Verse for a Certain Dog
Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes,Dear little friend of mine, I never knew.All-innocent are you, and yet all-wise.(For heaven's sake, stop worrying that shoe!)You look about, and all you see is fair;This mighty globe was made for you alone.Of all the thunderous ages, you're the heir.(Get off the pillow with that dirty bone!)
A skeptic world you face with steady gaze;High in young pride you hold your noble head;Gayly you meet the rush of roaring days.(Must you eat puppy biscuit on the bed?)Lancelike your courage, gleaming swift and strong,Yours the white rapture of a wingèd soul,Yours is a spirit like a May-day song.(God help you, if you break the goldfish bowl!)
"Whatever is, is good," your gracious creed.You wear your joy of living like a crown.Love lights your simplest act, your every deed.(Drop it, I tell you--put that kitten down!)You are God's kindliest gift of all,--a friend.Your shining loyalty unflecked by doubt,You ask but leave to follow to the end.(Couldn't you wait until I took you out?)
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- thunderous a.
- Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
- gayly adv.
- With mirth and frolic; merrily; blithely; gleefully.
- puppy n.
- The young of a canine animal, esp. of the common dog; a whelp. [F. poupée doll, puppet. See Puppet, and cf. Pup, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verse for a Certain Dog 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, Verse for a Certain Dog, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/verse-for-a-certain-dog.html, id L27367.
Form and metre
Verse for a Certain Dog is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCDCD eyesA · knewB · wiseA · shoeB · fairC · aloneD · heirC · boneD
- 2 ABABCDCD gazeA · headB · daysA · bedB · strongC · soulD · songC · bowlD
- 3 ABABCDCD creedA · crownB · deedA · downB · friendC · doubtD · endC · outD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Dear little friend of mine, I never knew. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| All-innocent are you, and yet all-wise. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| (For heaven's sake, stop worrying that shoe!) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| You look about, and all you see is fair; | 10 | ·········· |
| This mighty globe was made for you alone. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Of all the thunderous ages, you're the heir. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| (Get off the pillow with that dirty bone!) | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A skeptic world you face with steady gaze; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| High in young pride you hold your noble head; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Gayly you meet the rush of roaring days. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| (Must you eat puppy biscuit on the bed?) | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Lancelike your courage, gleaming swift and strong, | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Yours the white rapture of a wingèd soul, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Yours is a spirit like a May-day song. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| (God help you, if you break the goldfish bowl!) | 10 | ·······/·· |
| "Whatever is, is good," your gracious creed. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| You wear your joy of living like a crown. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Love lights your simplest act, your every deed. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (Drop it, I tell you--put that kitten down!) | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| You are God's kindliest gift of all,--a friend. | 10 | ·········· |
| Your shining loyalty unflecked by doubt, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| You ask but leave to follow to the end. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| (Couldn't you wait until I took you out?) | 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.