'The Lone Wolf Of Canberra'

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



A man without a party, he
Knows nought of obligation
To any friend; but, fancy free.
He represents the nation.
In lonely majesty he sits
To give the Opposition fits,
Or rend the Government to bits
With fierce vituperation.

Of all he is most wise, most free,
Most pure, and - inter alia
Shorn of responsibility,
He speaks for all Australia.
Tho' parties rise or parties fall,
What cares he? He's 'Agin 'em all.'
Sole patriot, clad, at Freedom's call,
In Liberty's regalia.

All, saving him, are out of tune
When the lone wolf is howling.
He lifts his head and bays the moon
With fierce, but futile growling.
And, tho' the Opposition squirms
And Ministers would sue for terms,
He knows them all for loathy worms,
Despite the Speaker's scowling.

At Canberra he's as free as air
So say the press recorders.
He knows no man as master there
Within its sylvan borders.
And so, tho' members fret and frown,
He scarcely ever need sit down
Except to write to Sydney town
To Mister Lang, for orders.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
147

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCCB ADADDDDD EFEFGGGF HIHIJJJI
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 967
Words 181
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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