Resume

Resume: analysis

Introduction

"Resume" is an eight-line poem that lists ways to end one's own life and rejects each of them. Every method gets a flat, practical objection. Razors hurt, rivers are wet, acids leave stains and drugs bring cramps. The last line draws the conclusion: "You might as well live."

The joke is that the case for living is built only from the drawbacks of dying. The title means a summary, a short list of findings. The poem is fast and deadpan, and its humour sits right next to a grave subject.

Summary

Lines 1 to 4 name four methods of dying and give one drawback for each. Line 1 says "Razors pain you." Line 2 says "Rivers are damp." Line 3 says "Acids stain you," and line 4 says "drugs cause cramp." Each drawback is a single short statement about a physical nuisance.

Lines 5 to 7 add three more methods in the same pattern. Line 5 says "Guns aren't lawful." Line 6 says "Nooses give," so a rope may stretch or fail. Line 7 says "Gas smells awful." Each of the seven lines up to this point ends with a semicolon, so the list runs on without a break.

Line 8 closes the list with a conclusion. It turns from the methods to the person addressed: "You might as well live." This line names no method and gives no drawback. It ends with the poem's only full stop. Nothing follows it, and the speaker adds no comment on the choice.

Themes and meaning

The first theme is death reduced to inconvenience. The poem judges each method the way a shopper judges a faulty product. The objections are about pain, mess, the law and smell, never about grief or right and wrong. "Rivers are damp" is the most absurd of them, since it complains that water is wet. That drop from a grave subject to a trivial complaint is what makes the list funny.

The second theme is life chosen by default. "You might as well live" is not a celebration of living. The words "might as well" are what people say about a choice made because the other options are worse. Life wins only because every rival has been ruled out. The poem never gives a positive reason to live, and it never says why dying was being considered.

The third theme is humour as a way of handling despair. The form turns a dark subject into light verse. Rhyme, short lines and a brisk list keep it moving too fast for gloom to settle. The second person "you" lets the poem speak to anyone who has had the thought.

The last line can be read as grim comedy that admits despair, or as a real argument for staying alive. The text supports both, and the reader comments below split along exactly that line. The flat shrug of "might as well" is what lets it carry both meanings at once.

Tone

The tone is deadpan. The speaker lists methods of dying in the voice of someone comparing household goods. There is no self-pity and no drama. Each objection is stated as plain fact, as in "Acids stain you" and "Gas smells awful."

The clipped lines make the voice brisk and dry. Words like "damp" and "cramp" are deliberately small for the subject, and the smallness is the joke. The speaker sounds as if the options have been weighed many times already.

The last line shifts from complaint to a shrug. "You might as well live" sounds weary rather than hopeful. It may also sound kind, since it does end on living. Whether the shrug consoles or only jokes is left open by the text.

Form and structure

"Resume" is a single stanza of 8 lines. The lines are very short, none longer than 5 syllables. Each carries two main stresses. Several lines open on a stressed syllable, as in "Razors," "Rivers" and "Acids," which gives a falling, blunt start.

The first four lines rhyme ABAB. Lines 1 and 3 end in a two-syllable rhyme, "pain you" and "stain you", and "damp" rhymes with "cramp." The computed scheme treats the last four lines as unrhymed. By ear, though, "lawful" rhymes with "awful" and "give" with "live," so the second half repeats the pattern.

The syntax is strictly parallel. Seven lines give a noun and a drawback, each closed by a semicolon. The pattern breaks only in line 8, which is the longest and the only full sentence of advice.

Poetic devices

Parallelism line 1

Razors pain you The first line sets the pattern of method plus drawback. Seven lines repeat it, so the list feels like a checklist being ticked off.

Bathos line 2

Rivers are damp Drowning is dismissed because water is wet. The drop from a grave act to a trivial complaint is the poem's sharpest joke.

Feminine rhyme line 3

Acids stain you The phrase "stain you" rhymes on two syllables with "pain you" in line 1. The jingling rhyme keeps the subject in the register of light verse.

Alliteration line 4

drugs cause cramp The hard k sounds in "cause cramp" make the line clipped and sharp. The sound fits the plainness of the complaint.

Irony line 5

Guns aren't lawful The objection to a gun is a legal technicality. It is absurd to worry about the law in this situation, and that is the joke.

Double meaning line 6

Nooses give The verb "give" means that a rope stretches or breaks under weight. The same verb usually means offering something, which adds a dry twist.

Rhyme line 7

Gas smells awful The word "awful" echoes "lawful" in line 5. The rhyme turns a matter of mere smell into a matching item on the list.

Anticlimax line 8

You might as well live After seven objections the conclusion is a shrug, not a triumph. The phrase "might as well" makes living the leftover option.

Direct address line 8

You The poem speaks to "you" throughout, and the final line makes that address explicit. It reads as advice given to anyone, including the speaker.

Words worth knowing

Resume

Here the French word résumé, printed without accents. It means a summary or a list of findings, which is what the poem is.

give

In "Nooses give" it means yield or stretch under weight, so the rope may fail.

Context

The poem appears in Dorothy Parker's collection Enough Rope, published in 1926, as number 43 in the book. Parker lived from 1893 to 1967. The poem has been on americanpoems.com since February 2004. Readers left 27 comments on it between 2004 and 2011.

What readers have said

• M.L. Lindon, facing serious illness, finds the poem cheering. For this reader it shows that a big part of survival is attitude. M.L. Lindon, 2004
• Leslie Gowan disagrees that the poem is cheery. This reader takes the point to be that even dying is too much of a hassle, not that life is better. Leslie Gowan, 2004
• Jessica, who wrote a senior thesis on the poem, reads it the same way. Dying is as hard as living, so it is not worth the extra effort. Jessica, 2005
• Tish reads the poem the other way. Like Dylan Thomas's poem on death, it reminds readers that life is the better alternative. Tish, 2004
• Susan hears the lines begin in sharp trochees. The last line then shifts rhythm, which this reader hears as a sudden turn to dark optimism. Susan, 2005
• Dot Colquhoun learned the poem for a school recitation. Even the teacher laughed, which shows how the joke lands aloud. Dot Colquhoun, 2011