment, if you wish.
He is busily engaged in the manufacture of fish.
Fish, brothers, herrings, red herrings which it is his intention to draw
across the track
Of great National Issues, because he
Scheme | AABBBCCDDEFFGG HHIIJXJKKICLLMMNNOOPPXQQRRSSTT UUVVXWXXXYYCCZ1 Z2 1 RZXXZXXXCCC3 2 3 E4 4 5 5 W6 6 IIX7 7 8 8 C9 9 XXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10110101 1001110101 101101000101101 101011100101 11 10101001010 111010101010100110 1011101 111101001011101 11110110101001001010 10101011101 010010110111 110100101011111 0101111011011 101101111011101101 11111011101 111110010 1111100101010 110101101 0110010011010010111 1101111 111 1111001101 111100101011101 1000010001101000110 1010110111111 1 1101001010100 11101010 1110101 1110111 0101010001 101 11010010 1111001011001 0110101101110101 010101101 11101 1111100111111100 1011 1111 110100101 01110110101 01101 1101011101110100101 111011011 11110110101001 111010101 111100101010011 0101110010010100 1001010 01101001010110010111 0101010 1110110101 10111 011111011010 111010101010 01101110100100110110 1 101101110101010110 101101010010101 01001 11110111010100101 1010010 101010100000100100101 0101111101001010010 10 1011111010101111 100010 10111111001010 011101110 11101110 1010010110 011100101110111 11101011001001011 1 1110111010101000 10101001 101010111110011 0111011001001010 110010011110110 0111011001100110 01011 010010011 11101000110 110010010100010 110010001011011010 101 111101010101001 001 1 010011110101110100110 110110111 11100010001011 11010110111101011 0101 1110010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 4,364 |
Words | 743 |
Sentences | 57 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 30, 47, 6 |
Lines Amount | 97 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 874 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 186 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 3:42 min read
- 131 Views
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"The Calm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6595/the-calm>.
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