Analysis of The Kick

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



First I tried a Dry Martini;
But found not one teeny-weeny
Semblance of a kick in any kind of this.
Then I sampled a Manhattan;
But 'twas much the same with that 'un;
And as impotent I found an Angel's Kiss.

So I drank the menu thro';
Side-car, Bronx and Gin-and-Two.
Such innocuous concoctions left me sad.
And I yearned with eager yearning
For a cocktail, sudden, burning,
That might give a man a jolt and make him glad.

Then a fellow, somewhat seedy,
Down at heel and seeming needy,
said, 'If it's a kick you're seeking, come with me.'
So we went into a garden
That to me seemed partly Arden,
Partly, Eden; and we sat beneath a tree.

Here my friend produced a bottle,
Drew the stopper from its throttle,
And, pouring out a nip, said, 'Drink this, quick!'
No least hesitation followed;
I threw back my head and swallowed.
Oh, boy!  Oh, res and furies!  What a kick!

Green lightnings and blue blazes!
Fierce stars in fiery hazes!
Pink elephants that flapped about the sky! ...
When I woke, some five hours later,
Feeling queer at the equator,
'Great Scott!  How do you make that stuff?' said I.

'First of all,' he proudly stated,
'Take a pint of methylated,
Stir in varnish, an' some 'air oil, just a drop.
Then, if pep should still be lackin',
Add turps, an' a tin of blackin'.
Me own invention, called the Fitzcray Flop.'


Scheme AABCCB DXEFFE AAACCA GGHIIH XBJDDJ XEKAAK
Poetic Form
Metre 11101010 11111010 10101010111 11100010 11101111 0110011111 1110101 1110101 10100010111 01111010 1011010 11101010111 10101110 11101010 11101110111 11101010 11111010 10100110101 11101010 10101110 0101011111 1101010 11111010 111101101 1100110 1101001 1100110101 111111010 10110010 1111111111 11111010 10111 10101111101 1111111 1110111 110101011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,297
Words 249
Sentences 23
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 166
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:14 min read
41

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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