Analysis of The Homebody

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



There still are kindly things for me to know,
Who am afraid to dream, afraid to feel-
This little chair of scrubbed and sturdy deal,
This easy book, this fire, sedate and slow.
And I shall stay with them, nor cry the woe
Of wounds across my breast that do not heal;
Nor wish that Beauty drew a duller steel,
Since I am sworn to meet her as a foe.

It may be, when the devil's own time is done,
That I shall hear the dropping of the rain
At midnight, and lie quiet in my bed;
Or stretch and straighten to the yellow sun;
Or face the turning tree, and have no pain;
So shall I learn at last my heart is dead.


Scheme ABBAABBA CDECDE
Poetic Form Petrarchan sonnet 
Metre 1111011111 1101110111 1101110101 11011100101 0111111101 1101111111 1111010101 1111110101 11110101111 1111010101 110110011 1101010101 1101010111 1111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 600
Words 126
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 231
Words per stanza (avg) 62
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
64

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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