Analysis: Dorothy Parker's “A Certain Lady”

Dorothy Parker's poem, “A Certain Lady,” is told through the voice of a woman who serves as a sometime-companion for a man she is deeply in love with. It is difficult to determine if the speaker is Parker herself, or another woman entirely. Regardless, the woman reciting the words is well aware of her position as a comforter, a shoulder to lean on. She knows that the man she loves is not really dedicated to her and her alone, and that her love for him is lost. Through this essay, I will utilize Option One and analyze the speaker's view of her predicament. This woman continually fails to connect with the man she loves for a host of probable reasons. He may be unaware of her true emotions, and she may have been too passive in her attempts to prove them. Alternatively, the woman may have a love interest outside of her relationship with the man that keeps her satisfied. Most likely, the speaker has failed to develop a romance with the man for fear of risking their friendship.

It is difficult to hide one's emotions, but the woman in this poem does just that. “Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,” she says. She drinks his “rushing words with eager lips,” and paints her mouth a “fragrant red” (1-3). It seems to me that she knows this man well and often meets with him, dressed to impress and ready to gobble up the words he has to offer. She knows she is skilled at the art of listening and attending his needs, as she refers to her “tutored finger-tips” with which she traces his brows (4). This woman is deeply infatuated with the man. She pours herself into him while he, a boastful character, speaks only of himself. When he tells her about all the things he loves, she says, “Oh, I can laugh and marvel, rapturous-eyed” (6). She seems completely fascinated by the man. However, he is unaware of the “thousand little deaths” her heart has died since they began these meetings (8). Every time they depart, and she fails to acquire her rightful place on his arm, her heart breaks, and she dies a little on the inside.

Parker defines a “certain” type of lady in this poem, one who knows her place in the world. In other words, this woman lets the man make all of the decisions and advances. She says, “And you believe, so well I know my part / That I am gay as morning, light as snow” (10). She presents herself to be quite capable of carrying on this type of open relationship. To the eye, she appears happy and unburdened. However, in the next two lines, she admits the difficulty she finds in maintaining this arrangement: “And all the straining things within my heart / You'll never know” (11-12). These lines also prove that the woman doesn't necessarily expect her arrangement to change. She knows the man will never know about her internal emotions, and he's not the type to ask her how she's feeling.

Actually, when this man comes to meet the speaker, he bestows upon her tales of other women: “And you bring tales of fresh adventurings / Of ladies delicately indiscreet / Of lingering hands, and gently whispered things” (14-16). This must be incredibly hurtful for the woman, who despite knowing that this man is involved with other women when he's away from her, maintains her loyalty to his friendship. Her loyalty could, in fact, be sending the wrong signal to this man, further encouraging him to share his romantic tales with her. She says, “And you are pleased with me, and strive anew / To sing me sagas of your late delights” (17-18). Because she is such a marvel listener, and seems to enjoy the stories the man brings to her, he never learns that she desires to be one of those delicate ladies he speaks of. In the very next line, she stresses the confusion that exists in their relationship: “Thus do you want me – marveling, gay and true / Nor do you see my staring eyes of nights” (19-20). She isn't sure that the man knows her intentions, therefore, how can she expect him to reciprocate her feelings?

The woman in the poem eventually chalks up her loss to being a less appealing woman than the others he pursues: “And when, in search of novelty, you stray” (21). Upon their departure, so that she doesn't seem as desperate as she feels inside, she kisses him “blithely” on the lips and says, “And what goes on, my love, while you're away / You'll never know” (22-24). The author leaves these last lines ambiguous. Perhaps the speaker is saying that because the man has never expressed an interest in her personal emotions, he will never find out how she truly feels. When they go their separate ways, he continues to pursue other women, but she thinks about him and patiently awaits their next meeting.

Another interpretation of this ending could be that the woman isn't a fool at all, and that when they are separate, she, too, seeks out more novel options. The fact that she kisses him “blithely” - lightly, carelessly, a feather-kiss – means that she is trying to appear less passionate about the man. Perhaps she, too, has other love interests on the side. This is very unlikely, though, given her strong affections for the man throughout the rest of the poem.

She may kiss him “blithely” to pretend that she's not quite so romantic about him, or to show that she doesn't care about his disregard for her. The cynical tone of the poem coincides with her actions. This woman is trying to pretend to be something she's not for the sake of preserving what relationship they have. This relationship is very painful for her, but she endures it because she treasures the friendship she has with the man. Her fear of losing the only intimacy they have keeps her coming back time and time again.


Work Cited
Parker, Dorothy. “A Certain Lady.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 438.