Afternoon
When I am old, and comforted,And done with this desire,With Memory to share my bedAnd Peace to share my fire,
I’ll comb my hair in scalloped bandsBeneath my laundered cap,And watch my cool and fragile handsLie light upon my lap.
And I will have a spriggéd gownWith lace to kiss my throat;I’ll draw my curtain to the town,And hum a purring note.
And I’ll forget the way of tears,And rock, and stir my tea.But oh, I wish those blessed yearsWere further than they be!
About this text
Afternoon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sunset Gun: Poems (Boni & Liveright, 1928), English Wikisource; 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, Afternoon, in Sunset Gun (1928), text of English Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-sunset-gun/afternoon.html, id L27446.
Form and metre
Afternoon is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 comfortedA · desireB · bedA · fireB
- 2 ABAB bandsA · capB · handsA · lapB
- 3 ABAB gownA · throatB · townA · noteB
- 4 ABAB tearsA · teaB · yearsA · beB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I am old, and comforted, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And done with this desire, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| With Memory to share my bed | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And Peace to share my fire, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I’ll comb my hair in scalloped bands | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beneath my laundered cap, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And watch my cool and fragile hands | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lie light upon my lap. | 6 | ······ |
| And I will have a spriggéd gown | 7 | ······· |
| With lace to kiss my throat; | 6 | ······ |
| I’ll draw my curtain to the town, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And hum a purring note. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And I’ll forget the way of tears, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And rock, and stir my tea. | 6 | ······ |
| But oh, I wish those blessed years | 7 | ······· |
| Were further than they be! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.