Analysis of The Grey Goshawk

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)



There is a flutter in the trees,
And now a sudden, dread unease
Stills all the bushland melodies
Amid the gums;
Stills now the song of wren and thrush,
Robin and honeyeater hush.
Now, with a swoop, a whistling rush,
Grey goshawk comes.

I am the threat: the dread king.
Grim Azrael, is on the wing,
And every little living thing
Dares scarce a breath.
And now a parrot, shrill with fear,
Flies dodging there and doubling here
Thro' inlaced limbs, in mad career
From lusting death.

Grey ghost, grey death, I work my will
O'er forest dense, o'er wood hill,
And on some tree-top rend my kill
With reddened beak.
There is no have in the tree,
There is no habor safe from me;
In many a singing sanctuary
My meat I seek.

Beware!  The swift grey ghost is out!
Be still!  Grey death lurks near about!
Crouch close! Shrink low! ... But have no doubt
I've marked my kill.
Grim nemesis.  I never fail;
Gaint hunger is my spur, my flail.
I feast.  And now away I sail
O'er the far hill.


Scheme AAABCCCB DDDEFXFE GGGHIIIH JJJGKKKG
Poetic Form
Metre 11010001 01010101 1101100 0101 11011101 10011 11010101 111 1101011 111101 010010101 1101 01010111 110101001 1110101 1101 11111111 101011011 01111111 111 1111001 1111111 010010100 1111 01011111 11111101 11111111 1111 11001101 11011111 11010111 10011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 950
Words 185
Sentences 20
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 185
Words per stanza (avg) 47
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
77

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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