Parable for a Certain Virgin
Oh, ponder, friend, the porcupine;Refresh your recollection,And sit a moment, to defineHis means of self-protection.
How truly fortified is he!Where is the beast his doubleIn forethought of emergencyAnd readiness for trouble?
Recall his figure, and his shade—How deftly planned and clearlyFor slithering through the dappled gladeUnseen, or pretty nearly.
Yet should an alien eye discernHis presence in the woodland,How little has he left to learnOf self-defense! My good land!
For he can run, as swift as sound,To where his goose may hang high;Or thrust his head against the groundAnd tunnel half to Shanghai;
Or he can climb the dizziest bough—Unhesitant, mechanic—And, resting, dash from off his browThe bitter beads of panic;
Or should pursuers press him hot,One scarcely needs to mentionHis quick and cruel barbs, that gotShakespearean attention;
Or driven to his final ditch,To his extremest thicket,He’ll fight with claws and molars (whichIs not considered cricket).
How amply armored, he, to fendThe fear of chase that haunts him!How well prepared our little friend!—And who the devil wants him?
Words in this poem
- forethought a.
- Thought of, or planned, beforehand; aforethought; prepense; hence, deliberate.
- deftly adv.
- Aptly; fitly; dexterously; neatly. [Cf. Defly.]
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- shanghai v. t.
- To intoxicate and ship (a person) as a sailor while in this condition.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- shakespearean a.
- Of, pertaining to, or in the style of, Shakespeare or his works. [Written also Shakespearian, Shakspearean, Shakspearian, Shaksperean, Shaksperian.etc.]
- amply adv.
- In an ample manner.
- armored a.
- Clad with armor.
- fend v. t.
- To keep off; to prevent from entering or hitting; to ward off; to shut out; -- often with off; as, to fend off blows. [Abbrev. fr. defend.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Parable for a Certain Virgin 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, Parable for a Certain Virgin, in Sunset Gun (1928), text of English Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-sunset-gun/parable-for-a-certain-virgin.html, id L27412.
Form and metre
Parable for a Certain Virgin is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic 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 porcupineA · recollectionB · defineA · protectionB
- 2 ABAB heA · doubleB · emergencyA · troubleB
- 3 ABAB shadeA · clearlyB · gladeA · nearlyB
- 4 ABAB discernA · woodlandB · learnA · landB
- 5 ABAB soundA · highB · groundA · shanghaiB
- 6 ABAB boughA · mechanicB · browA · panicB
- 7 ABAB hotA · mentionB · gotA · attentionB
- 8 ABAB ditchA · thicketB · whichA · cricketB
- 9 ABAB fendA · himB · friendA · himB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, ponder, friend, the porcupine; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Refresh your recollection, | 7 | ˘/··˘/˘ |
| And sit a moment, to define | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| His means of self-protection. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| How truly fortified is he! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where is the beast his double | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In forethought of emergency | 8 | ·/··˘/˘˘ |
| And readiness for trouble? | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Recall his figure, and his shade— | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| How deftly planned and clearly | 8 | ·/˘·˘·/˘ |
| For slithering through the dappled glade | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Unseen, or pretty nearly. | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Yet should an alien eye discern | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| His presence in the woodland, | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| How little has he left to learn | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of self-defense! My good land! | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| For he can run, as swift as sound, | 8 | ········ |
| To where his goose may hang high; | 7 | ······· |
| Or thrust his head against the ground | 8 | ········ |
| And tunnel half to Shanghai; | 7 | ·/˘··// |
| Or he can climb the dizziest bough— | 8 | ········ |
| Unhesitant, mechanic— | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And, resting, dash from off his brow | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The bitter beads of panic; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Or should pursuers press him hot, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| One scarcely needs to mention | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| His quick and cruel barbs, that got | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shakespearean attention; | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Or driven to his final ditch, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To his extremest thicket, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| He’ll fight with claws and molars (which | 8 | ········ |
| Is not considered cricket). | 8 | ··˘/˘˘/˘ |
| How amply armored, he, to fend | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The fear of chase that haunts him! | 7 | ······· |
| How well prepared our little friend!— | 8 | ··˘///˘· |
| And who the devil wants him? | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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.