Roundel
She's passing fair; but so demure is sheSo quiet is her gown, so smooth her hair,That few there are who note her and agreeShe's passing fair.
Yet when was ever beauty held more rareThan simple heart and maiden modesty?What fostered charms with virtue could compare?
Alas, no lover ever stops to see;The best that she is offered is the air.Yet--if the passing mark is minusD--She's passing fair.
Words in this poem
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Roundel 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, Roundel, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/roundel.html, id L27388.
Form and metre
Roundel is 12 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABAB sheA · hairB · agreeA · fairB
- 2 A-A rareA · modesty · compareA
- 3 AB-AB seeA · airB · minus · dA · fairB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She's passing fair; but so demure is she | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| So quiet is her gown, so smooth her hair, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That few there are who note her and agree | 10 | ········˘/ |
| She's passing fair. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Yet when was ever beauty held more rare | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Than simple heart and maiden modesty? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| What fostered charms with virtue could compare? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Alas, no lover ever stops to see; | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| The best that she is offered is the air. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet--if the passing mark is minus | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| D-- | 1 | · |
| She's passing fair. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.