do differently than to cry. The tears come, and it
is the only gesture that makes sense in such a
moment.
The whole first stanza duplicates the mount-
ing pressure and release ofgrief, recalling the orig-
inal and natural gestures of a moment of profound
sadness. Then comes a space between the first and
second stanzas that invites reflection on these
circumstances.
Stanza 2
Line 10 returns once again to the speaker and
repeats her gesture of crying on the corner of her
apron. This time, the stanza will unfold more of her
thoughts about her emotion than emotion itself.
Line 11 affirms that crying when one is at the
end of one’s rope is an ancient and honest gesture.
This is a positive declaration. The speaker is one
who knows tradition; therefore, though she is
alone, she has the consolation of those who came
before.
Line 12 further explains that crying is respect-
able because after all, the ancient Greeks, too,
cried. The Greeks have a certain authority, for
they are the source of the Western traditions of
poetry, philosophy, science, art, and wisdom. If
they sanction the gesture, it should be nothing to
be ashamed of. The end rhymes in lines 11, 12, and
15 in this stanza create a somewhat ironic or
flippant tone in the speaker’s voice that contrasts
with the more somber tone of the first stanza.
Line 13 is a short, three-stress line that ech-
oes line 2, except that it names Ulysses, the Greek
hero, as also crying. Now the speaker seems to be
pointing to the universal nature of tears and grief.
It is not only women who cry. This brings a
somewhat surprising turn to the poem. The
poem begins with a domestic picture of a wom-
an’s tears, then broadens to consideration of the
man’s point of view. Greeks cry. Men cry. A hero
cries. The woman’s leaping thoughts about the
tears she is shedding show a certain mental agil-
ity. In a matter of moments, she weeps and then
begins to recover with a reflection about the sig-
nificance of the gesture.
Line 14, however, brings another turn. It cre-
ates doubt about Ulysses, because he only cried as
a gesture, as a rhetorical device.
Line 15 explains how Ulysses used the gesture
of tears when he spoke to the crowd, implying that
he was too choked up to offer words. This line
refers to Ulysses’ time among the Phaeacians, who
took him in and gave him the means to get home
to Ithaca. He did not revealhis identity directly to
them but asked the bard to sing of the Trojan
War. The poet sang of the glorious Ulysses, and
Ulysses was seen weeping at the tale of himself and
his comrades. This raised curiosity as to his iden-
tity, and then Ulysses revealed himself to be the
war hero they sang of. He then narrated his fur-
ther adventures and won the treasure and support
of King Alcinous. Ulysses had a reputation for
being a wily liar. He skillfully played a part, using
his tears to manipulate the audience into praising
him. He was loaded with honor and treasure by
the Phaeacians, not only for winning battles but
also for the hardship he had been through. The
speaker here implies that for Ulysses, tears were a
useful gesture for getting what he wanted. Unlike
Penelope, whose heroic endurance went unrecog-
nized, Ulysses was treated like a god.
Line 16 adds a further twist in a short, three-
stress line that introduces a conclusion or insight:
Ulysses learned this trick of crying from his wife,
Penelope. She was the source of the gesture that
won him a way to get home. The ellipsis at the end
of the line invites reflection on this idea on the part
of the reader. The speaker does not have to elab-
orate further; it is a subtle point that would be
lessened by too much elaboration. Hammering
home the point that it is possible for men to copy
from women or learn from women would weaken
the startling force of the suggestion.
Line 17 is a short, three-stress line that clinches
the poem and the speaker’s conclusion: Ulysses’s
tears were not the same as Penelope’s, because she
genuinely cried. This implies two things: one, that
he saw the gesture of tears as powerful and used it
for his own purposes, and two, that he did not really
understand Penelope’s reasons for the gesture.
The last stanza upsets the usual pathos, or
appeal to compassion, of the story of the brave
warrior off to battle and the faithful wife crying in
his absence. It implies that Penelope underwent
the greater hardship; her endurance and heroism,
though unsung, were thus greater than her hus-
band’s. The last stanza also implies that Penelope,
or women in general, are hidden leaders who illus-
trate the indomitable human spirit as much as men
do. The speaker thus identifies with the long line
of anonymous women heroes who stretch from
antiquity to modern times.An Ancient Gesture