Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lawrence Durrell's poem "Penelope" engages with themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time, woven through the lens of Greek mythology and classical imagery. In evoking Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus from Homer's Odyssey, Durrell explores the psychological and emotional landscape of a figure who waits, who endures, and who confronts the inexorable erosion of time.

The poem opens with a simple, yet profound recollection: "Look, on that hill we met / On this shoreline parted." This line succinctly captures the duality of connection and separation, highlighting the tension between past encounters and present realities. The landscape itself—both the hill where they met and the shoreline where they parted—serves as a metaphor for the shifting and unstable nature of memory and experience.

Durrell introduces the idea of "the experts" who "sailed off northwards / With their spears, with the connivance / Of oracles to back them." These figures, likely representing the warriors or heroes of myth, leave Penelope behind, carrying with them the authority of prophecy and the assurance of action. In contrast, Penelope remains—her position one of stasis and endurance. The "oracles" and "experts" symbolize the active, external world of adventure and conquest, while Penelope embodies the internal, the contemplative, and the enduring.

The second stanza shifts focus to the weight of emotion, or rather, its surprising lightness: "Tears weigh little upon the hands, / Tears weigh less in the eye than seeds." This metaphor suggests that tears, symbols of sorrow and emotion, are ephemeral, insubstantial compared to the lasting marks of time. They are "seeds / Shaken from the feverish totals / Blossoming on time's pronouncing tree," indicating that while tears may seem insignificant in the moment, they contribute to the larger, inevitable growth and passage of time. The "feverish totals" reflect the cumulative nature of life’s experiences, building upon each other in ways that are often out of our control.

Durrell continues to explore the concept of time in the third stanza, where "The seasons file their summaries / Overheard by the echoes in the wells." Here, time is personified, moving methodically and unnoticed by all but the "echoes in the wells"—a symbol of deep, hidden reflections. The "mirrors shod in horn" suggest ancient, opaque reflections of reality, further obscured by time. These mirrors may not reflect the truth clearly, much like how memories can distort over time. "Copied by spies, interpreters or witnesses," time and experience are mediated and altered by those who observe or record them, indicating the layers of perception and the potential for distortion in how we remember and interpret the past.

The final stanza brings a poignant sense of inevitability and resignation: "The augurs in the delta have not once / Foreseen this dust upon an ageing eyeball." The "augurs," or prophets, who should be able to predict the future, have failed to foresee the mundane reality of aging and the physical decay that comes with time. The "dust upon an ageing eyeball" symbolizes the blurring of vision—both literal and metaphorical—as one ages, and the loss of clarity that accompanies the passage of time.

Durrell introduces striking imagery with "Vitreous as sea-spun glass, this black / Sperm of winter sea we walk beside," linking the clear, brittle quality of "vitreous" glass to the delicate and fragile nature of vision and memory. The "black sperm of winter sea" evokes the harsh, cold, and lifeless aspect of winter, contrasting sharply with the vitality of spring and renewal. It underscores the themes of sterility, aging, and the end of cycles, where even the sea—often a symbol of life and movement—takes on a lifeless quality in winter.

The poem concludes with the "marble onanism of these nymphs," an image that speaks to the frozen, sterile nature of time’s passage and the self-contained, unproductive cycle of waiting. "Onanism," a reference to self-gratification, in this context suggests an act that leads to nothing, symbolizing the futility of longing and the fruitlessness of waiting for something that may never come. The "nymphs," typically symbols of vitality and nature, are here reduced to marble—cold, unfeeling, and static.

In "Penelope," Durrell crafts a meditation on the endurance of time and the human experience of waiting, particularly from the perspective of a figure like Penelope, who embodies patience and the passage of time. The poem delves into the tension between the internal, enduring world of memory and emotion, and the external, transient world of action and change. Through its rich imagery and mythological references, the poem captures the essence of human longing, the inevitability of aging, and the often bittersweet nature of memory.

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