Analysis of The Disagreeable Musician

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



'E wouldn't play the flute; the sulky cow.
An', after all the trouble that we took
To try an' cheer,'is spirits up some'ow,
'E jes' sat there an' slung a glarsy look
To orl the crowd.  The diserbligin' coot!
'E wouldn't play the flute.

After we'd done our gilt in on the spread
Fish from the Dago joint, an' bottled beer,
An' froot, an' 'am, an' saverloys an' bread
'E wouldn't eat.  Jes' shook 'is silly 'ead.
An' though we begged 'im for some choonful toot,
'E wouldn't play the flute.

I puts it to yeh: Wuz we actin' fair?
Wot more could neighbors do to cheer a bloke?
We knoo they 'e 'ad troubles fer to bear,
An' jes called in to 'ave a friendly joke.
An', though we tempted 'im with 'am an' froot,
'E wouldn't play the flute.

There wuz Flash Liz, an' me, an' Ginger Mick.
An' Mother Gumphy frum the corner store.
An' Bill the Rabbit-o, an' Dirty Dick,
An' Nan the Nark, an' 'arf a dozzing more.
But strike!  It seemed the comp'ny didn't soot!
'E wouldn't play the flute.

I want yer dead straight griffen.  Wuz we right?
Wuz it unneighborly to look 'im up
An' 'ave a little beano on the quite?....
Fer Grief an' 'im wuz cobbers on that night.
But there 'e sat, like 's if 'e'd taken root,
An' wouldn't play the flute.

We sung a song er two to give 'im 'eart,
'An' jes' to show yeh wot a nark 'e wuz,
'E wouldn't sing. 'E wouldn't take no part.
'E wouldn't eat no matter wot we does.
'E wouldn't drink, 'e wouldn't touch the froot.
Or play 'is flamin' flute.

A blimed wet blankit at our little feast.
Thet's wot 'e wuz.  'E jes sat there an' stared
Straight out afore 'im. Wouldn't take the least
Account o' wot we did. 'E'd never cared
If we wuz rooned wif buyin' fish an' froot.
'E wouldn't play the flute.

Aw, it wuz crook!  I swear I never seen
So mean a coot.  An' 'e could play a treat
Play like a blinded angel, for 'e'd been
A star pufformer - played afore the Queen!
An', though 'e knoo we knoo of 'is repute,
'E wouldn't play the flute.

We knoo 'e'd been a bonzer in 'is day
Afore 'e struck the slum in Scrooge's Lane.
I've orfen 'eard it said 'e useter play
In some swell orchestrer fer fancy pay.
An' there 'e sat, in 'is ole shabby soot,
An' wouldn't play the flute.

We knoo 'e'd struck tough luck an' drifted down
'Im an' 'is missis - till they come to live
On 'arf o' nothink in our part o' town.
It weren't no fault of ours that they wuz driv
Frum bad to worse, till they wuz destichoot.
'E wouldn't play the flute.

'E wouldn't play.  Jes shook 'is silly 'ead.
We done our best to cheer 'im, fer we knoo
'Is wife wuz lyin' in the nex' room, dead.
Died 'cause of sooicide, the neighbors said.
But, spite of all we done, the selfish brute,
'E wouldn't play the flute.


Scheme xaxabB cxcbbB dedebB fgfghB ixiibB bjxjbb klklbB mxxmbB nxnnhB opopbB bmccbB
Poetic Form
Metre 110101011 1101010111 1111110111 111111011 1101011 110101 10111010101 110111101 11111111 1101111101 111111111 110101 1111111101 1111011101 1111110111 1110110101 1111011111 110101 1111111101 110110101 1101011101 110111011 111101101 110101 1111110111 1111111 110101101 111111111 11111111101 110101 1101011111 1111110111 1101110111 1101110111 1101110101 11111 0111110101 1111111111 111110101 0111111101 111111111 110101 1111111101 1101111101 1101010111 0111101 1111111101 110101 111101011 11101011 11111111 01111101 1111011101 110101 1111111101 111111111 1111010111 110111101111 11111111 110101 1101111101 11101111111 111100111 11110101 1111110101 110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,632
Words 528
Sentences 49
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 66
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 175
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:48 min read
60

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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