Ballade of Big Plans
Once the orioles sang in chorus,Once the skies were a cloudless blue.Spring bore blossoms expressly for us,Stars lined up to spell "Y-O-U."All the world wore a golden hue,Life was a thing to be bold and gay at;Love was the only game I knew,And love is a game that two can play at.
Now the heavens are scowling o'er us,Now the blossoms are pale and few.Love was a rose with thorns that tore us,Love was a ship without a crew.Love is untender, and love is untrue,Love is a moon for a dog to bay at,Love is the Lady-That's-Known-as-Lou,And love is a game that two can play at.
Recollections can only bore us;Now it's over, and now it's through.Our day is dead as a dinosaurus.Other the paths that you pursue.What is the girl in the case to do?What is she going to spend her day at?Fun demands, at a minimum, two--And love is a game that two can play at.
Prince, I'm packing away the rue.I'll give them something to shout "Hooray" at.I've got somebody else in view:And love is a game that two can play at.
Words in this poem
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- somebody n.
- A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade of Big Plans 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, Ballade of Big Plans, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/ballade-of-big-plans.html, id L27396.
Form and metre
Ballade of Big Plans is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 ABABBCBC chorusA · blueB · usA · uB · hueB · atC · knewB · atC
- 2 ABABBCBC usA · fewB · usA · crewB · untrueB · atC · louB · atC
- 3 ABABBCBC usA · throughB · dinosaurusA · pursueB · doB · atC · twoB · atC
- 4 ABAB rueA · atB · viewA · atB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once the orioles sang in chorus, | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Once the skies were a cloudless blue. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Spring bore blossoms expressly for us, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| Stars lined up to spell "Y-O-U." | 8 | ········ |
| All the world wore a golden hue, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Life was a thing to be bold and gay at; | 10 | ·········· |
| Love was the only game I knew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And love is a game that two can play at. | 10 | ·········· |
| Now the heavens are scowling o'er us, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Now the blossoms are pale and few. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Love was a rose with thorns that tore us, | 9 | ········· |
| Love was a ship without a crew. | 8 | ········ |
| Love is untender, and love is untrue, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Love is a moon for a dog to bay at, | 10 | ·········· |
| Love is the Lady-That's-Known-as-Lou, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And love is a game that two can play at. | 10 | ·········· |
| Recollections can only bore us; | 9 | ·˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Now it's over, and now it's through. | 8 | ········ |
| Our day is dead as a dinosaurus. | 10 | /········· |
| Other the paths that you pursue. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| What is the girl in the case to do? | 9 | ········· |
| What is she going to spend her day at? | 9 | ···/····· |
| Fun demands, at a minimum, two-- | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| And love is a game that two can play at. | 10 | ·········· |
| Prince, I'm packing away the rue. | 8 | ··/˘˘/·· |
| I'll give them something to shout "Hooray" at. | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| I've got somebody else in view: | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And love is a game that two can play at. | 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.