résumé (dorothy parker)
TRANSCRIPT
Juão Maya presents
RÉSUMÉA poem by Dorothy Parker
NOTES ON “RÉSUMÉ”
This little eight-line poem is one of Parker’s most famous, basedon her experience in attempting suicide the first time by slittingher wrists in 1923.
The last line – “You might as well live” – is exactly what her friendRobert Benchley said to her at the time. It serves as the punchline or the reversal “point” of the classical epigram, with a switchto a resigned or unconcerned tone of voice contrasting with themethodical catalog of suicide attempts.
https://prezi.com/uog47x3fbhsq/resume-by-dorothy-parker/http://www.enotes.com/topics/resume
The theme of “Résumé” is death and suicide and the poem is fairlyobvious in being a laundry list of suicide methods.But the theme could also be life, for it is too much hassle to cause death -- and Parker says in her poem that trying to commit suicideis harder than living.
RÉSUMÉ
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.
MUSIC
“Aria” – Goldberg VariationsJ. S. Bach
Glenn Gould, piano
Images from internet