Now Listen to Me and I'll Tell You My Views

Name: Now Listen to Me and I'll Tell You My Views
Author: Andrew Barton Paterson

"Now Listen to Me and I'll Tell You My Views" is a satirical dramatic monologue by Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson), first published in The Bulletin on 29 March 1902 and later collected in his Boer War verse. The poem adopts the voice of a blustering jingoist addressing the reader directly, opening with the declaration that anyone who disagrees with his opinions on "the African war" is "a rotten Pro-Boer." From this brash opening, Paterson uses the speaker's own words to unravel the very certainty he claims to hold. The bulk of the poem is built around a mocking refrain of "shriek," which Paterson turns into a recurring ironic device: the speaker repeatedly instructs the reader to "shriek" abuse at Boer leaders rather than think clearly about the conflict. He rattles off the stock insults of the pro-war press against Boer commanders and statesmen — De Wet is branded a madman, Steyn a liar, and Kruger "a pitiful cur" — while, in the same breath, grudgingly conceding that these men have proven formidable and capable adversaries in the field. That contradiction is the poem's engine: the speaker's contempt for the enemy sits awkwardly beside his backhanded admiration for their competence, exposing the gap between propaganda rhetoric and the reality of the war on the ground. As the poem progresses, the speaker's bravado begins to crack. He admits, almost in an aside, that he is "getting a little bit doubtful" himself as the war "drags on week after week," but immediately talks himself out of that doubt, concluding it is "better to not ask any questions at all" and that one should simply "silence all doubts with a shriek." This turn is the satirical crux of the piece: Paterson dramatizes how jingoistic certainty is maintained not through reasoned conviction but through willful avoidance of inconvenient questions, drowning out uncertainty with noise and slogans rather than confronting it. The poem then widens its target from popular sentiment to political leadership, taking aim at figures in the British establishment such as Lord Rosebery, on whom the speaker says the public "depended" for guidance. When the "Oracle" finally does speak, his answer is evasive and unhelpful — a flippant deflection ("You go to the Grocers... for your laws") that mocks the emptiness of establishment reassurance. Through this shift, Paterson extends his satire beyond the man in the street to the politicians and public figures who fail to provide honest leadership or clear justification for the war, suggesting that confusion and hollow rhetoric run all the way up the chain, not just among ordinary jingoists. Formally, the poem uses a loose, galloping ballad rhythm typical of Paterson's popular verse, paired with a colloquial, blustering first-person voice reminiscent of a pub or street-corner speaker holding forth on politics he does not fully understand. This vernacular, performative style — the same register Paterson used for bush characters in poems like "Clancy of the Overflow" — is repurposed here for political satire, letting the speaker's own overconfident phrasing do the work of self-parody rather than relying on authorial commentary. Thematically, the poem is a critique of wartime jingoism, groupthink, and the suppression of honest doubt during the Boer War (1899–1902), a conflict Paterson had direct experience of as a war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald. Rather than a straightforward patriotic piece, it functions as an ironic unmasking of pro-war sentiment: the louder and more insistent the speaker's professed certainty, the more clearly Paterson reveals the doubt, hypocrisy, and intellectual laziness underneath it. The poem ultimately argues that public opinion on the war was being manufactured through slogans and social pressure rather than genuine conviction, and that both the populace and its leaders were complicit in avoiding hard questions about the war's cost and justification. Sources: - [Now Listen To Me And I'll Tell You My Views – Banjo Paterson](https://internetpoem.com/banjo-paterson-andrew-barton/now-listen-to-me-and-i-ll-tell-you-my-poem/) - [Collected Poetry, Project Gutenberg Australia](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607741h.html) - [Poems by Banjo Paterson about War, Key to Poetry](https://keytopoetry.com/banjo-paterson-2/war/)

By Andrew Barton Paterson · First published 1940 · Genre: Political Satire, War Poetry, Protest Poetry · 467 words

First lines

Now listen to me and I'll tell you my views concerning the African war, / And the man who upholds any different views, the same is a rotten Pro-Boer! / (Though I'm getting a little bit doubtful myself, as it drags on week after week: / But it's better not ask any questions at all -- let us silence all doubts with a shriek! )

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Now Listen to Me and I'll Tell You My Views 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: Political Satire, War Poetry, Protest Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Social Commentary
Length: 467 words
Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Political Satire — The poem's primary genre, using sustained irony and sarcasm to critique British war policy, nationalism, and political leadership during the Boer War, directly mocking jingoistic attitudes and exposing political hypocrisy.
War Poetry — Centers on the Boer War as its subject matter, describing military campaigns, the burning of farmhouses, treatment of combatants, and consequences of warfare from an explicitly anti-war perspective.
Protest Poetry — Functions as explicit protest against the war, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, political failures, and mass hysteria; voices dissent against prevailing national sentiment.
Satirical Poetry — Employs heavy irony throughout, praising destructive tactics and nationalist fervor while clearly intending the opposite interpretation, using sarcasm as the primary rhetorical device.