Dorothy Parker's Penelope

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Dorothy Parker’s poem “Penelope” suggests that the role of men is glorified while the role of women is under appreciated, and unrecognized. The title of this poem alludes to Odysseus’s wife, from The Odyssey in which Odysseus had been lost for ten years and Penelope is left alone with her son. The poem is written in Penelope’s point of view and it explains how she feels while Odysseus is away. Parker uses rhyme scheme and tone, personification or animalistic description, and symbolism to show her discontent with unequal views of her and Odysseus by society. Parker uses the tone and rhyme scheme to further separate the two stanzas and give the reader the same feeling as Penelope. The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is A,B,A,B,C and the tone is very beautify and engaging to the reader; While the second stanza’s rhyme scheme is D,D,E,E,C and becomes very monotone and boring to the reader. I shall sit at home, and rock; Rise, to heed a neighbor's knock; Brew my tea, and snip my thread; Bleach the linen for my bed.…show more content…
She wants the reader to feel how bored and how tired tired she really is of waiting for her husband, taking care of Ithaca by hearing people’s concerns’ and warding of all of her suiters by continuing to weave and unweave her father-in-law’s burial shroud. Penelope is, in a way, annoyed at her husband, because he always receives the recognition in the end. This is even so at the end on the second stanza, which is about Penelope: “They will call him brave.” (10) Penelope feels that no matter what she does or the amount of work she does, she will not be seen as brave. Everyone acknowledges Odysseus as brave for the Trojan War and his journey home, but no one recognizes Penelope for her strength. Even though Odysseus was gone for ten years, she believed he was still alive and she
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