One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker
"One Perfect Rose" is a poem by Dorothy Parker that explores themes of love and the disparity between romantic ideals and reality. Structured in three stanzas with a consistent abab rhyme scheme, the poem centers around a "one perfect rose" sent by a lover, symbolizing traditional romantic gestures. The first two stanzas convey a sense of adoration and the typical clichés associated with love, portraying the rose as a cherished emblem of affection. However, the tone shifts dramatically in the final stanza, where the speaker humorously questions why she has not received more extravagant tokens of love, such as "one perfect limousine." This change in perspective transforms the previously celebrated rose into a symbol of disappointment, highlighting a deeper critique of romantic expectations. Parker's use of sarcasm and colloquial language in the last stanza contrasts sharply with the formal romantic language of the first two, emphasizing the irony in the speaker's sentiments. Overall, "One Perfect Rose" encapsulates the complexities and contradictions of love, making it a poignant commentary on the nature of romantic expressions.
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One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1926 (collected in Enough Rope, 1926)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“One Perfect Rose” is written in three stanzas of four lines each, rhyming abab. The title is also the refrain repeated as the last line of each stanza, having four syllables instead of the iambic pentameter in each of the other lines. The opening two stanzas describe the “one perfect rose” the speaker’s love has sent with all the standard romantic clichés and attitudes: He sent it “tenderly” and is “deep-hearted” and uses the poetic language of the flower shop in its note to express his love. In the context of the last stanza, in which the speaker wonders why she has never received “one perfect limosine” as a token of love, the refrain of “one perfect rose” changes from a thing initially desired—an object or “charm” symbolizing her lover’s heart in a romantic personification and using slightly archaic and formal language (“single flow’r”)—-to an undesirable thing, an impractical, nonmaterial, disdained thing. The sarcasm and sigh (“Ah no, it’s always just my luck”) and the mocking repetition of the “one perfect” formula indicate the switch to the hidden attitude of the last stanza, in direct contrast to that of the opening romantic haze, which is also underscored by the colloquial language (“do you suppose” and “just my luck”).
Bibliography
Capron, Marion. “Dorothy Parker.” In Writers at Work: The “Paris Review” Interviews, edited by Malcolm Cowley. Reprint. New York: Viking Press, 1979.
Frewin, Leslie. The Late Mrs. Dorothy Parker. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Gill, Brendan. Introduction to The Portable Dorothy Parker. Rev. and enlarged ed. New York: Viking Press, 1973.
Keats, John. You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970.
Kinney, Arthur. Dorothy Parker. Boston: Twayne, 1978.
Meade, Marion. Dorothy Parker, A Biography: What Fresh Hell Is This? New York: Villard Books, 1988.
Melzer, Sondra. The Rhetoric of Rage: Women in Dorothy Parker. New York: Peter Lang, 1997.
Pettit, Rhonda S. A Gendered Collision: Sentimentalism and Modernism in Dorothy Parker’s Poetry and Fiction. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000.