Favorite Poet: Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker is a poet known for her wit and the facetious words that mark her many works of literature. She is exactly what I look for in poetry, and literature in general, and is a remarkable product of her time. Parker’s work, while delving into more serious subject matter later into her life, is best known for its satirical nature. Parker’s poetry exhibits a candid look into the female perspective of the early and mid 20th century. Her poetry, while retaining a sense of sincerity in the way it speaks on pertinent issues of gender, unrequited love, and mental health, still brings humor and wit to the forefront of her work. 

The first poems of Parker’s that I was ever introduced to, poems like “Incurable” and “Symptom Recital”, had a twist at the end that really intrigued me. To truly get anything out of Parker’s wittiest poetry, one needs less to immediately begin parsing out the true meaning of the author’s metaphorical words, but instead, merely has to go into the piece with the expectation of the poem ending with how it starts, and being delightfully surprised when it does the opposite. Parker’s poetry is personal to me not for its deep intentions, but rather for its strong conclusions and witty criticisms on the human condition all wrapped up in a neat final twist. 

The reason that I personally find comfort in Parker’s works is instead because of her tone of voice. The way in which she insights intelligence from her reader is in how she does not shy away from addressing the reader directly in quite a few of her poems. She brings the reader in, engaging them into the world in which she has created and, in poems like “From a Letter From Lesbia” and “Coda”, Parker uses 2nd person point of view to her advantage. In two very different, yet equally witty, poems, Parker uses the word “you” to provide shock value in one instance, and to simply tell a story to the reader directly in another. In two opposing ways, Parker has managed to turn around the expectation of the reader and generate an intriguing and immersive storyline. 

Finally, despite having mainly presented poetry of Parker’s that I believe to have represented my favorite aspects of Parker’s work, there are plenty more poems that exhibit a more touching and even serious nature while still retaining her trademark wit. Poems like “Garden Spot” and “Convalescent” show off the extent to which Parker’s wit can take her. For instance, not only through sarcastic poems will Parker show off her skill, but also through quite melancholic ones. Parker’s skill delves even deeper into a more serious side of poetry, but the reason I picked these two specific poems is that they still represent the cunning twists that Parker is so well known for.

Just between the six poems I have already shared over the course of this essay, she has talked on points of her depression, the hypocrisy of love, religion, and the double standards of being a woman. I challenge you to find a poem that has a twist at the end and write about how the author of said poem took your expectations and warped them to fit the ending of the poem.