SELECTED VERSE OF C.J. DENNIS book cover
  Selected Verse of C.J. Dennis
Chosen and introduced by Alec H Chisholm
1950

   

 

Dustjacket synopsis:
"This comprehensive collection of the poetry of C.J. Dennis includes poems from The Sentimenal Bloke, Jim of the Hills, Digger Smith, The Glugs of Gosh, Ginger Mick, Blackblock Ballads, The Book for Kids and Doreen.

"The selection has been made, and is introduced, by Dennis' biographer, Alec H. Chisholm. Mr Chisholm has aimed at achieving a truly representative selection, one which displays Dennis' versatility as well as his skill.

"Dennis is, of course, best known as the author of The Sentimental Bloke, the master of 'slanguage'. He also wrote, however, as well as other vernacular verse tales, bush ballads, the lilting fantasy The Glugs of Gosh, and many merry and melodious verses for children. Examples of all these are included here.

"Selected Verse of C.J. Dennis is a thoroughly entertaining volume, the poet's verses occasionally complemented by an original Hal Gye illustration. Those readers already familiar with Dennis' verse will regain the joy of former readings; new readers will be captivated by its robust humour, human tenderness and extraordinary skill in rhyming."

Contents:

Introduction

A REAL AUSTRALIAN AUSTRA-LAISE
The Austra-laise

THE SONGS OF A SENTIMENTAL BLOKE
A Spring Song
The Intro
The Stoush o'Day
The Play
Mar
Hitched
Uncle Jim
The Kid
The Mooch o' Life

THE MOODS OF GINGER MICK
War
The Call of Stoush
The Push
The Singing Soldiers
A Letter to the Front
Rabbits
The Game
A Gallant Gentleman

DOREEN
Washing Day

ROSE OF SPADGERS
The Faltering Knight
A Holy War
The Crusaders
The Knight's Return
A Woman's Way

DIGGER SMITH
Digger Smith
West
Over the Fence
A Digger's Tale
Half a Man
Jim

JIM OF THE HILLS
A Morning Song
The Vision
The Wooer
Red Robin
Flames
Grey Thrush

THE GLUGS OF GOSH
The Glug Quest
Joi, the Glug
The Stones of Gosh
Sym, The Son of Joi
The Growth of Sym
The Swanks of Gosh
The Seer
The Rhymes of Sym
     The First Rhyme of Sym
     The Second Rhyme of Sym
     The Last Rhyme of Sym
Ogs
Emily Ann
The Little Red Dog

ROUNDABOUT
Cuppacumalonga
The Ant Explorer
The Swagman
The Postman
The Traveller
The Triantiwontigongolope
The Circus
The Tram-Man
Going to School

BACKBLOCK BALLADS
An Old Master
Wheat
'Urry!
The Silent Member
The Bridge Across the Crick
A Song of Rain
Hymn of Futility

THE SINGING GARDEN
Green Walls
The Lyretail
The Indian Myna
The Satin Bower-Bird
Dusk

First Paragraph from the Introduction:

Was there ever an autobiography, in fact or fiction, prose or verse, that opened in more forthright fashion than does the tale of Australia's Sentimental Bloke, as presented by C. J. Dennis:

             The world 'as got me snouted jist a treat;
                Crool Forchin's dirty left 'as smote me soul;
             An' all them joys o' life I 'eld so sweet
                Is up the pole!

The Bloke - known also as the Kid and Bill - was obviously at odds with the whole universe when he made that poignant complaint. But, of course, his condition was no novelty. Many a man before him had developed a fervent grouch against the world at large. Similar feelings had been expressed, for example, by another "Bill" of a much earlier day - one surnamed Shakespeare:

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate.

If the language of the Shakespearian sonnet is rather more chaste than that of the Dennis song, the two expressions are impressively alike in substance. (They bear in fact the same relationship as do Hamlet's claim, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends", and the Bloke's crisp remark, "It's 'ow Gawd builds a bloke".) They are, moreover, alike in having a flavour of factual autobiography. That is to say, Dennis himself was in trouble with "Forchin's dirty left" just as often as Shakespeare was "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes", and, no doubt, he found relief at times, as Shakespeare apparently did, in causing his spirit to "rail on Lady Fortune in good terms" - if only to prove that the clouds were usually followed by sunshine.

From the Angus and Robertson hardback edition, 1975.

Copyright © Perry Middlemiss 2002-03