Cassidy's Epitaph by Andrew Barton Paterson

Name: Cassidy's Epitaph
Author: Andrew Barton Paterson

"Cassidy's Epitaph" is a short, wry mock-obituary in verse for an ordinary Australian soldier named Cassidy, "a Number One Australian" who has "just gone West" — a First World War euphemism for death. The poem catalogues, stanza by stanza, the unglamorous, larrikin virtues that made Cassidy who he was, framing each with the recurring refrain "was all the same to Cassidy," which underscores his imperturbable, take-it-as-it-comes character. He fought without needing to understand or care about the finer points of the enemy: German, Austrian, or Turk made no difference to him once there was fighting to be done — Paterson presents this not as bigotry but as blunt, practical fearlessness, the soldier's job being to fight, not to philosophize about who he was fighting. The second focus is his drinking: wherever liquor ("the stuff") could be found, Cassidy partook freely, and the poem notes dryly that more cautious, "prudent" men would worry about when enough was enough — a nicety Cassidy never bothered with, whether he could "keep it down or not" being just another thing that made no difference to him. The third vignette turns to dancing: when the men organized a dance in honour of Terpsichore (the muse of dance), it was an even bet that Cassidy would be found "shickery" — bush slang for tipsy — yet once he found his rhythm and the band picked up, he threw himself into whatever step was going, jazz, tango, or slide, with the same indifferent enthusiasm he brought to fighting and drinking. The poem's structure builds a composite portrait through repetition: three parallel snapshots of behavior (fighting, drinking, dancing), each undercut by the same ironic tagline, so that a picture emerges of a man defined by good-humoured, unreflective consistency rather than by any single heroic deed. The final stanza shifts register from bush ballad comedy to a mock-solemn vision of the afterlife. Cassidy has "gone to face the Light," and Paterson wonders, half-seriously, whether a paradise without drink or a fight would even appeal to a man like him. But the poem closes on an affectionate, almost triumphant note: when St Peter calls the roll of men "of proved tenacity" at the gates of heaven, it is Cassidy — front-rank, right-hand man — who steps forward and answers to his name. The epitaph thus becomes a tribute disguised as gentle mockery: beneath the comic catalogue of vices (indifferent violence, hard drinking, tipsy dancing) lies genuine admiration for the ordinary digger's toughness, loyalty, and good humour under fire. Paterson, writing in the plain, ballad-metre, colloquial voice typical of his bush and wartime verse, uses Cassidy as an everyman figure for the Australian soldier of the First World War — not a storybook hero, but a rough, hard-living, hard-fighting "battler" whose casual bravery and steadiness are treated as more valuable than any polish or piety. The poem's humour and its underlying pathos work together: it is an epitaph that laughs at death even as it insists on the dead man's worth, ending with Cassidy taking his place among the tenacious dead as unfazed by the afterlife's roll call as he was by any enemy, any drink, or any dance back on earth. Sources: - [Cassidy's Epitaph Poem by Banjo Paterson (andrew Barton)](https://internetpoem.com/banjo-paterson-andrew-barton/cassidy-s-epitaph-poem/) - [Cassidy's Epitaph Poem by Banjo Paterson](https://internetpoem.com/banjo-paterson/cassidy-s-epitaph-poem/)

By Andrew Barton Paterson · First published 1940 · Genre: Poetry, Satire, Comedy · 318 words

First lines

Here lies a bloke who's just gone West, / A Number One Australian; / He took his gun and did his best / To mitigate the alien. / So long as he could get to work / He needed no sagacity; / A German, Austrian, or Turk, / Were all the same to Cassidy.

Whenever he could raise "the stuff" -- / A liquor deleterious / The question when he'd have enough / Was apt to be mysterious. / 'Twould worry prudent folks a lot / Through mental incapacity; / If he could keep it down or not, / Was all the same to Cassidy.

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Cassidy's Epitaph is listed on Textopian as a poem by Andrew Barton Paterson, dated 1940 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Andrew Barton Paterson
Date: 1940 CE
Language: English
Genres: Poetry, Satire, Comedy, Epitaph, Narrative Poetry
Length: 318 words
Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Poetry — The work is composed entirely in verse with consistent rhyming structure and poetic meter, establishing poetry as its primary and most fundamental genre.
Satire — The poem employs satirical humor and irony throughout, mocking Cassidy's character traits and behavior to critique working-class Australian society, attitudes toward foreigners, and social behaviors of the era.
Comedy — The work maintains a predominantly comedic tone through humorous characterization and ironic commentary on death and the afterlife, prioritizing entertainment over mourning.
Epitaph — Structured as a tombstone inscription or memorial verse, the poem fulfills the literal formal definition of an epitaph, though unconventionally treating its subject with humor rather than solemnity.