index

Believe what you want to. Believe that I wove,	Alliteration-- 'want'; 'wove' Anaphora-- 'believe' Sychesis- believe, want, believe, wove
If you wish, twenty years, and waited, while you	Hyperbaton-- position of 'twenty years'
Were knee-deep in blood, hip-deep in goddesses.	Imagery Parallelism
Penelope's diction with "if you wish" creates a tone of forced indifference; a 'have it your way' attitude suitable for dealing with an ornery child, or a husband irate upon learning that his wife has been as unfaithful as he. Penelope alludes to both of their actions, his own more heavily through imagery. The parallel structure of her accusation also draws the classic connection between love and war, and similarly between love and hate. The alliteration of 'w' sounds create the sense of whispering, of soft words, and of mourning. These are interspersed in a synchestic pattern with harsher 'b' sound, which reinforces the tone: Penelope, despite her sadness, tries to convince both herself and Ulysses that she cares about neither her husband's absence nor his return.
I've not much to show for twenty years' weaving
I have but one half-finished cloth at the loom.	Allusion
Perhaps it's the lengthy, meticulous grieving.	Irony Assonance-- 'lengthy', 'grieving'
Penelope jabs at Ulysses, reminding him through irony that she was not in fact mourning his loss. However, the allusion to the truthfully unfinished shroud leaves her callousness open for question. The direct rhyme with 'weaving' and 'grieving', which is absent for the majority of the poem, further demonstrates the extent Penelope goes to to cover her hurt with the intricate exterior.
Explain how you want to. Believe that I unravelled	Anaphora-- 'believe'
At night what I stitched in the slow siesta,	Alliteration-- 'stitched', 'slow', 'siesta'
How I kept them all waiting for me to finish,
The skeptical repetition of 'believe' demands that both Ulysses and readers of Homer's Odyssey question the truth in the story of Penelope's clever evasion of the suitors. The alliterated 's' sounds in line 8 lend a sultry feel to her supposed chaste actions. The enjambed 7th line, ending with 'unravelled', stresses both the incompleted nature of the cloth and the complicated nature of Penelope's feelings: Penelope, unsure of Ulysses' fate in his absence, could perhaps have felt as though she was unravelled as she strained between betrayal at abandonment and the desire to remain faithful and therfore hope that her husband will return. With his unexpected arrival, Penelope must quickly pick up and untangle the threads of her emotions.
The suitors, you call them. Believe what you want to.	Diction Anaphora
Believe that they waited for me to finish,
Believe I beguiled them with nightly un-doings.
Her diction, 'you call them', and the repetition of the mantra 'Believe what you want to' implies that the suitors did more than court her, the central theme of the poem. However, the same use of 'believe' in line 11 also lends skepticism: if the suitors did not wait for Penelope to finish, her infidelity might not have been, as she wishes Ulysses to believe at this point (indicated by the juxtaposition of key word 'believe' and stress of 'beguiled'), willing on her part.
Believe what you want to. That they never touched me.	Caesura, hendiadys
Believe your own stories, as you would have me do,	Sychesis
How you only survived by the wise infidelities.	Parallel structure
The caesura separating the two sentences in line 13 emphasises the hendiadys- the almost unnecessary repetition of an idea in two different clauses. Line 15 and line 12 are parallel in that both express the stories that Penelope and Ulysses tell their spouse and in the acknowledgement that neither believes the other. Penelope's ideas interlock in a 'you, me, you me' pattern: what Ulysses wants, and what Penelope thinks of his illusions.
Believe that each day you wrote me a letter	Enjambed line
That never arrived. Kill all the damn suitors
If you think it will make you feel better.	Alliteration- 'believe, better'
The enjambed line indicates a break in Penelope's facade as she voices what she had desperately hoped for, and then her anger at having her hope shattered upon Ulysses' return and learning of his adventures: the incomplete thought ending line 17 signifies that even concrete action won't completely fix the problem they face. The alliteration between 'believe' and 'better' demonstrate the link between belief of the other's loyalty and one's own state of being. Both Penelope and Ulysses wish to believe the other, but the years and events, Penelope leads her audience to understand, may be too much for the couple to overcome.