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. 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', as well as 'the Anzac laureate', with many diggers owning and cherishing pocket editions while serving in World War I.

Contents

Publication details

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.

Adaptations

Two film versions of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke have been produced: The Sentimental Bloke, a silent version, in 1918, written and directed by Raymond Longford, and which starred Arthur Tauchert as Bill and Lottie Lyell as Doreen; and a "talkie" version in 1932, directed by F. W. Thring and based on a screenplay by C. J. Dennis. A three-act stage adaptation of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by Bert Bailey, titled The Sentimental Bloke, premiered at the King's Theatre, Melbourne on 7 October 1922. In 1961, a musical called The Sentimental Bloke was produced in Canberra, and later in Melbourne and other cities. The music was by Albert Arlen, with lyrics by Arlen, Nancy Brown and Lloyd Thomson. The Sentimental Bloke is a 1963 Australian television film. It was a half-hour ballet aired on ABC Television. A television adaptation of the musical appeared in 1976, written and directed by Alan Burke and featuring Graeme Blundell as Bill. A ballet version was choreographed by Robert Ray, with Albert Arlen's music freely arranged by John Lanchbery. This was presented by The Australian Ballet in 1985 and on its tour of the Soviet Union. A second musical theatre version was written by Graeme Blundell with music by George Dreyfus premiered by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Playhouse, Victorian Arts Centre on 12 December 1985. This musical was subsequently produced in Perth (Western Australian Theatre Company, 1986), Darwin (State Theatre Company of Northern Territory, 1987) and Brisbane (Royal Queensland Theatre Company, 1988). Another theatrical production of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was staged at Eltham Little Theatre, Melbourne, in 2021.

Recorded versions

In 2009 Jack Thompson released an album of C. J. Dennis's poems entitled The Sentimental Bloke, The Poems of C.J. Dennis.