Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''

The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in ''The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletin'' between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was comp ...

'' (1915). Alongside his contemporaries and occasional collaborators

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...

and

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...

, Dennis helped popularise

Australian slang Australian English is a major variety of the English language spoken throughout Australia. Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences. The vocabulary of Australia is drawn fr ...

in literature, earning him the title "the laureate of the

larrikin Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions". In the 19th and early 20th centurie ...

". When Dennis died, Australia's then

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Australia, from 1932 until his death in 1939. He held office as the inaugural leader of the United Australia Par ...

said he was destined to be remembered as the "Australian

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

Biography

C. J. Dennis was born in

Auburn, South Australia Auburn is a small town in the southern edge of the Clare Valley, in the Mid North of South Australia. It lies in the northern Mount Lofty Ranges just east of the Skilly Hills. Auburn is bisected by the Wakefield River as it makes its way to t ...

the first of three sons to Irish-born parents James Dennis (born 1828) and his second wife Katherine "Kate" Frances (nee Tobin) (1851-1890), both had emigrated to Australia in the 1860s, his father owned hotels in Auburn, and then later in

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

and Laura. His mother suffered ill health, so Clarrie (as he was known) was raised initially by his great-aunts, then went away to school,

Christian Brothers College, Adelaide Christian Brothers College (CBC) is a private Catholic school in Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded by a group of Irish Christian Brothers in 1878. It is now one of three Christian Brothers schools in the state, along with St Paul's C ...

as a teenager. Dennis left school at 17 and worked as a junior clerk for an Adelaide stock and station and wool-buying firm, by the age of 19 he was employed as a solicitor's clerk. It was while he was working in this job that, like banker's clerk

before him, his first poem was published under the pseudonym "The Best of the Six". He later went on to publish in '' The Worker'', under his own name, and as "Den", and in '' The Bulletin''. His collected poetry was published by

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

. He joined the literary staff of ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as w ...

'' in 1897, and after a spell doing odd jobs around Broken Hill, returned to ''The Critic'', serving for a time c. 1904 as editor, to be succeeded by

Conrad Eitel Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) * Saint Conrad (disambiguation) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washington Elsewhere * ...

. In 1906 he co-founded and edited ''

The Gadfly ''The Gadfly'' is a novel by Irish-born British writer Ethel Voynich, published in 1897 (United States, June; Great Britain, September of the same year), set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumultuous revolt and uprisi ...

'' as a literary magazine; it ceased publication in 1909. Dennis himself left ''The Gadfly'' and Adelaide for Melbourne in November 1907. In 1908, he camped with the artist Hal Waugh at Toolangi, north-east of Melbourne, near Healesville. Toolangi was his home for most of the rest of his life. C. J. Dennis married Margaret Herron in 1917. She published two novels and a biography of Dennis called ''Down the Years''. From 1922 he served as staff poet on the ''

Melbourne Herald ''The Herald'' was a morning – and later – evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990. It later merged with its sister morning newspaper ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the ''Her ...

''. C. J. Dennis died in 1938 from cardio-respiratory failure and is buried in

Box Hill Cemetery Box Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Melbourne's eastern suburb of Box Hill, Victoria in Australia. It currently occupies . It is known as the resting place of notable figures from Melbourne and its heritage-registered Columbarium and Mye ...

, Melbourne. The Box Hill Historical Society has attached a commemorative plaque to the gravestone. Dennis is also commemorated with a plaque on Circular Quay in Sydney which forms part of the NSW Ministry for the Arts – Writers Walk series, and by a bust outside the town hall of the town of Laura. At Auburn, the South Australian place of his birth, a drinking fountain and birdbath were unveiled in 1953 in his honour. In 1976,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

produced and broadcast ''The Life And Times Of C. J. Dennis'', timed to coincide with the 100th year of Dennis' birth. The docu-drama starred

John Derum John Bernard Derum (born 9 January 1946) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. He is also an artistic administrator and directed and produced for theatre companies throughout Australia and for television. Derum has also been a poli ...

as Dennis and is set around the time when Dennis produced ''The Gadfly''.

Books

* ''

Backblock Ballads and Other Verses ''Backblock Ballads and Other Verses'' is the first collection of poems by the Australian writer C. J. Dennis, published by E. W. Cole, Melbourne, in 1913. It includes his famous poems "Wheat" and " The Austra-laise", as well as the first book ...

'' (1913) *''

'' (1915) *''

The Moods of Ginger Mick ''The Moods of Ginger Mick'' is a Verse novel, verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis, published by Angus and Robertson, in 1916. The collection includes fifteen illustrated plates by Hal Gye. The novel is a sequel to the p ...

'' (1916) *''

The Glugs of Gosh ''The Glugs of Gosh'' is a book of satirical verse written by Australian author C. J. Dennis, published by Angus & Robertson in 1917. The book's 13 poems are vignettes of life in a fictional kingdom called Gosh, inhabited by an arboreal race (th ...

'' (1917) *''Doreen'' (1917) *''Digger Smith'' (1918) *''Backblock Ballads and Later Verses'' (1918) *''Jim of the Hills'' (1919) *''A Book for Kids'' (1921) (reissued as ''Roundabout'', 1935) *''Rose of Spadgers'' (1924) *''The Singing Garden'' (1935) *''The Ant Explorer'' (posthumously, 1988)

Poems

* " The Austra-laise" (1908) * "

An Old Master "An Old Master" is a poem by Australian poet C. J. Dennis. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 4 August 1910, and later in the poet's poetry collection ''Backblock Ballads and Other Verses'' (1913). The poem depicts the prob ...

" (1910)

References

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography
entry * *

at

Project Gutenberg of Australia Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. It is a sister site of Project Gutenberg, though there is no formal relationship between the two organizations. The site hosts free ebo ...

* *
Australian Authors – C. J. DennisPhilip " Your Vote is Wanted": C. J. Dennis at the ''Call ''JASAL'' 7 (2007)Jack Thompson reads poems by C. J. Dennis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, C. J. 1876 births 1938 deaths Australian humorists Australian poets Australian fantasy writers 20th-century Australian novelists People from Auburn, South Australia People from Laura, South Australia Australian film studio executives Burials at Box Hill Cemetery The Herald (Melbourne) people The Australian Worker Australian male novelists

Biography

Books

Poems

See also

Further reading

References

External links