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The Austra--laise

by C. J. Dennis (1876 - 1938)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 6 recordings of The Austra--laise by C.J.Dennis. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for January 13, 2013.

THE AUSTRALAISE is a poem composed by C.J. Dennis, widely considered to the poet laureate of vernacular verse in Australia. It first appeared in his collection, Backblock Ballads and Other Verses, the first edition of which was published in 1913. A source from which Dennis drew inspiration was W.T. Goodge's poem The Great Australian Adjective, which first appeared in the Bulletin in 1898.

Designed to be sung to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers, this poem features two prominent aspects of Australian literature - profanity and patriotism. While the profanity is extremely mild today's standards, the poem is still extremely appealing because of Dennis' mocking subversion of the grandiloquence that characterizes most national anthems.(Summary by Algy Pug)

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