A Well-Worn Story
by Dorothy Parker
In April, in April,
My one love came along,
And I ran the slope of my high hill
To follow a thread of song.
His eyes were hard as porphyry
With looking on cruel lands;
His voice went slipping over me
Like terrible silver hands.
Together we trod the secret lane
And walked the muttering town.
I wore my heart like a wet, red stain
On the breast of a velvet gown.
In April, in April,
My love went whistling by,
And I stumbled here to my high hill
Along the way of a lie.
Now what should I do in this place
But sit and count the chimes,
And splash cold water on my face
And spoil a page with rhymes?
My one love came along,
And I ran the slope of my high hill
To follow a thread of song.
His eyes were hard as porphyry
With looking on cruel lands;
His voice went slipping over me
Like terrible silver hands.
Together we trod the secret lane
And walked the muttering town.
I wore my heart like a wet, red stain
On the breast of a velvet gown.
In April, in April,
My love went whistling by,
And I stumbled here to my high hill
Along the way of a lie.
Now what should I do in this place
But sit and count the chimes,
And splash cold water on my face
And spoil a page with rhymes?
The first stanza begins with in April in April. April is also appears in the first line of another famous poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The full line in that poem goes April is the cruelest month. Here as the narration covers the topic of disaffected love, the cruelty of April in this poem will assume it's own significance.
The second line follows up with my one love came along. Here is an introduction into the topic of the poem which is a love affair. It also introduces the rhyme scheme ABAB.
Line three creates an image akin to The Sound of Music with the narrator running up a hill. Here she's running the slope of her high hill, or towards the apex of her happiness.
The next line explains how she got up the hill, which was along the thread of a song. The line carries both a possible figurative sense with her being drawn up a hill by a thread. It could also convey it could be that her lover was a singer, or a fellow poet like herself. In anycase, it brought her happiness on her high hill.
The beginning of the second stanza invokes the hardness of his eyes comparing them to an igneous rock. The etymology of igneous means fire, so one could say there's fire in his eyes. The second line of the second stanza is cynical in a way characteristic of Dorothy Parker. There's a subtle suggestion here of us against the world within the two lines. Here it's an expression of her sincerity in love, that she would attribute the hardness of his eyes to the cruelty of the society they live in.
The second half of the second stanza returns to the subject of his voice. In the first stanza that the thread of a song was his voice, here that voice develops in character. The effects on his lover and are expressed as powerful.
The third stanza talks about the the shared intimacy between the two. Together through both public and secret places. The second line reinforces the idea of the two of them against the world as they walk the muttering town.
The second half of the third stanza is striking in it's imagery. She more or less talks about how she wore her heart on her sleeve of the finest and softest of dresses.
The fourth stanza comes back to that creeping cynicism so rife throughout the works of Dorothy Parker. Here again she reiterates the first line that began the poem in an euphoria of love. The second line talks about how her love went whistling by. The lines in and of themselves have no intrinsic meaning. It could mean that her lover strolled by while she became elated. It could mean he moved on without any thought of her. In anycase it's the nonchalance of the lines that strike the reader. The pent up ennui that has to be expressed.
The second half of the stanza talks about how she's still up on her high hill. But that she stumbled up along the way of a lie. We're never told exactly what that lie is. We can assume it was a lie told by her lover.
The last stanza is one of resignation to her fate. She sits upon her hill bored and counting chimes. Whatever that means. The last half of the final stanza talks about waking up from a dream. To splash cold water on her face. The poem ends on a fourth wall lean, making fun of the fact that she has to write a poem about her disillusionment, which is exactly what this poem is about. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth at the end. The sardonic nature doesn't seem to make up for the loss of love that expressed in the poem.
The second line follows up with my one love came along. Here is an introduction into the topic of the poem which is a love affair. It also introduces the rhyme scheme ABAB.
Line three creates an image akin to The Sound of Music with the narrator running up a hill. Here she's running the slope of her high hill, or towards the apex of her happiness.
The next line explains how she got up the hill, which was along the thread of a song. The line carries both a possible figurative sense with her being drawn up a hill by a thread. It could also convey it could be that her lover was a singer, or a fellow poet like herself. In anycase, it brought her happiness on her high hill.
The beginning of the second stanza invokes the hardness of his eyes comparing them to an igneous rock. The etymology of igneous means fire, so one could say there's fire in his eyes. The second line of the second stanza is cynical in a way characteristic of Dorothy Parker. There's a subtle suggestion here of us against the world within the two lines. Here it's an expression of her sincerity in love, that she would attribute the hardness of his eyes to the cruelty of the society they live in.
The second half of the second stanza returns to the subject of his voice. In the first stanza that the thread of a song was his voice, here that voice develops in character. The effects on his lover and are expressed as powerful.
The third stanza talks about the the shared intimacy between the two. Together through both public and secret places. The second line reinforces the idea of the two of them against the world as they walk the muttering town.
The second half of the third stanza is striking in it's imagery. She more or less talks about how she wore her heart on her sleeve of the finest and softest of dresses.
The fourth stanza comes back to that creeping cynicism so rife throughout the works of Dorothy Parker. Here again she reiterates the first line that began the poem in an euphoria of love. The second line talks about how her love went whistling by. The lines in and of themselves have no intrinsic meaning. It could mean that her lover strolled by while she became elated. It could mean he moved on without any thought of her. In anycase it's the nonchalance of the lines that strike the reader. The pent up ennui that has to be expressed.
The second half of the stanza talks about how she's still up on her high hill. But that she stumbled up along the way of a lie. We're never told exactly what that lie is. We can assume it was a lie told by her lover.
The last stanza is one of resignation to her fate. She sits upon her hill bored and counting chimes. Whatever that means. The last half of the final stanza talks about waking up from a dream. To splash cold water on her face. The poem ends on a fourth wall lean, making fun of the fact that she has to write a poem about her disillusionment, which is exactly what this poem is about. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth at the end. The sardonic nature doesn't seem to make up for the loss of love that expressed in the poem.
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