3. NOTES ON “RÉSUMÉ”
This little eight-line poem is one of Parker’s most famous, based
on her experience in attempting suicide the first time by slitting
her wrists in 1923.
4. The last line – “You might as well live” – is exactly what her friend
Robert Benchley said to her at the time. It serves as the punch
line or the reversal “point” of the classical epigram, with a switch
to a resigned or unconcerned tone of voice contrasting with the
methodical catalog of suicide attempts.