Discerning Mr. Murphy

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



Discerning Mr. Murphy sees
The dangers of the foolish plan
Of giving frailty its fees,
And taxing weak, misguided man.
Reluctantly, and red with shame,
He tells of girls depraved, who may
Take up the old, maternal game
On business lines, and make it pay,
If only foolish magistrates
Will give them rather higher rates.

An extra bob or two a head
Will shatter virtue's final guard;
The tax on bachelors would spread
A baby farm in every yard.
To populate our empty lands
Bring black or brown across the seas
From Hindu, Jap, or coral strands,
But lighten not the penalties
For bearing babes.  Such clemence vile
Might make it worth a woman's while.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
120

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEE FGFGHAHAII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 636
Words 117
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 10, 10

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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