A Portrait
Because my love is quick to come and go--A little here, and then a little there--What use are any words of mine to swearMy heart is stubborn, and my spirit slowOf weathering the drip and drive of woe?What is my oath, when you have but to bareMy little, easy loves; and I can dareOnly to shrug, and answer, "They are so"?
You do not know how heavy a heart it isThat hangs about my neck--a clumsy stoneCut with a birth, a death, a bridal-day.Each time I love, I find it still my own,Who take it, now to that lad, now to this,Seeking to give the wretched thing away.
Words in this poem
- weathering n.
- The action of the elements on a rock in altering its color, texture, or composition, or in rounding off its edges.
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- shrug v. t.
- To draw up or contract (the shoulders), especially by way of expressing dislike, dread, doubt, or the like. [Probably akin to shrink, p. p. shrunk; cf. Dan. skrugge, skrukke, to stoop, dial. Sw. skrukka, skruga, to crouch.]
- clumsy a.
- Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Portrait is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enough Rope: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #68353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dorothy Parker, A Portrait, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/a-portrait.html, id L27349.
Form and metre
A Portrait is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBA goA · thereB · swearB · slowA · woeA · bareB · dareB · soA
- 2 -ABA-B is · stoneA · dayB · ownA · this · awayB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Because my love is quick to come and go-- | 10 | ·········· |
| A little here, and then a little there-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| What use are any words of mine to swear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My heart is stubborn, and my spirit slow | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of weathering the drip and drive of woe? | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| What is my oath, when you have but to bare | 10 | ·········· |
| My little, easy loves; and I can dare | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Only to shrug, and answer, "They are so"? | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| You do not know how heavy a heart it is | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| That hangs about my neck--a clumsy stone | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Cut with a birth, a death, a bridal-day. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Each time I love, I find it still my own, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who take it, now to that lad, now to this, | 10 | ·········· |
| Seeking to give the wretched thing away. | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.