Resume

“I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain” by Emily Dickinson (1896)

Emily Dickinson is a canonized American poet who lived during the 1800s. Like Parker, Dickinson has become something of a literary icon, with people speculating on Dickinson’s choice to severely limit her social interactions and her seemingly passionate relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert. As with Parker, death fascinated Dickinson. Similar to Parker’s poem, “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain” doesn’t present death as pleasant. Unlike Parker’s poem, Dickinson doesn’t turn death into a lighthearted satire. For Dickinson, death is intense and puzzling.

“Observation” by Dorothy Parker (1926)

“Observation” is another of Parker’s famous poems from her first collection, Enough Rope. Like “Résumé,” “Observation” is a satirical lyric. Unlike “Résumé,” Parker focuses on life in “Observation.” Putting the two together counters claims that life is mostly hardship and not much fun. In “Observation,” the speaker doesn’t “abstain from fun and such” (Line 5) and chooses to embrace life and their unique identity, declaring, “I shall stay the way I am, / Because I do not give a damn” (Lines 7-8). The pessimism of “Résumé” gives way to hope in “Observation.” What makes life hard is people trying to control others with their rules and regulations.