Need a response paper for literature (page & half.) the attached documents will have the instructions and poem needed to get this assignment done. I'll also attach two example response papers to give you an idea of how it needs to be done. If poetry is yo

Awesome 2

Seau Awesome

Dr. Wolfgang Lepschy

LIT 2000

March 2, 2017

Explication of “A Certain Lady”

Written by Dorothy Parker, “A Certain Lady” is a poem that expresses the heartbreak and distress a woman feels while listening to the man she loves describe his nights with various other ladies. Playing the role of the eager listener, the speaker smiles and tilts her head as she drinks “[his] rushing words with eager lips.” In spite of the fact that what he tells her breaks her heart, for the sake of this man that she adores so much, she will pretend that his words are the most amazing thing in the world.

Going through the trouble of dolling herself up, the speaker puts on a “fragrant red” lipstick in an attempt to entice the man. As he goes on to “rehearse [his] list of loves,” she puts on her mask, and she laughs along with him, seemingly urging him to continue speaking. This man, however, does not see how much the speaker loves him and therefore cannot see the pain that he is inflicting on her heart every time he mentions the other women in his life. She has performed her act so often that he thinks nothing differently of her being “gay as morning” and “light as snow.” The speaker does not show her sadness or anger when he speaks of the other women, so he’ll never know “all the straining things” that she has held inside.

Although it is not stated outright, the speaker could assumedly be this man’s wife or even one of his many conquests. In any case, their relationship involves a bit of physical contact, since he allows her to “trace [his] brows with tutored finger-tips.” It is also a little strange how he feels comfortable enough around her to tell her, in so much detail, about these “tales of fresh adventurings.” Would a man feel so at ease as to tell his wife about sleeping with other women? Most likely not, but even so, who could tell? The speaker is very clearly head over heels for this man, and yet this man seems to not even notice her genuine feelings and seemingly takes her for granted. This makes their relationship seem enigmatic and confusing.

The irony added at the end of the poem only adds to the confusion and mysteriousness of the relationship between the speaker and this man. Even though she continues to stress how much she is in love with him, the speaker says that she can “kiss [him] blithely” as he goes out in search of new women to conquer. Then she clinches, shockingly, “And what goes on, my love, while you’re away / You’ll never know.” Thus, although this man has no issue telling her what he does while she’s not around, she does not feel the same. While he has told her of all the women he’s been with, she has not told him anything about the other men that are in her life. The fact that she says “you’ll never know” implies that she will most likely end up taking her secret to the grave.