Futility

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



To gild refined gold, or to paint the lily,
Or seek by other means to overstress,
As Shakespeare has it, is not merely silly,
But 'wasteful and ridiculous excess.'

Yes, men still try it, for no other reason
Than that man ever would and ever will
Strive fatuously, in and out of season,
To paint perfection's cheek more perfect still.

Yet of all futile tasks, of all the foolish,
Absurd attempts that show of wit a lack,
The worst is his who, obstinate and mulish,
Insists that he should paint a collier black.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
101

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 506
Words 96
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

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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