The Trifler
Death's the lover that I'd be taking;Wild and fickle and fierce is he.Small's his care if my heart be breaking--Gay young Death would have none of me.
Hear them clack of my haste to greet him!No one other my mouth had kissed.I had dressed me in silk to meet him--False young Death would not hold the tryst.
Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy,Smooth and cold is the bridal bed;I must wait till he whistles for me--Proud young Death would not turn his head.
I must wait till my breast is wilted,I must wait till my back is bowed,I must rock in the corner, jilted,--Death went galloping down the road.
Gone's my heart with a trifling rover.Fine he was in the game he played--Kissed, and promised, and threw me over,And rode away with a prettier maid.
Words in this poem
- clack v. i.
- To make a sudden, sharp noise, or a succesion of such noises, as by striking an object, or by collision of parts; to rattle; to click. [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. F.claquer to clap, crack, D. klakken, MHG. klac crack, Ir. clagaim I make a noise, ring. Cf. Clack, n., Clatter, Click.]
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- galloping a.
- Going at a gallop; progressing rapidly; as, a galloping horse.
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Trifler 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 Trifler, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/the-trifler.html, id L27320.
Form and metre
The Trifler is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 ABAB takingA · heB · breakingA · meB
- 2 ABAB himA · kissedB · himA · trystB
- 3 ABAB stormyA · bedB · meA · headB
- 4 ABAB wiltedA · bowedB · jiltedA · roadB
- 5 ABAB roverA · playedB · overA · maidB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Death's the lover that I'd be taking; | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Wild and fickle and fierce is he. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Small's his care if my heart be breaking-- | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Gay young Death would have none of me. | 8 | ········ |
| Hear them clack of my haste to greet him! | 9 | ········· |
| No one other my mouth had kissed. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I had dressed me in silk to meet him-- | 9 | ········· |
| False young Death would not hold the tryst. | 8 | ········ |
| Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Smooth and cold is the bridal bed; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I must wait till he whistles for me-- | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Proud young Death would not turn his head. | 8 | ········ |
| I must wait till my breast is wilted, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I must wait till my back is bowed, | 8 | ········ |
| I must rock in the corner, jilted,-- | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Death went galloping down the road. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Gone's my heart with a trifling rover. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Fine he was in the game he played-- | 8 | ········ |
| Kissed, and promised, and threw me over, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And rode away with a prettier maid. | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
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.