Lines Written in Hospital

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



Upon a snowy bed I lie,
Too placid to complain,
And watch the mad world rushing by
Beyond my window-pane,
The traffic threading in and out
And wonder what it's all about.

I watch the loaded tramcars stream
By dozens into town,
With men, each thinking of some scheme
To take his neighbour down;
Each woman wond'ring what she'll buy
At Frill and Fluffum's bye and bye.

Down in the street I hear the talk
Of people passing by,
They chatter, chatter as they walk
Of all thins 'neath the sky
Of trade, of sport, of foolish things
That lack of clear reflection brings.

Placid I said I was - but no;
For all this seems to me
This madly rushing to and fro
Just sheer futility.
And, as I choke with rising wrath,
The nurse says, 'Time to take your broth.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
111

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCC DEDEAA FAFAGG HIHIXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 734
Words 145
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6

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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