CONTINUATION WEEK

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Not strictly a Part 2 but a continuation of Henry Lawson’s poetry. . . 

TAKING HIS CHANCE

From:

https://allpoetry.com/Taking-His-Chance

This poem depicts a daring "bushranger," Jack, who attends a dance despite being pursued by authorities. Jack's reckless bravado and the compassion of the attending bushmen are contrasted with the ominous arrival of troopers.

The poem's setting in an "Inn on the Rise" evokes a sense of isolation and danger. Jack's defiance of authority mirrors the frontier nature of Australian society during the time period.

Compared to Lawson's other works, the poem is more straightforward and less reflective. However, its concise narrative and use of suspenseful elements create a vivid and gripping account of a life-or-death struggle.

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'Taking a Chance' by Pro Hart

(The painting is misnamed in that the poem uses the word 'His', not 'a')

Taking His Chance

    Henry Lawson

They stood by the door of the Inn on the Rise;

May Carney looked up in the bushranger's eyes:

`Oh! why did you come? — it was mad of you, Jack;

You know that the troopers are out on your track.'

A laugh and a shake of his obstinate head —

`I wanted a dance, and I'll chance it,' he said.

Some twenty-odd bushmen had come to the `ball',

But Jack from his youth had been known to them all,

And bushmen are soft where a woman is fair,

So the love of May Carney protected him there;

And all the short evening — it seems like romance —

She danced with a bushranger taking his chance.

`Twas midnight — the dancers stood suddenly still,

For hoofs had been heard on the side of the hill!

Ben Duggan, the drover, along the hillside

Came riding as only a bushman can ride.

He sprang from his horse, to the shanty he sped —

`The troopers are down in the gully!' he said.

Quite close to the homestead the troopers were seen.

`Clear out and ride hard for the ranges, Jack Dean!

Be quick!' said May Carney — her hand on her heart —

`We'll bluff them awhile, and 'twill give you a start.'

He lingered a moment — to kiss her, of course —

Then ran to the trees where he'd hobbled his horse.

She ran to the gate, and the troopers were there —

The jingle of hobbles came faint on the air —

Then loudly she screamed: it was only to drown

The treacherous clatter of slip-rails let down.

But troopers are sharp, and she saw at a glance

That someone was taking a desperate chance.

They chased, and they shouted, `Surrender, Jack Dean!'

They called him three times in the name of the Queen.

Then came from the darkness the clicking of locks;

The crack of the rifles was heard in the rocks!

A shriek and a shout, and a rush of pale men —

And there lay the bushranger, chancing it then.

The sergeant dismounted and knelt on the sod —

`Your bushranging's over — make peace, Jack, with God!'

The bushranger laughed — not a word he replied,

But turned to the girl who knelt down by his side.

He gazed in her eyes as she lifted his head:

`Just kiss me — my girl — and — I'll — chance it,' he said.

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Hear a sung version by John Schumann (who wrote and sings I Was only 19 from when he was with Redgum) and The Vagabond Crew by clicking on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqjbG3iWK8 

FATHER WILLIAM

From the Vault . . .
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The item below is from a post in Bytes on November 19, 2019.

It is a commentary on the poem Father William from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

I was reminded of the poem and then of the Bytes post from having had some earnest discussions in the past with wife Kate on various topics.

The two stanzas in the Lewis Carroll poem (which itself is a parody, see post below) that I allude to are:

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak

For anything tougher than suet;

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak —

Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,

Has lasted the rest of my life."

Reminds me very much of my wife, Kate

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The past post . . .

Poetry Spot: 

Father William

Readers will know that I am fond of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. There have been quite a few quotations in Bytes in the past and today there is an extended one, a poem, Father William, which appears in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

The poem is a parody of Robert Southey's poem The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them, originally published in 1799. Like the other poems parodied by Lewis Carroll in Alice, this original poem is now mostly forgotten, and only the parody is remembered. It has been called "one of the undisputed masterpieces of nonsense verse".

The poem is structured as a dialogue between a “father” and “his son”. The theme involves generation gaps—specifically how different generations can fail to understand one another.

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The original poem:

The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them

by Robert Southey

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,

⁠The few locks which are left you are grey;

You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,

⁠Now tell me the reason I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,

⁠I remember'd that youth would fly fast,

And abused not my health and my vigour at first

⁠That I never might need them at last.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,

⁠And pleasures with youth pass away,

And yet you lament not the days that are gone,

⁠Now tell me the reason I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,

⁠I remember'd that youth could not last;

I thought of the future whatever I did,

⁠That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,

⁠And life must be hastening away;

You are chearful, and love to converse upon death!

⁠Now tell me the reason I pray.

I am chearful, young man, Father William replied,

⁠Let the cause thy attention engage;

In the days of my youth I remember'd my God!

⁠And He hath not forgotten my age.

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Lewis Carroll's parody (1865):

You Are Old, Father William

Lewis Carroll

"You are old, father William," the young man said,

"And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head —

Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," father William replied to his son,

"I feared it would injure the brain;

But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,

And have grown most uncommonly fat;

Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door —

Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,

"I kept all my limbs very supple

By the use of this ointment — one shilling the box —

Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak

For anything tougher than suet;

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak —

Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,

Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth; one would hardly suppose

That your eye was as steady as ever;

Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose —

What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"

Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!

Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?

Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

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Fence Week, continued: More Unique Fences

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We are coming near to the end of Fence Week, readers, the last instalment will be tomorrow. As far as Fence Week goes, it will be the last post (ha ha).

Hopefully you will have found the various posts interesting and informative, 

Today’s fence post (ha ha) is another visual one, a look at some notable and distinctive fences around the world . . . 

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The Buckingham Palace Fence: 

Buck Palace has an impressive security fence designed to keep the uninvited out. Nonetheless at least 12 people have gained unauthorised entry into the palace or its grounds since 1914, The most famous of these entries was by Michael Fagan, who broke into the palace twice in 1982, entering the Queen's bedroom on the second occasion. At the time, news media reported that he had a long conversation with the Queen while she waited for security officers to arrive, but in a 2012 interview, Fagan said the Queen ran out of the room, and no conversation took place. It was only in 2007 that trespassing on the palace grounds became a specific criminal offence. 

 Meghan Markle, aged 15, photographed on a fence outside Buckingham Palace when visiting London in 1996.  The security fence is further back.

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The Aquarium Fence: 

Millionaire topographical engineer Mehmet Ali Gökçeoğlu bought a luxurious villa in Çeşme, Turkey, then In 2005, built a 50 metre aquarium fence filled with fish and octopuses that has become a tourist attraction in its own right. Located on the shores of the Aegean Sea, it is linked to the Aegean through a 400 metre-long buried pipeline so that the water is changed continuously. There is also a surveillance system to prevent damage by members of the public and tourists. 

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The Lovelock Fences:

Love lock fences have existed for over 100 years but became popular and spread in the early 2000s. The practice involves locking a padlock onto a fence, bridge or other structure as a symbol of the love of the persons placing it, often with engravings of initials, names or comments. 

Notwithstanding the sentiments and symbolism, many authorities have taken the view that it amounts to vandalism, as well as raising safety concerns by reason of the considerable weights involved. 

By way of example, the locks on the Pont Des Arts bridge in Paris caused parts of it to collapse, causing the locks to be removed in 2015 and be replaced by a special type of glass. 

Lovelocks on the Pont Des Arts 

Another pic of the Pont Des Arts 

I wrote about love locks in 2014, here is the link to that post and to some amazing photographs: 

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/search?q=love+locks

Two years later I wrote about the removal in Paris, at: 

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2016/12/locks.html

Worth a look. 

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The Bra Fence: 

In 1999 people living in Central Otago, New Zraland, found four bras mysteriously hanging on a nearby fence along the Cardrona Valley Road in Otago. More people kept adding bras to the fence and the place became a major tourist attraction. For some it was just a quirky thing to do, for others it was a personal statement, sometimes of female empowerment. 

The fence was a cause of controversy. Some local residents objected to its decency, some that it would upset Asian students at a nearby college, some that it presented the wrong image for the area and some that it was a traffic hazard with people slowing to view. However, local sheep farmer John Lee, who had become the unofficial guardian of the site, refused to remove the bras from the fence, claiming that 90% of letters received about the fence were positive, and that the bras were the most photographed attraction in the area. 

The fence became so popular that eventually the traffic hazard argument held way and the fence was moved from the main highway to the driveway entrance of Kelly Spaans and Sean Colbourne's horse trekking and quad biking business "The Cardrona", where it can still be seen in all its glory, with more being added regularly. 

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The Licence Plate Fence:

Remember the truck in the Speilberg film Duel, with the vehicle licence plates of the victims fixed to the front of the truck? Various places have licence plate fences and walls, not as souvenirs as victims but because the owners conduct scrap and salvage yards and because more get donated. 

The one above is in Missouri

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The UXO Fences: 

UXO stands for unexploded ordnance, ie unexploded bombs, mines etc. It is estimated that up to 30% of bombs dropped on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam during the Vietnam War failed to explode, either through defects or from being dropped too low. The UXO causes fatalities and injuries, as well as making land unsafe to farm. There are ongoing removal and disarmament programs. Once retrieved and disarmed, such ordnance has been utilised in construction of fences and gates, as seen in these photographs from Laos: 

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Miscellaneous fences: 

Tyre fence, Wales 

Mirror fence 

Slate fence 

Ski fence 

Pencil fence 

Bicycle fence, Rockport, Texas 

Another bicycle fence 

Another ski fence 

Shoe fence, New Zealand . . . 

. . . and a thong fence in New Zealand (US readers: flip glops; New Zealand readers: jandals)

Toothbrush fence, New Zealand. 
What is it with these Kiwis and their weird fences?

Bottle fence 

 Wheel fence #1 

Wheel fence #2 

Wheel fence #3

God knows, I simply found the pic, ne comments.  Nightmare stuff.