The Penelope archetype

In Homer’s Odyssey there is a large number of female characters, all endowed with

beauty and extremely attractive features; nevertheless, none of them can outshine Penelope’s

virtues, the complex of feminine values constituting her aretè. Without any doubt, what

makes Penelope a great woman is her patient endurance of loneliness and the loyalty to her inconstant and far-away husband: a sum of positive qualities that in the male-chauvinist frame of mind of ancient Greece was the embodiment of the perfect wife. This explains also the survival of the Penelope archetype throughout Western history and its revival during the two world wars.

My intention here is to identify the Penelopes hidden in some recent literary productions, and specifically in some remarkable poems focusing on that issue. My analysis does not concern simply the traditional figure of the “waiting woman”, but embraces also some related themes like the pain of separation, and the remoteness of the lover: this emotional condition has led the writers to explore then feelings—both as human beings and as women—and to put them into words. Particularly significant, in this regard, is the lyric by

Ursula Vaughan Williams that is emblematically entitled Penelope and sensitively expresses

the pain of separation.

Certain parting does not wait its hour for separation; too soon the shadow lies upon the heart and chokes the voice, its power drives on the minutes, it implies

tomorrow while today’s is still here. %

They sat by firelight and his shadow feU

for the last time, she thought, black patterning gold sharp on the fireht wall. So, to compel

dawn by the quayside and the unshed tears, he took a charred twig from the hearth and drew the outline of his shadow on the wall.

‘This were his features, this the hand I knew.’ She heard her voice saying the words through all the future days of solitude and fear.'®

The theme is introduced from the very outset and it is given strong emphasis by the repetition of the term “separation” (1.2) which follows “parting” (1.1). Moreover, by her placing of the word “certain”, the poet seems to convey in the term “parting” the implication of a unique last moment, since it could mean a definite adieu. One of the distinctive aspects of this lyric is the occurrence of temporal references: “hour” (1.1), “soon” (1.2), “minutes” (1.4), “tomorrow” (1.5), “today” (1.5), “time” (1.7), “evening” (1.8), “morning” (1.8), “dawn” (1.10), “friture days” (1.15). By fr equently referring to time, the poet seems to underline its important value, as both lovers are perfectly aware that they will be far away from each other for a long time; hence, each second, each minute has to be consciously lived. Yet, suffering and sorrow for the imminent parting are so deep that they apparently take control over time (11. 2-5). The future parting, so close in the lovers’ eyes, constitutes an obsessive thought which prevents them from enjoying their last moments together. The contrasts between “tomorrow” and “today” (1.5) and between “evening”, “morning” and “dawn” (11. 8-9) effectively express the feeling of sadness as well as the restless flow of time. The present itself does not retain its own dimension, but becomes simply a prelude of tomorrow’s separation. Also the polarity between the evening warmth of the firelight and the coldness of the imminent dawn (11. 9-10) can be regarded as a mirror of the inner psychological condition of the characters: the former alludes to the happiness of being together and the latter to the cold feeling of loneliness and solitude. In this regard, it is worth noticing that the last line of the lyric represents the peak of the poet’s emotional upheaval: she expresses there the uncomfortable awareness that solitude

and fear will characterise her life for ever. Paradoxically, the man who goes to the battlefield to protect his woman leaves her alone and defenceless because of his absence. Finally, particularly relevant is the occurrence of the term “shadow” in each strophe of the poem: the shadow of parting at the beginning vividly suggests the man’s shadow, which represents for the speaker his only token. Moreover, the “shadow” so effectively depicted might be associated with the image of the dead man, whose essence survives as a shadow. The metaphorical implication of shadow as symbol of death is also emphasised by the employment o f past tenses: “These were his features, this the hand I knew” (1.13), since the poetess cannot speak about her man in the present tense any longer.

The Penelope waiting and collecting memories of her last moments with her beloved might be regarded as emblematic of the desperate condition shared by miUions of soldiers’ wives. Yet, what renders this lyric different from some similar poetic productions is the apparent refusal of war’s reality. Offering herself as a patient woman, she attempts to overcome the grief of separation by recollecting the “warm” past, without even expressing too openly her fear about her man's death. Like Odysseus’ Penelope, the woman in the poem does not weep and complain, but bears the pain bravely; what is more, she apparently regards waiting as her task, without asking herself if it is right or not. It is her patient suffering that renders her a symbol of the female side of war: war is not even mentioned here, but silently obdurate. The personal tragedy o f the writer is seen in retrospect, with vivid tones and yet detachment, as appears from the occurrence of the pronouns “they” (1.6) instead of “we” and “she” instead of “I” (11. 7, 11, 14).

It seems to me that it is the chronological gap between the separation and the poetic recollection that has contributed to the atmosphere of silent desperation. Penelope focuses the tragedy not on the parting, but rather on “the future days of solitude and fear” (1.15), sentiments connoting her own war and not her soldier’s one. The female quality of the daily domestic struggle finds in this poem its more modem and significant expression. On the other hand, the established archetype o f the waiting woman occurs also m some other poems such

as for instance Pamela Holmes’ Parting in April and Anne Balley’s Leave Poem. The

The little death we die on tins fair day

Points to that parting of a later spring; (1. 5-6)'’

which is a clear exemplification of the theme. Yet the poem is filled with some literary images that place it in a well-established poetic tradition:

Now like my tears these April blossoms fall. Borne on the wind, as fragile as a breath; (11.12)

The poetess has emphasised the moment of departure instead of her following, lonely days, creating a poem that might have been written in any age or referring to whatever kind of

separation. The same applies to Leave Poem:

O let the days spin out In leisure, as the clouds pass;

Let nothing touch me now. But the minty mountain ah. Sun, wind and your fingers Through my hah.'®

In my opinion, these two last lyrics treat the Penelope figure in accepted and therefore traditional terms, following the pattern of love poetry without emphasising too much the external contingency of war. Therefore, since the thought about war disappears in the melancholic memories of departure, we might say that the feminine attitude emerging here conforms to what the reader could expect fi-om “farewell lyrics”, rather than firom particularly relevant “Second World War” poems. On the other hand, the modern Penelope

'’ ibid., p.61. '® Ibid., p.22.

lives her solitude after the separation as her only way to experience war, revealing in her lamentation of loneliness and cold the immense suffering of the female struggle.