The Choice
He'd have given me rolling lands,Houses of marble, and billowing farms,Pearls, to trickle between my hands,Smoldering rubies, to circle my arms.You--you'd only a lilting song,Only a melody, happy and high,You were sudden and swift and strong,--ever a thought for another had I.
He'd have given me laces rare,Dresses that glimmered with frosty sheen,Shining ribbons to wrap my hair,Horses to draw me, as fine as a queen.You--you'd only to whistle low,Gaily I followed wherever you led.I took you, and I let him go,--Somebody ought to examine my head!
Words in this poem
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- somebody n.
- A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Choice 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, The Choice, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/the-choice.html, id L27395.
Form and metre
The Choice is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is dactylic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in dactylic trimeter.
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 ABABCDCD landsA · farmsB · handsA · armsB · songC · highD · strongC · iD
- 2 ABABCDCD rareA · sheenB · hairA · queenB · lowC · ledD · goC · headD
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 dactylic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| He'd have given me rolling lands, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Houses of marble, and billowing farms, | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Pearls, to trickle between my hands, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Smoldering rubies, to circle my arms. | 9 | /˘/˘·/˘·· |
| You--you'd only a lilting song, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Only a melody, happy and high, | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘·· |
| You were sudden and swift and strong,-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| ever a thought for another had I. | 9 | /···˘/˘·· |
| He'd have given me laces rare, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Dresses that glimmered with frosty sheen, | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Shining ribbons to wrap my hair, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Horses to draw me, as fine as a queen. | 10 | /˘········ |
| You--you'd only to whistle low, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Gaily I followed wherever you led. | 10 | /˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| I took you, and I let him go,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Somebody ought to examine my head! | 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.