Tender Buttons [A Long Dress]

“A Long Dress” is a small part of Gertrude Stein’s long poem Tender Buttons, written in 1912 and published in 1914. The poem is one of many small sub-sections under the heading “Objects,” the first of three sections in the text, followed by “Food” and “Rooms.” Stein is remembered both for her important impact on the art world, as a curator and cultural figure, and for her literary career characterized by her singular experimental mode. Born an American but adopted as a Parisian, Stein writes in the artistic milieu of Modernism generally and Cubism specifically. While Stein wrote Tender Buttons somewhat early in her literary career, it is generally considered the crowning achievement of her poetry, if not her prose. “A Long Dress” is typical of the “Object” section of Tender Buttons, written in prose form and playing with syntax, as well as refusing to land on any single, definite meaning.

Please note that the line numbers included in this guide refer to each sentence in the poem that ends with a period.

Poet Biography

Stein was born in 1874 to upper-middle-class Jewish parents in what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The youngest of five siblings, Stein grew up in a household that spoke German as well as English.