Love Lyrics of a Larrikin

Practically everyone with even a bowing acquaintance with current Australian literature knows the Sentimental Bloke and his "bit o' skirt" - "'Er name's Doreen."

The doings of the bloke, as described by his creator, Mr C.J. Dennis ("Den") have been followed with interest by many in the pages of "The Bulletin," and now the various verses recording his adventures are issued in a volume "The Sentimental Bloke," illustrated in a quaintly original manner by Mr Hal Gye, whose cover design brings the traditions of the troubadour completely up to date.

Mr Gye's conception of Bill as half a "bloke" and half a cupid is distinctly clever, and many of the drawings, in addition to being genuinely humorous, reveal a delicacy of draughtmanship which is not always to be found in this artist's topical work.

Mr Henry Lawson, in a generous "Foreword", describes the Sentmental Bloke as "more perfect than any alleged larrikin of Bottle-O character I ever attempted to sketch." Certainly he is a character who is likely to remain deservedly popular in this country's literature. "The sonnet shining in the eyes" has been fixed by Mr Dennis in what is certainly a classic of its class, and he secures an effect of true poetry without straining a simile or defying the canons of Australia's colloquial speech.

The story of the bloke's meeting with the "bonzer tart" Bill was later to wed is told in "The Intro.":-

I just lines up an' tips the saucy wink.
But strike! The way she piled on dawg! Yer'd think

Doreen is not the sort of "cliner" that can be "picked up" casually by any peripatetic Lothario, and so Bill induces a "cobber" to "knock her down" to him. From the moment of the "intro." Bill is badly afflicted with what an earlier "pote bloke" than Mr Dennis called "the noblest fraility of the mind." The various stages of the malady of love are delightfully depicted by Mr Dennis. Bill performs the ritual of "walking out," goes through the agony of being introduced to "Mar," who insists upon addressing him as "Willy," and is finally "hitched" to his Doreen, which causes him to "muse,"

A bloke was givin' back-chat to the Queen.
An' square an' all, no matter 'ow yeh start,
The commin end of most of us is - Tart.

For the use of those unacquainted with the "Australian language" (in which the verses are written) Mr Dennis has thoughtfully compiled a glossary, from which much interesting information - such, for instance, as the meaning of the words "cliner" (a young unmarried female); "'Struth" (an emaciated oath) and others - may be garnered.

Weekly Times 13 November 1915, p7