Adulations Artful Aid

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



Some of us may be tall, ma'am;
 Some of us may be dark;
Some handsome; tho' not all, ma'am,
Are touched by Beatury's spark.
But tall, and dark AND handsome, too?
Oh, lady!  If you please! .. .. .. ..
It's really very nice of you;
But do you think they're really due
Superlatives like these?

We'd hate to doubt your word, ma'am,
Since you're informed in art,
Tho' much we'd have preferred, ma'am,
To play a humbler part.
But in meek deference to you,
Well, lady, we'll admit
We're tall and dark, and handsome, too,
It seems a rather boastful view,
But one gets used to it.

And now we're getting used, ma'am,
To thoughts that flattery brings,
You might well be induced ma'am,
To say some more nice things.
Are there not moral qualities,
 Innate in each rare male,
That one of your discernment sees
Truth, strength, wit, wisdom - things like these?
Speak, ma'am.  Let truth prevail.

We're so unused to praise, ma'am,
So used to blame most dire,
That flattery these days, ma'am,
Creates a new desire.
A complex quite inferior
(See Freud) its sickly hue
Cast o'er us.  But if you'd say more
Along such lines - why, then, Encore!..
  Thanks, ma'am.  The same to you.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:09 min read
112

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCCD AEAECFCCF AGAGDHDDH AXAIICJJC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,136
Words 209
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9, 9

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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