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Poet: Dorothy Parker
Poem: 27.
Penelope
Volume: Sunset Gun
Year: Published/Written in 1928
Poem of the Day:
May 4 2007
Comment 3 of 3, added on January 20th, 2005 at 11:02 PM.
The poem offers an insight of what we may term as brave. A man's bravery is seen in his journeys, his adventures, his exploits. In contrast, a woman's life seems so drab and unexicting. But I think the poem shows through its allusion to Penelope that bravery could also be quiet. That waiting for your husband who may be dead while warding the advances of suitors who think you are just another conquest... well, i think that is another form of bravery.
Rhea M. Agibuay from Philippines
Comment 2 of 3, added on November 17th, 2004 at 4:06 PM.
I don't see Penelope in the Odyssey as evil or conniving... crafty, like her soulmate, but not conniving. I see the speaker in the Parker poem as very, very sure. She knows her life is stifled, dull, and tense... it's heavily implied by the last line, which usefully opens up the question of what is brave... and, by extension, what is epic.
Erik Huber
Comment 1 of 3, added on August 31st, 2004 at 5:04 PM.
I am teaching this poem in a second year literature and character course. There is an obvious contrast between this image of Penelope and the image provided in Homer. The female character in Homer is seen as somewhat evil and harsh, coniving and at the same time, passive to some extent, in that her voice is not heard. It is a dead man who tells her story, she does not have a voice. Parker has Penelope as the speaker of her poem, and as a chatacter Penelope is drawing attention to her own awareness of the paradox that exists in her lifestyle. The tone of the poem speaks to the image of someone waiting, holding their breath, but wanting to break out. There is an awareness to the character, and I am unsure if it speaks to the goddess worship pre-Homer or the Feminist (re) awakening of the 60's + .
Not sure...
Lyndsay Daniel
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Comments
The poem offers an insight of what we may term as brave. A man's bravery is seen in his journeys, his adventures, his exploits. In contrast, a woman's life seems so drab and unexicting. But I think the poem shows through its allusion to Penelope that bravery could also be quiet. That waiting for your husband who may be dead while warding the advances of suitors who think you are just another conquest... well, i think that is another form of bravery.
Rhea M. Agibuay from Philippines