Wit and Hearthside

Hearthside by Dorothy Parker

Half across the world from me
Lie the lands I'll never see-
I, whose longing lives and dies
Where a ship has sailed away;
I, that never close my eyes
But to look upon Cathay.
Things I may not know nor tell
Wait, where older waters swell;
Ways that flowered at Sappho's tread,
Winds that sighed in Homer's strings,
Vibrant with the singing dead,
Golden with the dust of wings.
Under deeper skies than mine,
Quiet valleys dip and shine.
Where their tender grasses heal
Ancient scars of trench and tomb
I shall never walk: nor kneel
Where the bones of poets bloom.
If I seek a lovelier part,
Where I travel goes my heart;
Where I stray my thought must go;
With me wanders my desire.
Best to sit and watch the snow,
Turn the lock, and poke the fire.

For some reason, this poem subconciously made me really pensive just because of how Parker presents her purpose. I'm going to start off by discussing this poem's purpose a bit rather than just delving into the TPCASTTing. Parker really examines the aspect of knowing she is restricted and will probobly not take a specific course in life where she will neer "walk nor knell where the bones of poets bloom" and seek the many other "lands [she'll] never see". It is quite interesting how Parker somewhat manipulates this sad tone and makes it a tad more cheerful in a sense because in the end she realizes she does have control over her life but it would be "best to sit and watch the snow" instead of venture out into the world and discover her "desires". Her purpose is most deffientely effective because throughout the poem, she referances many different Greek allusions such as singing voices of the Cyrins. Her powerful imagery that runs throughout the poem places her readers in the many different places that they could be visiting yet the reader realizes eventually that they must not turn out like the author and actually go out and discover these places. I think Parker brings in her role in society towards the end because women at the time this poem was written were not necesserily allowed to break out of the "norm" and their traditional roles in society which is why she, at the end, decides to just "sit and watch the snow" despite her awareness that she could be seeking different places and advanture.
How does this poem able to reach such a vast audience? Because of how Parker takes such a universal idea and personalizes it so that it reaches everyone. How? Because this poem mocks how people both know and once knew that they do not decide to take a chance or a different oppurtunity to break out of their traditional lives to experiance something new. By doing so, Parker makes the audience really think of their lives and why they decided not to take the chance (as the speaker of the poem decides to blow off the idea by the end). It is quite sad but it's often true.