Resume
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
Commentary
Another poem that needs very little by way of commentary (which part don’t you understand? <g>). ‘Resume’ is certainly Parker’s best-known poem, though not necessarily her best, and in a way it captures her style perfectly - at once humorous and despairing; flippant on the surface, yet concealing an undercurrent of pain1, and above all perfectly polished. Parker’s poetry has been criticised for its brittleness; it admittedly comes nowhere near the sheer brilliance of her short stories, or the rapier wit of her reviews, but it’s still entertaining, often incisive and at times even moving.
— Martin
Assessment
There’s a nice essay at http://www.dorothyparker.com/blah/
Biography
Parker, Dorothy
b. Aug. 22, 1893, West End, N.J., U.S.
d. June 7, 1967, New York, N.Y.
nee ROTHSCHILD, American short-story writer and poet, known for her witty remarks.
Parker grew up in affluence in New York City, attending Miss Dana’s School in Morristown, N.J., and a Roman Catholic convent school in New York City. She then became drama critic for the magazine Vanity Fair. She and two other writers for the magazine–Robert Benchley, the humorist, and Robert Sherwood, then a drama critic and later a playwright–formed the nucleus of the Algonquin Round Table, an informal luncheon club held at New York’s Algonquin Hotel. She married Edwin Pond Parker II in 1917 (divorced 1928).
Discharged from Vanity Fair in 1920 for the acerbity of her drama reviews, she became a freelance writer. She initiated a personal kind of book reviewing in The New Yorker magazine as “Constant Reader.” Some of these reviews, which started in 1927 and appeared intermittently until 1933, were collected in A Month of Saturdays (1971). Her first volume of verse, Enough Rope, was a best-seller when it appeared in 1926. Two other books of verse, Sunset Gun (1928) and Death and Taxes (1931), were collected with it in Collected Poems: Not So Deep as a Well (1936).
In 1929 she won the O. Henry Award for the best short story of the year with “Big Blonde,” a compassionate account of an aging party girl. Laments for the Living (1930) and After Such Pleasures (1933) were collections of her short stories, combined and augmented in 1939 as Here Lies. Characteristic of both the stories and verses is a view of the human situation as simultaneously tragic and funny.
In 1933, newly married, she and her second husband, Alan Campbell, went to Hollywood to collaborate as film writers, receiving screen credits for more than 15 films, including A Star Is Born (1937), nominated for an Academy Award. She became active in left-wing politics, disdained her former role as a smart woman about town, reported from the Spanish Civil War, and discovered that her beliefs counted against her employment by the studios in the fervour of anticommunism that seized Hollywood after World War II. She wrote book reviews for Esquire magazine and collaborated on two plays: The Coast of Illyria (first performance 1949), about the English essayist Charles Lamb, performed briefly in Dallas, Texas, and London; and The Ladies of the Corridor (1953), about lonely widows in side-street New York hotels, which had a short run on Broadway. An earlier play, Close Harmony, written with Elmer Rice, also had a short New York run in 1924.
Parker’s witty remarks are legendary. When told of the death of the taciturn U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, she is said to have asked, “How can they tell?” Of Katharine Hepburn’s performance in a 1934 play, Parker said she “ran the gamut of emotions from A to B.” She also is responsible for the couplet “Men seldom make passes / at girls who wear glasses.”
– EB
-
Not immediately obvious when reading the poem in isolation, but suggested when taken in the context of her life and work. ↩
Show 10 commentsHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Bleheather123 · 28 October 2000
blunt, to the point. dorothy parker was one of the best writers, ever.
Michael J. Hardy EMT-BD · 5 November 2002
Blunt and to the point , yes.
I learned and memorized this peom my sophmore year in High School. Not only has it stuck with me all these years, but it saved my life. I have helped others by telling them this poem. I feel it should be an integral part of any persons office that deals in suicidal people. Dorothy had her head on straight when she wrote this.
I can only say thank you to my teacher Mr.Thompson at Sahuaro High in Tucson, AZ for making me learn this poem.
Razors Pain you;
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you:
Drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
nooses give.
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
— Dorothy R. Parker
Deanna McSpadden · 22 April 2004
I found this poem in the 70’s in high school. Somehow to this day I have it still memorized. My daughter is doing a paper on suicide for a Psych class. This poem just flew out of my mouth, so naturally, I decided to try to find who the author was (I don’t think my daughter believed that I didn’t make it up!) I enjoyed reading about Dorothy Parker. Thanks!
Deanna
Handjive29 · 24 May 2004
I found this poem in the 80’s and it struck home hard with the problems at the time , and its one of those thing that just stays with you. kinda keeps you sane to know its a normal thing to have bad as well as good thoughts. and a special thanks to mrs. parker for putting itto such a commonly felt phrase, even when we always cant put it into words.
Gina Vanezis · 3 July 2004
I like this poem as it gets straight to the point and keeps an almost light hearted feel even though it concerns such a serious issue. I like the way that Parker has flipped the perspective and discusses why you should not commit suicide instead of saying why you should want to live. This poem is very straightforward and to the point which is also why I think it is good.
Sophia Vanezis
Dr. Tsang Pak Ho · 10 August 2005
Dorothy was suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. This is not an uncommon “disorder” one can find among people one knows, overwhelmingly in women. Her personality “disorder” dictates her life events and her writings.
TPH (a doctor)
May Bago · 29 August 2005
hi ms. parker
actually this is not a comment i just want to know more about the poem which entitled resume. i just want to know the reason why does resume was written? I have to research about this and I cantable to find it thats why I decided to use this one.
Thanks!!!!
God Bless!
Anonymous · 22 September 2005
This poem is stated in the movie “ Girl Interrupted” by Angelina Jolie’s character, Lisa. After hearing this, I listened to it over and over again until I had it memorized. I still repeat it in my head on days Im feeling down.
- a current borderline
Laura M. Steinert · 1 February 2006
This poem kept me alive through junior high. What may seem humorous and too simple to contemplate for the well adjusted can mean much to those it was intended to address.
The South Texas College domain name has changed from stcc.cc.tx.us to southtexascollege.edu. Please update your contact list.
Tanya · 8 July 2006
I too, like others on this thread, think this is a great poem. But unlike others I don’t see it as comforting, it doesn’t make me feel less suicidal. I read it and see a sort of sad hopelessness in it. You might as well live? because suicide is too painful— It doesn’t make me feel better. But the clever irony in it does make me laugh despite feeling sad. I also might add, there is an idea that suicide is contagious, (the reason reports of suicides are suppressed in the newspapers)- I am surprised that someone’s high school teacher gave them this poem.