Reviews

The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

ori_gina_lity's review

4.0

Parker’s wit is as fresh and funny as the day she wrote it. The Collected Poetry includes poems from 4 collections spanning 1926-1936, my favorite being Enough Rope. Her poems, mostly about the woes of life, being suicidal, in love out of love, frustrated by herself and by men, are snappy and offer quick-minded wit. Occasionally she sounds like a broken record, and a bit shallow but her style is so sassy, of the time but still current and still easy to relate to. She gets down on herself, feels empowered about being herself, then gets down on herself again for not being something she isn’t. It’s a constant struggle that young women face and I think reading her work offers a bit of solace and a good laugh for those facing similar struggles.

There are some real winners in this book, but some poems do fall short. Observation, Resume, On Being a Woman, and Bric-A-Brac were a few of my favorites. Overall a fun read and I’m glad to have her work in my back pocket for a change of pace. 4/5 stars.

florisugent's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.5

kayalvito's review

funny reflective

4.75

loved

kp_12's review

4.0

I totally picked this book up on a whim from a little bookstore in my hometown and I loved it. Dorothy Parker was an angsty, scorned lady.

ninjamuse's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Infidelity

ezzah_101's review

4.0

Witty, melancholic and sarcastic, with a dash of dark humor.
Some of her poems gave me major Tom Lehrer vibes.

jrt5166's review

5.0

I've been reading so much modern poetry that it took me a few poems to get into Parker's style. She liked form and rhyme, which is not currently vogue. I loved it. Honestly, I laughed out loud.

yeahdeadslow's review

4.0

If these poems are anything to judge by, I would say Dorothy Parker did not have a very happy love life. Generally, reading someone's moanings about the hypnotic power of dissatisfactory men would be tiresome after a while, but that was not the case with these poems. Her wit was so finely tuned, so razor sharp so that these poems were a joy to read, even when they had heavy subject matters.

Here's one of her poems that almost made me laugh out loud:

Fighting Words

Say my love is easy had,
Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
Say I am too often sad-
Still behold me at your side.

Say I'm neither brave nor young,
Say I woo and coddle care,
Say the devil touched my tongue-
Still you have my heart to wear.

But say my verses do not scan,
And I get me another man!