For an Unknown Lady
Lady, if you'd slumber sound,Keep your eyes upon the ground.If you'd toss and turn at night,Slip your glances left and right.Would the mornings find you gay,Never give your heart away.Would they find you pale and sad,Fling it to a whistling lad.Ah, but when his pleadings burn,Will you let my words return?Will you lock your pretty lips,And deny your finger-tips,Veil away your tender eyes,Just because some words were wise?If he whistles low and clearWhen the insistent moon is nearAnd the secret stars are known,--Will your heart be still your ownJust because some words were true? ...Lady, I was told them, too!
Words in this poem
- insistent a.
- Standing or resting on something; as, an insistent wall. Sir H. [L. insistens, -entis, p. pr. of insistere.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For an Unknown Lady 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, For an Unknown Lady, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/for-an-unknown-lady.html, id L27379.
Form and metre
For an Unknown Lady is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ soundA · groundA · nightB · rightB · gayC · awayC · sadD · ladD · burnE · returnE · lipsF · tipsF · eyesG · wiseG · clearH · nearH · knownI · ownI · trueJ · tooJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lady, if you'd slumber sound, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Keep your eyes upon the ground. | 7 | ······· |
| If you'd toss and turn at night, | 7 | ······· |
| Slip your glances left and right. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Would the mornings find you gay, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Never give your heart away. | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Would they find you pale and sad, | 7 | ······· |
| Fling it to a whistling lad. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ah, but when his pleadings burn, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Will you let my words return? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Will you lock your pretty lips, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And deny your finger-tips, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Veil away your tender eyes, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Just because some words were wise? | 7 | ······· |
| If he whistles low and clear | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When the insistent moon is near | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And the secret stars are known,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Will your heart be still your own | 7 | ······· |
| Just because some words were true? ... | 7 | ······· |
| Lady, I was told them, too! | 7 | /˘····· |
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.