Analysis of Echoes



Brothers!....
(That is to say, those of you that are.
For, even in the most altruistic mood, there are some I bar.)
Brothers!
Workers, shirkers, writers, skiters, philosophers and others,
Attend.  I address myself only to those
Of the class that habitually looketh even beyond its nose.
To him I speak who shrewdly seeketh for the milk in the cocoanut, while his fellows are repeating the bald assertion that 'The fruit is not yet  ripe!'
Him I address who knoweth the sheep from the goats, the chaff from the oats,
the half-quid from the gilded sixpence, and the common sense from common tripe.
To the 'Man in the Street' I speak not, nor to the 'Right-thinking Person,'
nor 'Constant Subscriber,' nor 'Vox Populi,' nor 'The Bloke on the Train,'
 nor any of their band.
For of the things I write they wot not, neither may they hope to understand.
But ye whom I, even I, presume to address as brother:-
Journalists, politicians, burglars, company promoters, miners, millers,
navvies, shearers, confidence-men, piano-tuners, paling-splitters,
bookmakers, process-workers, judges, brass-fitters, policemen and others.
Attend.  Him who looketh for the hall-mark on every link, and taketh not the say-so of the label, nor the sworn affidavit of the pill advertisement
him who hath it in him to discern the fair thing from that which is over  the odds, and shaketh the new-laid egg that he may know what is within it
Him I address.  For lo, my brothers, maybe there is one of us born once a  week or thereabouts, but we know it is written that one of the others is born every minute.
Wherefore, attend,
And lend
An ear; for I have planned for you a pleasing diversion.
Come with me, my brothers, and let us make a little excursion
Out over the land, through the cities and the country places, even to the farthest limit of Back-o'-beyond.  Hearken brothers!  What are these sounds we hear?
Say, what is all this babbling and gabbling, this howling and growling, this muttering and spluttering, that smites the ear?
Listen again.  Do you hear them, brothers?  Lo, they are the Echoes calling.
They are the multitudinous echoes that sound up and down the land; crying and sighing, squalling and bawling.
In all places they sound; in the city and in the country; upon the high mountains and along the plains, wherever man hideth; and at all times, for the night is loud with the sound of them even as is the day.
Listen again, brothers!  What is it that they say?
Lo, this one shouteth. 'The Time is Not Yet Ripe!' And another bawleth.  
'Capital is fleeing the Land!'  And yet another howleth, 'It is
Inimical to Private Enterprise and Thrift!'  And yet another screameth.  
'It will Bust up the Home and ruin the Marriage Tie!'
Why do they howl these things, my brothers?  I ask ye, why?
For lo, even as they shout, still other Echoes take up the cry till it is increased and multiplied even unto 70,000 times seven;
And a howl, as of 1400 she-elephants simultaneously robbed of their young, assaileth Heaven.
What say ye, brothers?  What is the inner significance of these Echoes, and why do they make these divers sounds?  What say ye, brothers; is it because they think?
Aha!  I apprehend ye!  I say ye - nay, verily, I heard ye wink.
For the noise of the falling - of the flapping of your collective eyelid was even as the banging of the bar door what time the clock telleth of eleven thirty p.m., and the voice of Hebe murmureth through the night 'Good-bye, ducky.'....But I digress.
Which is a characteristic failing I must confess!
But, nevertheless,
It hath its compensations, as is plain to any noodle,
When matter is paid for at space rates, for it pileth up the boodle....
However, to resume.  Let us isolate a case, my brothers.  Let us sample an
Echo.  Take Brown.
We all are well acquainted with Brown.  Mayhap his name is Smith or Timmins, but no matter.  He is the Man in the Street.  He hath a domicile in the suburbs and an occupation in town.
This Brown riseth in the morning and donneth the garments of civilisation.  In hot socks he garbeth his feet, and upon his back he putteth a coat which hath
  a little split in the tail for no sane or accountable reason.
Except that it is an echo of the first and original split that set the fashion for the season.
Then he proceedeth to feed.
And simultaneously to read
His solemn, though occasionally hysterical, morning sheet, which he proppeth
against the cruet.
Remarking to his spouse, inter alia.  'I wish to goodness, Mirabel, you wouldn't cook these things with so much suet!'
(Which rhyme, though labored, is remarkably ingenious and very rare.  For you will find, if you try to get a rhyme for cruet - But let that pass.  This is more digres


Scheme AbbAaccdedfghhiaaajklmmffnnooppqrqssffttuuuvvwxxqffyzqhha
Poetic Form
Metre 10 111111111 110001010111111 10 1011010100010 011111011 1011010001100111 1111110110100111101010010101011111 111110110101101 01110101001011101 10100111111011010 110010111101101 110111 11011111110111101 11111010111110 100010101000101010 111001010111 1001101011010010 01111101111001010101110101010101010100 11110110101111111001010111111111011 111111101011111110110111111101110101110010 101 01 11111111010010 1111100111010010 1100110100010101010101011101110111111 11111100011100101100011101 100111111011101010 110110111010110010101 011011001000010010110001010101101111011110111101101 100110111111 111101111100101 1001100101010111 01001101001010101 1111010100101 1111111101111 1110111110101101111010101010110 001111100010001111110 11110110100100111001111110111110110111 11011111111111 10110101010110101110101010111101110101011001111101111101 1100010101101 1001 11101011111010 1101111111111010 1010111100111011101 1011 1111010111111111011101101001110100100101001 11100100101011011111100111110111 01010011111010010 01111110101001001110101010 11111 00100011 1101010000100101111 0101 010111011111100011101111111 11110101000100101111111111011111111111
Characters 4,664
Words 845
Sentences 67
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 57
Lines Amount 57
Letters per line (avg) 64
Words per line (avg) 15
Letters per stanza (avg) 3,623
Words per stanza (avg) 857
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

4:11 min read
56

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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