Analysis of The Dark Girl's Rhyme

Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)



Who was there had seen us
  Wouldn't bid him run?
Heavy lay between us
  All our sires had done.

There he was, a-springing
  Of a pious race,
Setting hags a-swinging
  In a market-place;

Sowing turnips over
  Where the poppies lay;
Looking past the clover,
  Adding up the hay;

Shouting through the Spring song,
  Clumping down the sod;
Toadying, in sing-song,
  To a crabbed god.

There I was, that came of
  Folk of mud and name-
I that had my name of
  Them without a name.

Up and down a mountain
  Streeled my silly stock;
Passing by a fountain,
  Wringing at a rock;

Devil-gotten sinners,
  Throwing back their heads,
Fiddling for their dinners,
  Kissing for their beds.

Not a one had seen us
  Wouldn't help him flee.
Angry ran between us
  Blood of him and me.

How shall I be mating
  Who have looked above-
Living for a hating,
  Dying of a love?


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ BKBK LMLM ANAN CICI
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 111111 10111 101011 110111 111010 10101 101010 00101 101010 10101 101010 10101 101011 10101 1011 1011 111111 11101 111111 10101 101010 11101 101010 10101 101010 10111 101110 10111 101111 10111 101011 11101 111110 11101 101010 10101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 827
Words 154
Sentences 9
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 70
Words per stanza (avg) 17
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 07, 2023

46 sec read
87

Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. more…

All Dorothy Parker poems | Dorothy Parker Books

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