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Essay on Analysis of One Perfect Rose

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In her poem “One Perfect Rose,” Dorothy Parker misleads the reader throughout the first and second stanzas into believing this poem is a romantic tribute to a tender moment from her past through her word choice and style of writing. However, the tone of the entire poem dramatically changes upon reading the third and final stanza when Parker allows the reader to understand her true intention of the poem, which is a cynical and perhaps bewildered view of the memory. And, with this shift in the tone in the third stanza, there is a shift in the meaning of the entire poem, leading the reader to believe that the first two stanzas were not, in fact, sweet but instead a sarcastic and bitter account of this past moment. In the first stanza, Dorothy…show more content…
It almost seems as if Parker could not be bothered to spend too much time on the poem: it’s as if it was not worth the time or the effort. The second stanza is similar in content to the first. There are words Parker uses to deceive the reader at first- “fragile,” “heart,” “love,” and “perfect.” There are again four lines to the stanza with the odd and the even lines rhyming. And, of course, there are those words that the reader misses the first time reading it through. Her use of the word “floweret” is a perfect example of this. She cunningly makes a show of the fact that this is one, single flower by itself, but because the word rhymes with the word “amulet” two lines down, this mocking goes unnoticed. As does her the true meaning of the line “Love long has taken for his amulet”. Using this rose as the unknown gentleman’s call sign at first seems cute. Superman has his “S,” this gentleman has his “One perfect rose.” The reader comes to realize that this symbol is not an honorable one. In the third and final stanza, Parker really shines the light on her true intention for this poem. She continues with the same format as the previous two stanzas, four lines with every other line rhyming and short, fragmented lines. However, her real feelings come out loud and clear in this stanza where they did not in the first two. She did not want that one, singe rose. She wanted more,
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