Analysis of 'The Yellow Tailed Thornbill'

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



I'm a fussy little fellow
In my kilt of glowing yellow;
As about the garden ways I bow and bend.
Many a melody I bring you,
In the soft, gay songs I sing you
With a cheery little grace-note at the end
'Chip, chip.'
Oh, I never miss that grace-note at the end.

Summer into autumn passes,
And among the rippening grasses,
'Mid the midges, goodly provender I gain.
Little for your presence caring,
Confident and greatly daring,
I will charn you with a sudden, sweet refrain
'Chip, chip.'
Oh, a very soft, yet valiant refrain.

When the time has come for nesting,
Our sagacity attesting,
We erect a neat, twin-chambered bow'r of love;
Mother in the nursery sleeping
With the babes, while sentry keeping,
Father has his parlor-bedroom up above
'Chip, chip.'
Oh, it's cosier - and quieter above.

In my kilt of golden yellow
I'm a friendly little fellow,
And my spangled sable crown I proudly bear.
Tho' my way be meek and lowly,
I can capture, win you wholly
If you'll listen to this cheerful little air
'Chip, chip.'
Oh, I'll charm you with my cheerful little air.


Scheme aabccbDb eefggfDf gghgghDh aaijjiDi
Poetic Form
Metre 10101010 01111010 10101011101 100100111 00111111 10101011101 11 11101111101 10011010 0010110 101010111 10111010 10001010 11111010101 11 1010111001 10111110 101010 101011101111 100010010 10111010 1011101101 11 111010001 01111010 10101010 01101011101 11111010 11101110 11101110101 11 11111110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,038
Words 197
Sentences 12
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 202
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
100

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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