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Author | C. J. Dennis |
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Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Genre | Verse novel |
Publisher | Angus & Robertson |
Publication date | 1915 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 113, plus 14 pages of Glossary |
ISBN | 0-207-14366-8 |
OCLC | 29006080 |
Preceded by | Backblock Ballads and Other Verses |
Followed by | The Moods of Ginger Mick |
Text | The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke at Wikisource |
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 between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was completed and published by Angus & Robertson. Written in the rough and comical Australian slang that was Dennis' signature style, the work became immensely popular in Australia, selling over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year of publication.[1]
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke tells the story of Bill, a member of a larrikin push (or gang) in Melbourne's Little Lon red-light district, who encounters Doreen, a young woman "of some social aspiration", in a local market. Narrated by Bill, the poems chronicle their courtship and marriage, detailing his transformation from a violence-prone gang member to a contented husband and father.
It has been adapted into many works across a variety of media, including Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell's The Sentimental Bloke (1918), widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest silent films. Though the novel's popularity peaked during World War I and the interwar period, it remains a classic of Australian literature and the best-selling book of poetry ever produced in the country. Dennis subsequently became known as the 'laureate of the larrikin',[2] as well as 'the Anzac laureate', with many diggers owning and cherishing pocket editions while serving in World War I.[1]
The first portion of the novel, The Stoush O' Day, was originally published in The Bulletin on 1 April 1909. All bar two of the remaining chapters were also published in that magazine between 1909 and 1915.
The completed work was first published in book form in Sydney on 9 October 1915.
First Edition | Sydney | 9 October 1915 | 2,500 copies |
Second impression | Sydney | 2 November 1915 | 5,000 copies |
Third impression | Sydney | 6 December | 5,000 copies |
Fourth impression | Sydney | 25 January 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Fifth impression | Sydney | 22 February 1916 | 7,000 copies |
Sixth impression | Sydney | 1 April 1916 | 5,500 copies |
Seventh impression | Sydney | 30 May 1916 | 11,000 copies |
Eighth impression | Sydney | 1 April 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Pocket edition | Sydney | 25 September 1916 | 10,000 copies |
Tenth impression | Sydney | 7 October 1916 | 8,000 copies |
Eleventh impression | Sydney | 24 October 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Twelfth impression | Sydney | 17 November 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Thirteenth impression | Sydney | 2 May 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Fourteenth impression | London | 1 July 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Fifteenth impression | Sydney | 1 August 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Sixteenth impression | London | 21 May 1918 | 5,000 copies |
Seventeenth impression | Sydney | 14 June 1919 | 3,000 copies |
Eighteenth impression | Sydney | 31 August 1919 | 3,000 copies |
Nineteenth impression | Sydney | 20 April 1920 | 3,000 copies |
Twentieth impression | Sydney | 31 August 1920 | 3,000 copies |