dorothy parker poetry essay

Dorothy Parker


“I can’t write five words but that I can change seven.”


Dorothy Parker was witty, intelligent, humorous and by far one of the most successful and influential female writers of her era. Born on August 22, 1893 in West End, N.J. to a Scottish mother and a Jewish father, she was the youngest of two in a dysfunctional family. She attended private schools in N.J. and N.Y.C. At the age of four, after the death of her mother and the subsequent remarriage of her father, her life took a turn for the worst. As Dorothy emerged into adulthood, her brother died aboard the titanic and her father died a year later. In 1911, she moved to New York City into a boarding house and worked as a piano player at a dance school. At the age of twenty-one she began submitting her writing to various magazines and papers. She finally had her first poem entitled “Any Porch” published in Vanity Fair and shortly afterward received a job at Vogue Magazine. Two years late...