AustLit
All Publication Details
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Notes:Minor textual variations appear in textsNotes:Attributed to `Den' in The Bulletin
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Appears in:
- y The Bulletin vol. 30 no. 1520 1 April 1909 Z593909 1909 periodical issue 1909 pg. 26
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Appears in:
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y
Backblock Ballads and Other Verses
Melbourne
:
E. W. Cole
,
1913
Z518065
1913
selected work
poetry
humour
Melbourne
:
E. W. Cole
,
1913
pg.
93-95
Note: With title "The Stoush"
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y
Backblock Ballads and Other Verses
Melbourne
:
E. W. Cole
,
1913
Z518065
1913
selected work
poetry
humour
Melbourne
:
E. W. Cole
,
1913
pg.
93-95
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Appears in:
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The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
Sydney
:
Angus and Robertson
,
1915
Z429076
1915
selected work
poetry
humour
— Appears in: The Complete Sentimental Bloke 2001;Arguably the most popular book of poetry ever produced in Australia, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was first published in October 1915. Its success was immediate and unprecedented for a book of Australian verse. The first edition of 2,480 copies sold out within weeks, and by the end of February 1916 the book had reached a fifth impression and was still selling well. Tongue firmly in cheek, C. J. Dennis informed his publishers Angus and Robertson that the work's 'success [was] becoming monotonous'. There was more monotony to come, however: the book sold more than 100,000 copies in the first five years after its publication, and was rarely out of print in Dennis's lifetime. Added to this, there were film, stage, and musical versions of the work, as well as recitals given by popular entertainers. In many respects, 'The Sentimental Bloke' became a phenomenon of popular culture that took on a life of its own.
Dennis later claimed that the idea for 'The Sentimental Bloke' came from a 'racy' young man from Melbourne he had met in Toolangi. According to Dennis' wife Margaret Herron, the young man had fallen in love with a farmer's daughter, but the farmer disapproved and forbade her from having anything to do with him. The Melbourne man was said to have complained to Dennis, 'what sort of bloke do they think I am? Blimey, anyone would think I was a crook! Ain't a bloke got sisters of his own?' In Dennis's imagination, this frustrated love affair eventually became a story in which a tough, streetwise young larrikin gives up his dissolute ways for domestic happiness with his sweetheart. A crucial factor in the success of Dennis's 'Sentimental Bloke' verse was that it was narrated from the point of view of 'the Bloke', employing a slang idiom appropriate to the character. In his correspondence with his publishers, Dennis noted that 'the stuff, while not having any considerable literary merit, is, I believe, extremely popular'.
Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1915 pg. 27-30
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The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
Sydney
:
Angus and Robertson
,
1915
Z429076
1915
selected work
poetry
humour
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Appears in:
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y
New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse
Judith Wright
,
Melbourne
:
Oxford University Press
,
1957
Z560909
1957
anthology
poetry
'Poetry in themes - Pioneering - Convicts and bushrangers - Birds and animals - Towns and people - War - Youth - Time and eternity - Thought and personality.' (Source: WorldCat website)
Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1957 pg. 161-164
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y
New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse
Judith Wright
,
Melbourne
:
Oxford University Press
,
1957
Z560909
1957
anthology
poetry
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Appears in:
- y Selected Works of C. J. Dennis North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1988 Z127738 1988 selected work poetry humour North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1988 pg. 26-28
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