Analysis of The Lady's Reward
Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)
Lady, lady, never start
Conversation toward your heart;
Keep your pretty words serene;
Never murmur what you mean.
Show yourself, by word and look,
Swift and shallow as a brook.
Be as cool and quick to go
As a drop of April snow;
Be as delicate and gay
As a cherry flower in May.
Lady, lady, never speak
Of the tears that burn your cheek-
She will never win him, whose
Words had shown she feared to lose.
Be you wise and never sad,
You will get your lovely lad.
Never serious be, nor true,
And your wish will come to you-
And if that makes you happy, kid,
You'll be the first it ever did.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (40%) |
Metre | 1010101 0100111 1110101 1010111 1011101 1010101 1110111 1011101 1110001 10101001 1010101 1011111 1110111 1111111 1110101 1111101 10100111 0111111 01111101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 577 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 449 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 116 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 202 Views
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"The Lady's Reward" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8257/the-lady%27s-reward>.
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