Analysis of Old Jim Shore

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



He prospered in an olden day
When down the rutted waggon track,
Thro' scenes that seem a world away,
His bullocks lumbered forth and back;
A tall old man, deep voiced, erect
Despite the load of years he bore,
His patriarchal beard, grey flecked,
He won from all men deep respect,
Doyen of drivers - old Jim Shore.

'Gee-off, Headman.  Come here, Tony.
Darkey, Redman!  Woo there, Roany.'
Goad upraised in stern pretending
Writhed aloft, yet ne'er descending
To fulfilment of the threat.
Men have said that never yet
Had Jim's whip-lash marked a hide
Of the sleek beasts that were his pride.
'Get on, Rodney!  Steady, Moonlight!'
Thro' the disk or dappled moonlight,
Down the deep green ways of yore
Went the team of old Jim Shore.

The times have changed; it could not last,
The glamor of those halcyon days.
The loud exhaust, the siren's blast
Wake echoes now by old bush ways.
Yet oft, when dusk steals down the sky,
I sit again by my house door
To hear a ghostly team go by,
And, mingling with the night wind's sigh,
That rich deep voice of old Jim Shore.

'Gee-off, Headman.  Stand up, Tony.
Darkey, Redman!  Come here Roany!'
At the yoke I see them straining;
Waggon timbers are complaining;
As, from some vague spirit land,
I see the driver wave a hand,
As long ago he used to wave
Ere the years claimed him, and the grave.
'Up there , Major!  Darby!  Drummer!'
Again, as on some long lost summer,
The team drifts by and disappears
Down the green aisles of vanished years.


Scheme ABABCDACD EEFFGGHHIIDD JKJKLDLLD EEFFMMNNOOPP
Poetic Form
Metre 11001101 1101011 11110101 1101101 01111101 01011111 1010111 11111101 10110111 11101110 11111 1101010 10111010 11101 1111101 1111101 10111011 1110101 101111 1011111 1011111 01111111 010111001 0101011 11011111 11111101 11011111 11010111 010010111 11111111 11101110 11111 10111110 1101010 1111101 11010101 11011111 10111001 11101010 011111110 0111001 10111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,442
Words 272
Sentences 23
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 9, 12, 9, 12
Lines Amount 42
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 281
Words per stanza (avg) 69
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:21 min read
133

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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