Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom
Daily dawns another day;I must up, to make my way.Though I dress and drink and eat,Move my fingers and my feet,Learn a little, here and there,Weep and laugh and sweat and swear,Hear a song, or watch a stage,Leave some words upon a page,Claim a foe, or hail a friend--Bed awaits me at the end.
Though I go in pride and strength,I'll come back to bed at length.Though I walk in blinded woe,Back to bed I'm bound to go.High my heart, or bowed my head,All my days but lead to bed.Up, and out, and on; and thenEver back to bed again,Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall--I'm a fool to rise at all!
About this text
Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom 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, Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/inscription-for-the-ceiling-of-a-bedroom.html, id L27398.
Form and metre
Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDDEE. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
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 AABBCCDDEE dayA · wayA · eatB · feetB · thereC · swearC · stageD · pageD · friendE · endE
- 2 AABBCCDDEE strengthA · lengthA · woeB · goB · headC · bedC · thenD · againD · fallE · allE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Daily dawns another day; | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| I must up, to make my way. | 7 | ······· |
| Though I dress and drink and eat, | 7 | ······· |
| Move my fingers and my feet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Learn a little, here and there, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Weep and laugh and sweat and swear, | 7 | ······· |
| Hear a song, or watch a stage, | 7 | ······· |
| Leave some words upon a page, | 7 | ······· |
| Claim a foe, or hail a friend-- | 7 | ······· |
| Bed awaits me at the end. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Though I go in pride and strength, | 7 | ······· |
| I'll come back to bed at length. | 7 | ······· |
| Though I walk in blinded woe, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Back to bed I'm bound to go. | 7 | ······· |
| High my heart, or bowed my head, | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| All my days but lead to bed. | 7 | ······· |
| Up, and out, and on; and then | 7 | ······· |
| Ever back to bed again, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall-- | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| I'm a fool to rise at all! | 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.