Analysis of Wet

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



Not guilty, yer Honor . . . An' givin' me reasons,
I'd like for to plead this ‘ere change in the seasons,
Plus one flamin' goat with a terrible silly
Great grin on ‘is map wot ‘ud drive a man dilly

‘E lobs in me shop an' - "Is this enough rain for yeh?"
Honest yer Honor, I'd like to explain for yeh,
‘Twas n't ‘is tone, or ‘is talk of the weather
And ‘twas n't ‘is grin; but the whole lot together.

"This enough rain for yeh?" Stands there inquirin',
As if this ‘ere rain's the one thing I'm desirin'.
"Wet, ain't it?" ‘e grins, with ‘is mackintosh leakin'
All over me carpit . . . it's justice I'm seekin'

Plain justice, yer Honor.  I wonder I'm sober.
You know ‘ow it poured thro' the whole of October,
Then floods in November - an' this ‘eathen image
Sez, "Rain enough for yeh?"  That started the scrimmage.

"Wet, ain't it?" ‘e sez.  Can a man claim I wrongs ‘im
Right there in me shop, when I ups an' I dongs ‘im?
For I done al me cash - as ‘e well must remember,
The coot - in this ‘ere ice-cream joint last September.

Yes, ice-cream, yer Honor.  Cool drinks - then this weather
An' ‘im, an' ‘is talk, an' ‘is grin all together
Well - a man can stand so much.  I ain't prone to fightin',
But, if a fine must be, well, make it a light ‘un.


Scheme AABB CCDD EEEE DDXX FFDD DDEE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (83%)
Metre 11011011110 111111110010 11111010010 111111110110 1101111101111 101101110111 111111111010 0111111011010 101111111 1111101111 1111111101 1101111011 110110110110 111111011010 11001011110 110111110010 111111011111 110111111111 1111111111010 010111111010 111110111110 111111111010 101111111111 110111111011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,277
Words 249
Sentences 23
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 146
Words per stanza (avg) 42
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
36

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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