CONTEXTUALIZE

- Written by Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy

- It is the first poem in her 1999 anthology The World's Wife, which subverts myths and fairytales in order to
re-examine and play with traditional narratives that exist within them, particularly when it comes to gender roles.
- This poem subverts the story of Penelope as it is told in ​Homer’s Odyssey​. During her husband Odysseus' travels
after the Trojan War, she was pestered with offers of marriage from suitors. To deflect these offers Penelope
insisted they wait until she had woven a shroud for Odysseus' father. Every night for three year Penelope
unravelled the work she had done during the day, refusing to give up hope of Odysseus' return. In Greek culture,
Penelope soon becomes the image of the ideal wife who was intelligent, patient and stayed loyal to her husband.

OVERVIEW
- Tells the story of Penelope who utilizes embroidery as a tool to reflect over her life and empower herself, thus
gaining control over her narrative and her relationship with her husband.

NARRATION
- Narrated by Penelope herself (first person perspective), allowing Duffy to represent her perspective of the story
(which is untold) and thus reclaim her narrative

STRUCTURE
- 5 stanzas of a varying number of lines.
- Dramatic monologue form
- No constant rhyme scheme but sometimes rhyme appears to give the poem more coherence and also convey
additional meaning through the poem’s form

THEMES
- Coming of age, as explore through other poems such as little red cap
- Creative power
- marriage

MIPs. in this commentary I will be returning to three main ideas:

1. The main themes of this poem
2. The characterization of the main female persona
3. The ways in which Duffy subverts the “classic” plot with a secondary female character using a feminist twist

LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS

At first, I looked along the road

hoping to see him saunter home
among the olive trees,
a whistle for the dog
who mourned him with his warm head on my knees.

- Diction:​ “at first” and “looked along the road” shows a temporary mood, indicating that Penelope isn’t urgently
longing that her husband returns as would be expected from the narrative in the Odyssey
- Language use: ​use of colloquial language emphasize the dramatic monologue form (as if she’s talking to a friend)
and is an example of how Duffy subverts the original Penelope narrative with a contemporary twist.
- Diction:​ “saunter home” doesn’t suggest that Odysseus would be impatient to make passionate love to his wife.
- Rhyme:​ ​The rhyming of ‘trees’ and ‘knees’ completes this section of the stanza with neat finality, to indicate that
Penelope will move on to a new phase. The pace is jogging and leisurely and maybe even listless.
- Imagery:​ The dog seems to be the only one who ‘mourned’ him and sought and gave comfort. The image of the
‘warm head on my knees’ is appealing; nothing else signifies such strong affection.

Six months of this

and then I noticed that whole days had passed
without my noticing.
I sorted cloth and scissors, needle, thread,

- Tone: ​There is implied annoyance in the phrase ‘six months of this’, as if Penelope is relieved to have completed
the phase of ‘missing’ her husband. She then observes that ‘whole days had passed’ without her feeling anything.
This annoyed tone is used by Duffy to subvert the original narrative and suggest that Penelope didn’t want
Odysseus to return
- Repetition:​ the repetition of noticing is significant as it emphasizes how little Penelope misses her husband. She
doesn’t notice that he is gone, but only notices that she hadn’t noticed him gone.
- Enumeration:​ Penelope uses the conjunction ‘and’ just once, and goes on to list the things (monosyllabic words)
she needs for sewing. This makes the stanza come to life as the pace of the poem suddenly increases

thinking to amuse myself,

but found a lifetime's industry instead.
I sewed a girl
under a single star--cross-stitch, silver silk -
running after childhood's bouncing ball.

- Enjambment:​ ​With smooth enjambment Duffy moves on to the next stanza. This continues the faster pace
established in the previous line and also illustrates the captivation of Penelope.
- Diction:​ “lifetime’s industry”; suggests that Penelope didn’t interpret her marriage with Odysseus as a lifelong
commitment, unlike the passion she has found for sewing.
- Metaphor:​ the “girl” Penelope sewed is likely a younger version of herself, linking this poem to coming of age. The
short nature of this line in comparison to others in the stanze puts emphasis on it
- Diction:​ The silver silk suggests romance and delicacy. The reference to the bouncing ball may indicate the happy
buoyancy of childhood. All of these imply that the younger Penelope was skilled, happy, in control of her life.
- Intertextual reference:​ the cross-stitch and the single star are reminiscent of Shakespeare’s ​Romeo and Juliet​ and
the ​‘star-crossed lovers’​ whose relationship was doomed to disaster. By mentioning this, Duffy illustrates that, like
many relationships, Penelope’s and Odysseus’s marriage was going to fail

I chose between three greens for the grass;

a smoky pink, a shadow's grey
to show a snapdragon gargling a bee.
I threaded walnut brown for a tree,
- Diction:​ “chose” implies creative power and allows Duffy to effectively empower Penelope as she reclaims control
of her narrative
- Consonance:​ the rhythmic repetition of the ‘gr’ sounds in “green”, “grass” and “grey” evoke a sense of creative
enthusiasm.
- Imagery:​ the nature imagery and vivid colours used by Duffy further emphasizes the freedom she might have felt
as a child. Additionally, the image of a snapdragon gargling a bee may be a reference to reproduction and thus
the freedom which Penelope had as a child
- Rhyming couplet:​ The stanza ends with a rhyming ​couplet​ to create a sense of completeness, reflecting the
completeness which Penelope feels when she is sewing creatively

my thimble like an acorn

pushing up through umber soil.
Beneath the shade
I wrapped a maiden in a deep embrace
with heroism's boy

- Enjambment:​ paragraphs are linked together by enjambment as Penelope delves deeper into her craft
- Earthy motifs:​ the earthy motifs used by Duffy (acorn, umber soil, walnut brown) may symbolize regeneration
and growth, thus linking to the coming of age emphasized in this poem as well as the growth Penelope has
experience in being separated from Odysseus and exploring her creativity and independence
- Oak tree:​ ‘Beneath the shade’ implies that the oak tree has already grown, its branches and foliage providing
protection. Penelope embroiders a ‘maiden’, probably a younger version of herself in a ‘deep embrace’, thus
illustrating her happiness in being protected as a child.
- Diction:​ “heroism’s boy” may be the young Odysseus, a loving and brave boy worthy of Penelope’s love, planning
to embark on his travels and adventures. Self-reflection on her past

and lost myself completely

in a wild embroidery of love, lust, loss, lessons learnt;
then watched him sail away
into the loose gold stitching of the sun.

- Metaphor:​ Penelope is both losing herself in her embroidery work but has also come to the realization that she
has lost herself in her relationship with Odysseus
- Alliterative ‘l’:​ the alliteration of ‘l’ places emphasizes the fast progression of her relationship with Odysseus,
beginning with actual love before becoming about sexual desire and now about “lessons learnt”, illustrating that
Penelope is becoming self-aware of where she wants to lead with her relationship in the present day
- Diction:​ the “loose gold stitching” can be seen as symbolizing the relationship between Penelope and Odysseus.
Unlike a cross-stitch, a loose stitch can be easily unpicked and thus lack firmness, like their marriage.
- Caesura: ​ the use of caesura at the end of the stanza despite most other stanzas ending with enjambment
suggests a finality to Penelope’s description of her embroidery and self-reflection. Additionally, this sense of
finally suggests that Penelope has made up her mind about her relationship.

And when the others came to take his place,

disturb my peace,
I played for time.

- Intertextual reference:​ in the original story, Penelope was offered marriages while Odysseus was gone.
- Phrase: ​after understanding that her relationship with Odysseus was prone to failure Penelope says that she
“played for time”. However, her motivation for playing for time isn’t in hope of Odysseus’ return, as is suggested
 in the original story, but is instead her desire to pursue her passion for sewing. In this way, Duffy subverts the
original plot to empower Penelope.

I wore a widow's face, kept my head down,

did my work by day, at night unpicked it.
I knew which hour of the dark the moon
would start to fray,
I stitched it.
Grey threads and brown

- Metaphor: ​“wore a widow’s face” shows how Penelope strategically made it look like she was mourning the loss
of her husband. However, the verb “wore” can also be interpreted as illustrating how Penelope’s feelings were
actually just a “facade” for her true motivation: embroidery
- Intertextual reference: ​just as she did in the original story, Penelope unpicks her embroidery at night to trick the
suitors who wanted her to marry them.
- word-choice: ​by starting lines with “I wore”, “I knew” and “I stitched”, Duffy utilizes the first-person perspective
to empower Penelope and give her a creative power and agency.
- Imagery:​ the imagery of the “dark moon” and the “grey threads and brown” contrast the vivid colours Penelope
uses in her embroidery at the beginning of the poem. Critically, Penelope can now stitch in dark, unromantic
colours — ‘grey threads and brown’ — to create a picture that, in the next stanza, will represent what she wants
to achieve, to avoid male attention altogether.

pursued my needle's leaping fish

to form a river that would never reach the sea.
I tricked it. I was picking out
the smile of a woman at the centre
of this world, self-contained, absorbed, content,
most certainly not waiting,
when I heard a far-too-late familiar tread outside the door.
I licked my scarlet thread
and aimed it surely at the middle of the needle's eye once more.

- Enjambment:​ stanzas are once more linked by enjambment in order to illustrate how Penelope once more delves
into her embroidery
- Nature motifs:​ similarly to the earthy motifs used before, Duffy uses motifs of nature to illustrate the newly found
creative freedom which Penelope has found as a consequence of her growth (symbolized by earthy motifs). The
image of a “fish leaping out of water” implies a sense of freedom
- Metaphor: ​there is a contradiction since the freedom which Penelope embroiders is a “river that would never
reach the sea”. This is a powerful metaphor as it illustrates that Penelope will unpick her embroidery so her
picture will never be complete, and the men who pursue her will have a never-ending wait.
- Metaphor:​ In picking and unpicking the smiling woman she is controlling her, the embroidery and her life. As
illustrated by the verb “tricked”, Penelope is able to control her outer appearance to seem as if she is sad
(unpicking the smile) yet she remains “self-contained, absorbed, content”. When the man returns she will
continue embroidering, enjoying her own life, disregarding him. Whereas the original Penelope unpicked her work
to wait until her husband returned, Duffy ​subverts​ this Penelope and shows how she unpicks her work to
challenge the patriarchal society.
- Tempo:​ the line “when I heard a far-too-late familiar tread outside the door” contains mainly monosyllables and
long vowels in ‘heard’, ‘late’, ‘tread’ and ‘door’ making it sound heavy and slow. This emphasizes the slow
realization that the moment which she’s tried to avoid for so long is actually happening; Odysseus is returning.
- Diction:​ “licked” as a verb denotes a sense of predatory violence. Additionally “scarlet” is the colour of blood and
anger. Ultimately, this image shows that Penelope is vengeful and will not be giving Odysseus a warm welcome
- Revenge​: The last line suggests an arrow, as if the needle has now become a weapon of revenge. The line is long,
but it has a fast, rhythmic, determined movement. And Penelope’s aim is true and hits the mark, just as all her
strategies have been successful. It is certain that Odysseus will not receive a loving welcome