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A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume"
A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume"
A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume"
Ebook29 pages19 minutes

A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume"

By Gale and Cengage

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A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 28, 2016
ISBN9781535832014
A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume"

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    A Study Guide for Dorothy Parker's "Resume" - Gale

    13

    Résumé

    Dorothy Parker

    1926

    Introduction

    Dorothy Parker became famous in the 1920s and 1930s for her sarcasm, witticisms, and no-nonsense quips. As a member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of literati who met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City to converse and trade barbs, she received a lot of attention from the press. In addition to drama reviews, she wrote short fiction and poetry. Her poetry adheres to traditional forms, but the subject matter and tone are unconventional.

    Parker had a unique ability to turn a phrase to reflect irony and dark humor. Although her writing is amusing, it is by no means upbeat or optimistic. This style is apparent in the eight-line poem Résumé. The poem appeared in Parker's first collection of poems, Enough Rope (1926), which became a best seller. The subject of the poem is suicide. After a methodical consideration of various means of killing oneself, the speaker concludes that it is just as well to live—hardly a note of hope at the end of a poem about suicide, but it is typical of Parker's style. The poem takes on a deeper sense of melancholy, however, when the reader realizes that Parker did attempt suicide three years prior to writing this poem. It is not an offhand poem but one that gives a glimpse into the dark psyche of the poet, whose early life was troubled and later life was

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