C. J. Dennis
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n poet
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The book sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year, and is probably one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia....
", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1916 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
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
and Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
, both of whom he collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets.
When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
suggested he was destined to be remembered as the "Australian Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
".
Biography
C. J. Dennis was born in AuburnAuburn, South Australia
Auburn is the name of a small town in the southern edge of the Clare Valley, in the Mid North of South Australia.-History:Often considered the Gateway to the Clare Valley, Auburn was originally settled by William Tateham, who lived in a dugout along the Wakefield River and was first named...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. His father owned hotels in Auburn, and then later in Gladstone
Gladstone, South Australia
Gladstone is a small rural town in the Mid North of South Australia in the approach to the lower Flinders Ranges. At the 2006 census, Gladstone had a population of 629....
and Laura
Laura, South Australia
Laura is a rural town in the Mid North - Southern Flinders Ranges region of South Australia, 12 km north of Gladstone on the Main North Road and 40 km east of Port Pirie....
. 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, Adelaide
Christian Brothers College is a private Catholic school in the CBD of Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded by a group of Irish Christian Brothers in 1878, and it is now one of three Christian Brothers schools in the state....
as a teenager.
At 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 Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
before him, his first poem was published. He later went on to publish in The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
.
C. J. Dennis is buried in Box Hill Cemetery
Box Hill Cemetery
Box Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Box Hill, Victoria in Australia. It is known as the resting place of notable figures from Melbourne and its heritage-registered Columbarium and Myer Memorial...
, Melbourne. The Box Hill Historical Society have 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
Laura, South Australia
Laura is a rural town in the Mid North - Southern Flinders Ranges region of South Australia, 12 km north of Gladstone on the Main North Road and 40 km east of Port Pirie....
.
Publications
- Backblock Ballads and Other Verses (1913)
- The Songs of a Sentimental BlokeThe Songs of a Sentimental BlokeThe Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The book sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year, and is probably one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia....
(1915) - The Moods of Ginger Mick (1916)
- The Glugs of Gosh (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)
Shorter works were also published in a wide variety of Australian newspapers and magazines.