Analysis of The Dominant Male

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



Your place is by my side, my dear,
A-holding of my hand
When I am feeling rather queer
And hard to understand;
Not 'mid that fierce forensic crew
Who argue in the courts;
But doing all that you can do
When I am out of sorts.

To me it all seems very clear:
Yours to submit and bow;
Mine to command and domineer.
Your place is by my side, my dear,
A-stroking of my brow,
Consoling me for all my ills
My proud position brings.
The while you find vicarious thrills
Midst all the humbler things.

Your place is by my side, my sweet;
For you, so weak and frail,
Must bear the burden and the heat
Of troubles that assail
The lord and master moaning here;
You may not toil alone,
But ever by my side, my dear,
To soothe me when I moan.

To me it all seems very plain:
While I am strong, I'm free.
But when I feel a little pain
Your place is by my side again
To calm and comfort me.
But if you went out on your own,
And left me in my pride,
What could I do, dear, all alone?
Your place is at my side.


Scheme Ababcdcd aeaAefgfg hihixjaj klkxljmjm
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 010111 11110101 01101 11110101 110001 11011111 111111 11111101 110101 1101001 11111111 010111 01011111 110101 011101001 1101001 11111111 111101 11010001 110101 01010101 111101 11011111 111111 11111101 111111 11110101 11111101 110101 11111111 011011 11111101 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 964
Words 206
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 9, 8, 9
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 51
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
65

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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