Hitting It Up With Hitler

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



Now, who in the world can understand?
Since Tyranny, Freedom's whittler,
And the strong-arm band of the Iron Hand
Go hitting it up with Hitler,
Who can pretend to comprehend
This curious law-and-order
When generals dropp as the guns go pop,
And the princes streak for the border.

Where is the end when friend slays friend?
And the Factious rave and thunder,
When, trial denied, high chiefs have died,
And various 'vons' gone under;
When the President vows he will resign,
And then, somehow or other,
Is moved to sign a note benign,
Saying, 'Well done, brave brother!'

Man scarcely needs such trivial deeds
As Dillinger's or Capone's,
When a leader rash with a funny moustache,
Goes bumping off his cronies
Putting the lot right on the spot,
While the common people shiver
Lest a word ill-said bring a crack on the head,
Or a pellet of lead in the liver.

Quiet homes aflood in a bath of blood
Where else in the world could it happen,
Save in the land of that queer-named band
Like Roehm and Jung and Papen?
Is it all a fight for Freedom's right,
Or for Tyranny, Freedom's whittler,
When the Blackshirts shout and the gangs go out,
Hitting it up with Hitler?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

1:04 min read
113

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCBXB CBXBDBDB EEXXXBXB XXADXBXB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,135
Words 211
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

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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