Look Into One Perfect Rose

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Explication of “One Perfect Rose” In the short poem “One Perfect Rose” by Dorothy Parker, she writes about a gift she received that touches her more than anything, a perfect rose. The reader would look at this poem and think it’s a love story about two separated lovers in a time of work or need, and that the rose will symbolize love between the two people until he returns for her. Upon looking at the poem and breaking it down, the reader can assume different meanings of the poem. In the first line of the first stanza, it reads “A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.” From this line we can see that she’s referring to the past that when they met, her lover gave her a single flower. The reader can also see that “flow’r” is differentiated from “flower”. This difference in spelling hints there must be a different meaning. Upon researching it will have been found to just been an accent spelling, which could also mean Dorothy Parker could have had an accent back when the poem was written. In the rest of the first stanza, Dorothy uses imagery to tell the reader how the flower was presented. “Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet- One Perfect Rose”. The reader can now conclude that her lover was not there when she first received the rose, for he had “tenderly chose his messenger”. The flower received was in fact a rose that could only be summed up as freshly grown, bought, or picked. Deep hearted could refer to the rose being a dark red with a strong scent while still having the dew that falls from it during the night. In the beginning of the second stanza she says “I knew the language of the floweret;” telling the reader there is an underline symbolism in the flower to be known. “My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclosed.” The reader can conclude from this that the message with the rose was just like the roses leaves are fragile he is also fragile,

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