The Listener

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



Why, certainly.  Let's listen to the cricket.
Oh, I'm quite keen.  Test match, I understand.
At... What's that?  Oh, Australia's at the wicket.
South Africa - a most intriguing land.
Yes, I was there in - nineteen - let me see
In nineteen - Dear me!  Memory is so tricky.
Met Cecil Rhodes, you know.  He said to me,
I recollect - eh?  Oh.  The wicket's sticky.

Great Cecil Rhodes.  There was a master mind,
A dreamer, yet so practical, creative.
South Africa, Well, well.  Today I find
Their urgent problem doubtless is the native,
Zulus, you know.  Basutos.  In the war
With Kruger - Eh?  Oh, sorry.  Are they playing?
Really?  What's all the caterwauling for?
Eagleton out?  Pity... What was I saying?

Of course, yes, Africa.  I've seen it all,
From Jo'burg up thro' Kenya to Fashoda.
One night in Cairo I plainly recall
(Oh, thanks.  A very small one.  Heaps of soda)...
That day I brought my first big lion down -
Wounded, you know.  I thought my time had ended.
Just then Smith fired - Beg pardon?  Brown?  Who's Brown?
Oh, hit another fourer did he?  Splendid!...

...So then the old witch doctor made his magic.
Ghastly!  Incredible!  Yet, who could doubt?
That's Africa, mysterious primal, tragic,
Those voodoo rites ... McCabe?  Is he yet out?
What?  Finished, have they?  Thought I missed the din.
Twenty to two?  It can't be!  Shocking!  Shocking!
Thanks for allowing me to listen in.
Enjoyed it, too.  Well, I shan't need much rocking.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:19 min read
60

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCCC DEDEFGFG HAHXIJIJ KLKLMGMG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,425
Words 254
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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