Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Author: PARKER, DOROTHY
Matches Found: 164


Parker, Dorothy    Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Rothschild, Dorothy
164 poems available by this author


A CERTAIN LADY    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head
Subject(s): Deception


A HYMN OF HATE    Poem Text    
First Line: I hate the drama
Last Line: It cuts in on my sleep.
Subject(s): Dramatists; Hate; Ibsen, Henrik (1828-1906); Maeterlinck, Maurice (1862-1949); Plays & Playwrights; Poetry & Poets


ABSENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: I never thought that heaven would lose its blue
Last Line: I never thought they would, and I was right.
Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation


AFTER A SPANISH PROVERB    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, mercifullest one of all,
Subject(s): Friendship


AFTERNOON       
First Line: When I am old and comforted
Last Line: But oh, I wish those blessed years %were further than they be


AUTOBIOGRAPHY       
First Line: Oh, both my shoes are shiny new


BALLADE AT THIRTY-FIVE    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Women - Middle Aged


BALLADE AT THIRTY-FIVE       
First Line: This, no song of an ingenue
Last Line: I loved them until they loved me


BALLADE OF BIG PLANS       
First Line: Once the orioles sang in a chorus


BALLADE OF UNFORTUNATE MAMMALS       
First Line: Love is sharper than stones or sticks
Last Line: Women and elephants never forget


BIOGRAPHIES       
First Line: Now this is the story of lucy brown


BOHEMIA       
First Line: Authors and actors and artists and such
Last Line: God, for a man who solicits insurance


BOHEMIA       
First Line: Authors and actors and artists and such
Last Line: God, for a man that solicits insurance!


BRIC-A-BRAC       
First Line: Little things that no one needs
Last Line: Little verses, such as these


BUT NOT FORGOTTEN       
First Line: I think, no matter where you stray
Last Line: And keep my image, there without me, %by telling later loves about me


CERTAIN LADY       
First Line: Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head
Last Line: And what goes on, my love, while you're away, %you'll never know
Subject(s): Deception


CHANT FOR DARK HOURS    Poem Text    
First Line: Some men, some men
Subject(s): Women


CHANT FOR DARK HOURS       
First Line: Some men, some men
Last Line: (all your life you wait around for some damn man!)
Subject(s): Women


CODA    Poem Text    
First Line: There's little in taking or giving
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Love


CODA       
First Line: There's little in taking or giving
Last Line: Would you kindly direct me to hell?
Subject(s): Art And Artists; Love


COMMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song
Subject(s): Love


COMMENT       
First Line: Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song
Last Line: And I am marie of roumania
Subject(s): Love


CONDOLENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: They hurried here, as soon as you had died
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


COUNSELOR       
First Line: I met a man the other day


DANGER OF WRITING DEFIANT VERSE       
First Line: And now I have another lad!


DARK GIRL'S RHYME       
First Line: Who was there had seen us


DAY-DREAMS    Poem Text    
First Line: We'd build a little bungalow
Last Line: To string along as two.


DILEMMA    Poem Text    
First Line: If I were mild, and I were sweet,
Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations


DILEMMA       
First Line: If I were mild, and I were sweet


EPITAPH FOR A DARLING LADY    Poem Text    
First Line: All her hours were yellow sands,
Subject(s): Women; Beauty


EVENING PRIMROSE       
First Line: You know the bloom, unearthly white
Subject(s): Evening Primroses


EXPERIENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: Some men break your heart in two,
Subject(s): Love - Nature Of


EXPERIENCE       
First Line: Some men break your heart in two


FABLE    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, there once was a lady, and so I've been told,
Subject(s): Friendship; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations


FABLE       
First Line: Oh, there once was a lady, and so I've been told


FAIRY SAD STORY       
First Line: I think that I shall never know
Last Line: Why am I so, why am I thus?


FALSE FRIENDS       
First Line: They laid their hands upon my head


FIGHTING WORDS    Poem Text    
First Line: Say my love is easy had
Subject(s): Love


FIGHTING WORDS       
First Line: Say my love is easy had


FINIS    Poem Text    
First Line: Now it's over, and now it's done;
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of


FLAW IN PAGANISM       
First Line: Drink and dance and laugh and lie


FOLK SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Other lads, their ways are daring
Last Line: Naturally, I do not.
Subject(s): Love


FOR R.C.B.       
First Line: Life comes a-hurrying, %or life lags slow
Last Line: Many people care; %but we don't, do we?


FRAGMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: Why should we set these hearts of ours above
Subject(s): Love


FULFILLMENT       
First Line: For his my mother wrapped me warm
Last Line: And break my heart to clattering bits


FULFILMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: I do not sit and sigh for wealth untold
Last Line: It's what I've got.
Subject(s): Wealth; Riches; Fortunes


GENTLEST LADY       
First Line: They say he was a serious child
Subject(s): Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Women - Bible


I KNOW I HAVE BEEN THE HAPPIEST    Poem Text    
First Line: I know I have been happiest at your side;
Subject(s): Love


I SHALL COME BACK       
First Line: I shall come back without fanfaronade
Last Line: And that will break my ghostly heart, my dear.


IDYL    Poem Text    
First Line: Think of the things that can never come true
Last Line: Isn't it great that it never can be?


INCURABLE       
First Line: And if my heart be scarred and burned
Last Line: But you, my sweet, are different


INSCRIPTION FOR THE CEILING OF A BEDROOM    Poem Text    
First Line: Daily dawns another day;
Subject(s): Beds; Conduct Of Life


INTERIOR    Poem Text    
First Line: Her mind lives in a quiet room,
Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness


INTERVIEW    Poem Text    
First Line: The ladies men admire, I've heard,
Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Likes & Dislikes; Male-female Relations


INTERVIEW       
First Line: The ladies men admire, I've heard


INVENTORY    Poem Text    
First Line: Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Subject(s): Self


INVENTORY       
First Line: Four be the things I am wiser to know


ISEULT OF BRITTANY    Poem Text    
First Line: So delicate my hands, and long,
Subject(s): Hands


LETTER FROM LESBIA,    Poem Text    
First Line: ...So, praise the gods, catullus is away!
Last Line: The stupid fool! I've always hated birds….
Subject(s): Catullus, Gaius Valerius (84-54 B.c.); Man-woman Relationships; Women's Rights; Male-female Relations; Feminism


LETTER FROM LESBIA, SELS.       
First Line: ...So, praise the gods, catullus is away!
Last Line: The stupid fool! I've always hated birds
Subject(s): Catullus, Gaius Valerius (84-54 B.c.); Man-woman Relationships; Women's Rights


LIGHT OF LOVE       
First Line: Joy stayed with me a night


LINES ON READING TOO MANY POETS    Poem Text    
First Line: Roses, rooted warm in earth,
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


LITTLE OLD LADY IN LAVENDER SILK       
First Line: I was seventy-seven, come august
Subject(s): Love


LITTLE WORDS       
First Line: When you are strayed, there is nor bloom nor leaf
Last Line: I turn to little words - so you, my dear, %can spell them out


LOVE SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: My own dear love, he is strong and bold
Subject(s): Love


LOVE SONG       
First Line: My own dear love, he is strong and bold
Last Line: And I wish somebody'd shoot him
Subject(s): Love


LYRIC    Poem Text    
First Line: How the arrogant iris would wither and fade
Subject(s): Nature


MAID-SERVANT AT THE INN       
First Line: It's queer, she said; I see the light
Last Line: I've prayed that all is well with them
Subject(s): Christmas; Jesus Christ


MEN    Poem Text    
First Line: I hate men
Subject(s): Men; Hate


MEN       
First Line: They hail you as their morning star
Last Line: They make me sick, they make me tired


MOOD    Poem Text    
First Line: Unless I yield my love to you, you swear
Last Line: Ah, love, if I could only count on that!
Subject(s): Love


MORAL TALES FOR THE YOUNG    Poem Text    
First Line: Maude, the brightest of the sex
Last Line: Nicer children do not steal.


NEWS ITEM    Poem Text    
First Line: Men seldom make passes
Subject(s): Mnemonics


NEWS ITEM       
First Line: Men seldom make passes
Last Line: At girls who wear glasses
Subject(s): Mnemonics


NOCTURNE    Poem Text    
First Line: Always I knew that it could not last
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of


OBSERVATION    Poem Text    
First Line: If I don't drive around the park,
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life


OBSERVATION       
First Line: If I don't drive around the park
Last Line: Because I do not give a damn


OF A WOMAN, DEAD YOUNG    Poem Text    
First Line: If she had been beautiful, even
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


OF A WOMAN, DEAD YOUNG       
First Line: If she had been beautiful, even
Subject(s): Death


ON BEING A WOMAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Why is it, when I am in rome
Subject(s): Love; Soul; Women


ON BEING A WOMAN       
First Line: Why is it, when I am in rome
Last Line: Yet do you up and leave me-then %I scream to have you back again
Subject(s): Love; Soul; Women


ONE PERFECT ROSE    Poem Text    
First Line: A single flow'r he sent me, since we met
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


ONE PERFECT ROSE       
First Line: A single flow'r he sent me, since we met
Last Line: Ah no, it's always just my luck to get %one perfect rose
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


PARABLE FOR A CERTAIN VIRGIN    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, ponder, friend, the porcupine;
Subject(s): Wit & Humor


PARABLE FOR A CERTAIN VIRGIN       
First Line: Oh, ponder, friend, the porcupine
Last Line: And who the devil wants him?


PARTIAL COMFORT    Poem Text    
First Line: Whose love is given over-well
Subject(s): Love; Wit & Humor


PARTIAL COMFORT       
First Line: Whose love is given over-well
Last Line: Whilst they whose love is thin and wise %may view john knox in paradise


PATTERN    Poem Text    
First Line: Leave me to my lonely pillow.
Subject(s): Love - Complaints


PENELOPE    Poem Text    
First Line: In the pathway of the sun
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Penelope (mythology); Ulysses; War; Odysseus


PENELOPE       
First Line: In the pathway of the sun
Last Line: Bleach the linen for my bed %they will call him brave
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Penelope (mythology); Ulysses; War


PHILOSOPHY       
First Line: If I should labor through daylight and dark


PICTURES IN THE SMOKE       
First Line: Oh, gallant was the first love, and glittering and fine


PIG'S-EYE VIEW OF LITERATURE, SELS.       


PLEA    Poem Text    
First Line: Secrets, you said, would hold us two apart
Subject(s): Secrets


PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST       
First Line: Oh, lead me to a quiet cell


POST-GRADUATE       
First Line: Hope it was that tutored me
Last Line: And now I learn at sorrow's knee %the delf-same lore


POUR PENDRE CONGE       
First Line: I'm sick of embarking in dories %upon an emotional sea
Last Line: And how I'll be making my living, %the lord in his mystery knows


PRAYER FOR A NEW MOTHER    Poem Text    
First Line: The things she knew, let her forget again
Subject(s): Religion; Theology


PRAYER FOR A NEW MOTHER       
First Line: The things she knew, let her forget again
Subject(s): Religion


PROLOGUE TO A SAGA       
First Line: Maidens, gather not the yew


PROPHETIC SOUL    Poem Text    
First Line: Because your eyes are slant and slow
Subject(s): Doubt; Skepticism


RAINY NIGHT       
First Line: Ghosts of all my lovely sins
Last Line: One more wraith among your number


RED DRESS       
First Line: I always saw, I always said
Last Line: I have the silly gown


REQUIESCAT    Poem Text    
First Line: To-night my love is sleeping cold
Subject(s): Love; Death; Dead, The


RESUME    Poem Text    
First Line: Razors pain you; / rivers are damp
Last Line: You might as well live.
Subject(s): Suicide


REUBEN'S CHILDREN    Poem Text    
First Line: Accursed from their birth they be
Subject(s): Unfaithfulness; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


RHYME OF AN INVOLUNTARY VIOLET       
First Line: When I ponder lovely ladies %sliping sweetly down to hades
Last Line: So my summary, in fact, is %what an awful flop my act is


ROMANCE AND SEX: GENERAL REVIEW OF THE SEX SITUATION       
First Line: Woman wants monogamy %man delights in novelty
Last Line: What earthly good can come of it


ROMANCE AND SEX: UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: By the time you swear you're his
Subject(s): Love - Erotic; Mnemonics


ROMANCE AND SEX: UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE       
First Line: By the time you swear you're his
Last Line: One of you is lying
Subject(s): Erotic Love; Mnemonics


RONDEAU REDOUBLÉ (AND SCARCELY WORTH THE TROUBLE, AT THAT)    Poem Text    
First Line: The same to me are sombre days and gay.
Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation


SANCTUARY       
First Line: My land is bare of chattering folk


SECOND LOVE    Poem Text    
First Line: So surely is she mine,' you say, and turn
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of


SOCIAL NOTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Lady, lady, should you meet
Subject(s): Mnemonics


SOCIAL NOTE       
First Line: Lady, lady, should you meet
Last Line: Lady, lady, better run
Subject(s): Mnemonics


SOLACE       
First Line: There was a rose that faded young
Last Line: I did not wait, the while they said: %'there's many another lad'


SOME BEAUTIFUL LETTERS       
First Line: If I don't drive around the park
Variant Title(s): Observatio


SONG FOR THE FIRST OF THE MONTH    Poem Text    
First Line: Money cannot fill our needs
Last Line: Laugh the landlord off with that!
Subject(s): Money


SONG IN A MINOR KEY    Poem Text    
First Line: There's a place I know where the birds swing low,
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of


SONG OF AMERICAN RESIDENT IN FRANCE    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, we are the bold expatriate band!
Subject(s): Immigration & Emigration; France


SONG OF PERFECT PROPRIETY       
First Line: Oh, I should like to ride the seas


SONG OF THE OPEN COUNTRY    Poem Text    
First Line: When lights are low, and the day has died
Last Line: That I am living right here in town.
Subject(s): Country Life


SONGS OF A MARKEDLY PERSONAL NATURE: DE PROFUNDIS       
First Line: Oh, it is then, utopian
Last Line: The tales of girls he used to have?


SONGS OF A MARKEDLY PERSONAL NATURE: INDIAN SUMMER       
First Line: In youth, it was a way I had
Last Line: To hell, my love, with you
Variant Title(s): Indian Summe


SONGS OF A MARKEDLY PERSONAL NATURE: PROPHETIC HEART       
First Line: Because your eyes are slant and slow
Last Line: I doubt if this will get me much


SONGS OF A MARKEDLY PERSONAL NATURE: SOMEBODY'S STORY    Poem Text    
First Line: This is what I vow
Last Line: This is what I know.
Variant Title(s): Somebody's Song


SONNET FOR THE END OF A SEQUENCE       
First Line: So take my vows and scatter them to sea
Last Line: Therefore, I am immeasurably grateful %to you, for proving shallow, false and hateful
Variant Title(s): Take My Vow


STORY       
First Line: And if he's gone away,' said she


SUPERFLUOUS ADVICE    Poem Text    
First Line: Should they whisper false of you,
Subject(s): Advice


SYMPHONY RECITAL       
First Line: I do not like my state of mind
Last Line: I'm due to fall in love again


SYMPTOM RECITAL    Poem Text    
First Line: I do not like my state of mind;
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Likes & Dislikes; Love - Beginnings


SYMPTOM RECITAL       
First Line: I do not like my state of mind
Last Line: I'm due to fall in love again


TEMPS PERDU    Poem Text    
First Line: I never may turn the loop of a road
Subject(s): Nature


TEMPS PERDU       
First Line: I never may turn the loop of a road
Last Line: What is it, what is it, I almost remember?
Subject(s): Nature


TESTAMENT       
First Line: Oh, let it be a night of lyric rain


THE EVENING PRIMROSE    Poem Text    
First Line: You know the bloom, unearthly white
Subject(s): Evening Primroses


THE FAR-SIGHTED MUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: Dark though the clouds, they are silver-lined
Last Line: (this is what fetches the bacon home.)


THE GENTLEST LADY    Poem Text    
First Line: They say he was a serious child
Subject(s): Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Women - Bible; Virgin Mary


THE GUNMAN AND THE DEBUTANTE    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals


THE LAST QUESTION    Poem Text    
First Line: New love, new love, where are you to lead me?
Subject(s): Love - Beginnings


THE LEAL    Poem Text    
First Line: The friends I made have slipped and strayed,
Subject(s): Friendship


THE LITTLE OLD LADY IN LAVENDER SILK    Poem Text    
First Line: I was seventy-seven, come august
Subject(s): Love


THE MAID-SERVANT AT THE INN    Poem Text    
First Line: It's queer, she said; I see the light
Subject(s): Christmas; Jesus Christ; Nativity, The


THE PASSIONATE FREUDIAN TO HIS LOVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Only name the day, and we'll fly away
Subject(s): Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939); Love


THEORY    Poem Text    
First Line: Into love and out again
Subject(s): Love; Singing & Singers


THEORY       
First Line: Into love and out again
Subject(s): Love; Singing And Singers


THEY PART       
First Line: And if, my friend, you'd have it end


THOUGHT FOR A SUNSHINY MORNING       
First Line: It costs me never a stab nor squirm
Last Line: Your clan will pay me back one day


THREAT TO A FICKLE LADY    Poem Text    
First Line: Sweet lady sleep, befriend me
Subject(s): Women


THRENODY       
First Line: Lilacs blossom just as sweet


TO A LADY, WHOI MUST WRITE VERSE       
First Line: Unto seventy years and seven
Last Line: Lest a cooled, benignant phaon %murmur, 'foolish little thing!'


TO MY DOG    Poem Text    
First Line: I often wonder why on earth
Last Line: That women always fall for.
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


TOMBSTONES IN THE STARLIGHT: 1. THE MINOR POET       
First Line: His little trills and chirpings were his best
Last Line: But he, too, laid his breast %upon a thorn


TOMBSTONES IN THE STARLIGHT: 2. THE PRETTY LADY       
First Line: She hated bleak and wintry things alone
Last Line: It is forever bitter cold in hell


TOMBSTONES IN THE STARLIGHT: 3. THE ACTRESS    Poem Text    
First Line: Her name, cut clear upon this marble cross
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


TOMBSTONES IN THE STARLIGHT: 3. THE ACTRESS       
First Line: Her name, cut clear upon this marble cross
Last Line: Obscures the figures of her date of birth
Subject(s): Poetry And Poets


TOMBSTONES IN THE STARLIGHT: 4. THE FISHERWOMAN       
First Line: The man she had was kind and clean
Last Line: The one that got away


TWO-VOLUME NOVEL       
First Line: The sun's gone dim, and


UNFORTUNATE COINCIDENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: By the time you swear you're his
Subject(s): Love - Complaints; Lies


VERSE FOR A CERTAIN DOG    Poem Text    
First Line: Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


VERSE FOR A CERTAIN DOG       
First Line: Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


WAIL    Poem Text    
First Line: Love has gone a-rocketing.
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of


WITH BEST WISHES    Poem Text    
First Line: Glad christmas day once more has come
Last Line: "and a highly colored copy of ""that old sweetheart of mine."
Subject(s): Christmas; Christmas Gifts; Santa Claus; Nativity, The; Nicholas, Saint


WOODLAND SONG    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Flowers