by Ian F. McLaren
Clarence
Michael James Dennis (1876-1938), poet, was born on 7 September 1876 at Auburn,
South Australia, first of three sons of James Dennis and his second wife
Katherine (Kate) Frances, née Tobin, who was born in 1851 at Killaloe, Ireland.
James Dennis, born in 1828 in County Cork, Ireland, had arrived in South
Australia in the early 1860s, becoming the licensee of the District (later
Auburn) Hotel. In 1880 he took over a Gladstone hotel, and in August 1889 the
Beetaloo Hotel at Laura. C. J. Dennis began his education in September 1881 at
Gladstone Primary School, where he edited the three issues of the Weary Weekly;
he then attended St Aloysius' College, Sevenhill, and Christian Brothers'
College, Adelaide, where he contributed to Interesting Scraps.
Kate
Dennis died on 16 August 1890, and her two sisters cared for the children. C.
J. Dennis left school at 17, becoming a junior clerk at an Adelaide stock and
station agency and wool-buying firm, but was discharged for reading Rider
Haggard during working hours. He then worked as junior law clerk with Jack
Stockdale, a Laura solicitor. At 19 he published his first verse in the Laura
Standard, and other early verse, including 'Snakes', appeared in the Register
and the Evening Journal, Adelaide. He joined the Critic staff in 1898 for a
year, but returned to act as barman at the Beetaloo Hotel. Following a disagreement
with his father, he worked for eighteen months in various occupations at Broken
Hill, New South Wales. His health failed and he returned to his aunts in
Adelaide, where in 1901 he rejoined the Critic staff. His first contribution
published by the Sydney Bulletin was ''Urry' on 19 November 1903.
Dennis
joined with A. E. Martin in launching the Gadfly on 14 February 1906; under
various pseudonyms he contributed over 200 items of verse and prose until his
departure for Melbourne in November 1907. His style and pungent wit, with verse
often prefaced by classical or topical quotations, reminded readers of Thomas
Hood and the American, Wallace Irwin. Other contemporary writers of similar
verse were E. G. Murphy, W. T. Goodge and Louis Esson.
Dennis
was a freelance journalist during 1908 but in meeting with writers, poets and
artists 'he expended his slight funds and slight physique much too carelessly,
and in time his appearance fell far below the dapper standard of Gadfly days'.
Bouts of intemperance were to recur occasionally in later years. Late in 1908
he camped with artist Hal Waugh at Toolangi, in the hills forty-five miles (72
km) north-east of Melbourne; this area was to be home for most of the remainder
of his life. When he moved from the tent to a timber-getter's house nearby he
met R. H. Croll, who in turn introduced him in October 1913 to J. G. (Garry)
Roberts and his wife. Roberts, who had a wide circle of literary friends,
invited Dennis to camp in an old tramway bus at Kallista, and became his
confidant and friend. 'Den' wrote much of The songs of a sentimental bloke at
Kallista and dedicated the book to Roberts and his wife.
Backblock
Ballads and other Verses had been published in 1913 by E. W. Cole but was not a
financial success. The front cover was illustrated by David Low who shared a
studio with Hal Gye. The book contained a 'Glossary: for the use of the
thoroughly genteel'—the forerunner of similar glossaries in four later works.
Also included were four sections of The Sentimental Bloke, first published in
the Bulletin, and 'The Austral-aise'. This too had been published in the
Bulletin, in 1908, winning a special prize in a national song competition; in
1915 it was reprinted with alterations, dedicated to the Australian Imperial
Force.
After
writing feature articles for the Herald and Weekly Times, Dennis worked in
Sydney in 1914 on the Australian Worker and the Call. Following the declaration
of war in August 1914, he was employed at the Navy Office and then became
secretary to the Federal attorney-general, Senator E. J. Russell. In David
Low's studio he met Olive Harriet, daughter of John Herron, and they were
married on 28 June 1917. She was the author under the pseudonym 'Margaret
Herron' of My Dear (1928), Seed and Stubble (1936) and the biographical Down
the Years (1953), and died in 1968.
The
Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was published in October 1915; twelve of the
fourteen poems had appeared in the Bulletin since 1909. It was an immediate
success, requiring three editions in 1915, nine in 1916, and three in 1917; by
1976 fifty-seven editions had been published in Australia, England, the United
States of America and Canada, covering 285,000 copies. A very human story, it
was simply and humorously told in dialect verse which could be as easily spoken
as read. Dennis said of this verse 'that slang is the illegitimate sister of
poetry, and if an illegitimate relationship is the nearest I can get I am
content'. He had 'tried to tell a common but very beautiful story in coarse,
language, to prove—amongst other things—that life and love can be just as real
and splendid to the “common” bloke as to the “cultured”'. Well produced by
Angus and Robertson, the book had a foreword by Henry Lawson and appealing
illustrations by Hal Gye, who was to collaborate on most of Dennis's future
works. Just as important was the timing of the publication; it reached a public
depressed by enormous war casualties. Thousands of copies of the 'trench'
pocket edition were sent to overseas troops. The work was widely recited,
produced as silent (1918) and sound (1932) films, a stage play (1922), a
musical (1961), and many gramophone recordings and radio and television
programmes.
The
Moods of Ginger Mick, a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke, was published in
October 1916 in an unprecedented first run for verse of 39,324 copies. 'The
battle of the Wazzir' was deleted from this work by the censor. Dennis was
described at this time as having 'the nervous and imaginative temperament,
infused with a sense of humour, that comes of his Irish-Australian breeding. He
is tall enough to look a small man straight in the eyes. He is of slight but
enduring physique, and the lines about his clean-shaven mouth prove that he has
learned patience and does not despair of learning wisdom. An aquiline nose and
slate grey eyes give his face the quaint suggestion of a philosophic diagram,
while a half-hidden twinkle suggests that it may have a humorous footnote. Dark
hair is brushed straight back'.
Dennis
considered that one of his best works was The Glugs of Gosh (1917). However the
veiled political and economic satirical verse was lost on the public. A small
Christmas 1917 booklet onDoreen proved popular but the prepared 'Limpy Ben'
booklet for 1918 was not published. Digger Smith (1918) and Jim of the Hills
(1919) followed. A Book for Kids, written and illustrated by Dennis, was
published in 1921 and went to several editions.
Dennis
had a flair for journalism and turned to the Melbourne Herald in May 1922 when
he found that he could no longer live on income from his works. He contributed
over 3000 times to a daily column during the next sixteen years. He also
concentrated on various series, commencing with 'The mooch of life' and ending
with 'Ditties of debunk'. His series using Ben Bowyang in 'Letters from the
bush' was also popular. The need to write topical verse within a limited
timespan affected the quality of his work and the output of other material.
Rose
of Spadgers was published in 1924 as a sequel to Ginger Mick. The Singing
Garden (1935) was written around Arden, the house that Dennis had built at
Toolangi after his marriage, and is the poet at his serious best. Arden was
destroyed by fire in February 1965, but is commemorated by cairns and plaques
in the still-existing garden.
Dennis
had suffered from asthma for several years and died in a private hospital in
Melbourne on 22 June 1938 of cardio-respiratory failure. His grave at Box Hill
bears an extract from The Singing Garden:
Now
is the healing, quiet hour that fills
This
gay, green world with peace and grateful rest.
Memorials
have been raised in Melbourne, and Auburn, South Australia, and the centenary
of his birth was celebrated in 1976 by various competitions, books, articles,
readings and exhibitions.
Dennis
was an outstanding popular poet. His reputation was built largely around The
Sentimental Bloke which had a phenomenal success because of the wide appeal of
the sentiment and humour in its simple love story. It was maintained by his
other works and his contributions over many years to the Melbourne Herald.
Select
Bibliography
A. H. Chisholm, The Making of a Sentimental Bloke (Melb,
1946?)
C. J. Dennis, Selected Verse of C. J. Dennis chosen by A. H.
Chisholm (Syd 1950)
I. F. McLaren, C. J. Dennis: His Life and Work (Melb, 1961),
and C. J. Dennis: A Chronological Checklist (Adel, 1976)
G. W. Hutton, C. J. Dennis, the Sentimental Bloke (Melb,
1976)
B. Watts (ed), The World of the Sentimental Bloke (Syd,
1976)
I. F. McLaren, C. J. Dennis, a Comprehensive Bibliography
(Adel, 1979)
G. Innes, C. J. Dennis: A Personal Sketch (Angus &
Robertson papers, State Library of New South Wales).
Sources:
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