Analysis of A Dream Lies Dead

Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)



A dream lies dead here. May you softly go
Before this place, and turn away your eyes,
Nor seek to know the look of that which dies
Importuning Life for life. Walk not in woe,
But, for a little, let your step be slow.
And, of your mercy, be not sweetly wise
With words of hope and Spring and tenderer skies.
A dream lies dead; and this all mourners know:

Whenever one drifted petal leaves the tree-
Though white of bloom as it had been before
And proudly waitful of fecundity-
One little loveliness can be no more;
And so must Beauty bow her imperfect head
Because a dream has joined the wistful dead!


Scheme ABBAABBA CDCDEE
Poetic Form Petrarchan sonnet 
Metre 0111111101 0111010111 1111011111 11111101 1101011111 0111011101 111101011 0111011101 01011010101 1111111101 010110100 11011111 01110100101 0101110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 608
Words 116
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 235
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

34 sec read
159

Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. more…

All Dorothy Parker poems | Dorothy Parker Books

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