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In the pathway of the sun, In the footsteps of the breeze, Where the world and sky are one, He shall ride the silver seas. He shall cut the glittering wave. 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. They shall call him brave. |
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The narrator of this poem is Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, who is left home to watch the palace and their son (though there is no mention of him), while Odysseus is fighting in the Trojan War. She begins the poem by showing that she understands what her husband has to do and that he will be having an adventure regardless of the outcome. In the second stanza she contrasts this view with being left behind to do her everyday chores and finishes with a comment of acknowledgement but with an undertone of jealousy.
It is a very subtle poem, yet the reader is able to pick up that the narrator is jealous about her husband's adventures while she has to stay at home doing the same everyday things. In the first stanza, there is a sense of pride in what he is doing, but there is also a sense longing to experience the same.
The narrator almost seems a little bitter towards the situation. It is as if she doesn't even think that her husband will appreciate what she does and what she has been doing for him while was is away living an adventure. The reference to the snipping of "thread" in line 9, refers to Penelope's sewing of the quilt to represent mourning for Odysseus. The narrator feels as though she has been thinking about her husband the whole time during his absence but he is probably too busy to be thinking about her as much. Her comment on them calling him "brave" on the last line expressed her feeling of jealously towards the fact that, although she has a lot of things to do herself, she won't get any recognition for doing them; she feels as though her life will go on unremembered. He gets to fight battles and monsters but she also has to protect the inside of the palace and keep it from going to ruin with the recent inhabitance of her prospective suitors (see Odyssey).
