Millay uses the story of Penelope’s emotional turbulence due to her husband Odysseus’ long absence in order to portray the modern theme of women’s inward struggle/suffering for their absentee husbands. It is important to note that Millay’s mother Cora divorced her husband and moved out with her daughters. Therefore, Millay herself likened her state after her husband’s death in 1949 to those of her mother and Penelope.