Renowned for her acerbic wit, cynicism, and satirical humor, Dorothy Parker skewered the pretensions of everyday life and clichéd relations between men and women in her debut poetry collection, published in 1926. Originally printed in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Life magazine, her early poems were a runaway success with the young, liberated women of the Jazz Age. Notable for their lighthearted, clever verse and razor-sharp quips, the selections include “A Well-Worn Story,” “Godspeed,” “News Item,” “Résumé,” “The False Friends,” “Verse for a Certain Dog,” and many others. Once known as “the wittiest woman in America,” Parker was a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table and the Screen Writers Guild.

Table of Contents for Enough Rope

Threnody
The Small Hours
The False Friends
The Trifler
A Very Short Song
A Well-Worn Story
Convalescent
The Dark Girl’s Rhyme
Epitaph
Light of Love
Wail
The Satin Dress
Somebody’s Song
Anecdote
Braggart
Epitaph for a Darling Lady
To a Much Too Unfortunate Lady
Paths
Hearthside
The New Love
Rainy Night
For a Sad Lady
Recurrence
Story of Mrs. W———
The Dramatists
August
The White Lady
I Know I Have Been Happiest
Testament
“I Shall Come Back”
Condolence
The Immortals
A Portrait
Portrait of the Artist
Chant for Dark Hours
Unfortunate Coincidence
Verse Reporting Late Arrival at a Conclusion
Inventory
Now at Liberty
Comment
Plea
Pattern
De Profundis
They Part
Ballade of a Great Weariness
Résumé
Renunciation
Day-Dreams
The Veteran
Prophetic Soul
Verse for a Certain Dog
Folk Tune
Godspeed
Song of Perfect Propriety
Social Note
One Perfect Rose
Ballade at Thirty-five
The Thin Edge
Spring Song
Love Song
Indian Summer
Philosophy
For an Unknown Lady
The Leal
Finis
Words of Comfort to be Scratched on a Mirror
Men
News Item
Song of One of the Girls
Lullaby
Faut de Mieux
Roundel
A Certain Lady
Observation
Symptom Recital
Fighting Words
Rondeau Redoublé
Autobiography
The Choice
Ballade of Big Plans
General Review of the Sex Situation
Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom
Pictures in the Smoke
Biographies
Nocturne
Interview
Song in a Minor Key
Experience
Neither Bloody Nor Bowed
The Burned Child