Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
Read the poem through and say:
1. Who is speaking and to whom?
Ulysses is speaking to his mariners.
2. How old he is?
He is middle aged.
3. Where is he?
He is on Ithaca, his Land.
4. What he is setting out on?
He is thinking about the war of Troy, all the cities and men he met during his journey.
Activity 2
Now read the text again, this time pain attention to the development of the argument.
Summarise what Ulysses says and feels following the guidelines on the left.
For each point consider also Tennyson vocabulary indicating which words and phrases, in particular, reveal the hero's traits and attitudes.
The first point has been written for you.
Life on Ithaca (lines1-5) | It is uncivilized and bleak and lacks excitement. Negative adjective such as idle, still, barren, aged, unequal, savage convey Ulysses total dissatisfaction with life on Ithaca. |
His past life (lines 6-18) | Ulysses thinks that in order to know himself he must know other people, he must make experience. As a matter of fact he says "Much have I seen and known; cities of men", "I am part of all that I have met". |
View of the present and the future (lines 19-32) | Ulysses thinks that life is a journey and immobility doesn't change you. As a matter of fact he says "How dull it is to pause, to make an end." |
Attitude to Telemachus (lines 33-44) | Telemachus doesn't live for himself, like Ulysses, but he lives in function of other people. So we can say that Telemachus is only able to subject. |
Address to his mariners (lines 45-70) | Ulysses wants to underline that people must live an authentic life until death. As a matter of fact an intelligent reader can notice that all his mariners are old and they are going to die, but death for them is not so important like their war against Gods. As a matter of fact their desire is to live an authentic life until death. |
Activity 3
a. How is Ulysses portrayed in the poem?
To answer the questions, consider:
1. His present situation
Ulysses his an unhappy old man, because his duty is to rule a savage
race.
2. The contrast with Telemachus
Ulysses his a character that takes important decisions for his life, on the
other side Telemachus takes decisions for other people.
3. What he can be taken to be symbolic of
An example of symbol of life is journey, as a matter of fact Ulysses says
that if you don't make a journey you don't live.
4. Wheatear he differs from the picture we usually associated
with the hero of the Odyssey
While Tennysons exalts his hero' eternally restless aspiration, Dante
condemned Ulysses' curiosity and presumption.
b. What is the poet's attitude to Ulysses and Telemachus? With whom does he side?
In my opinion the poet prefers Ulysses' life bracuse Ulysses lives his life travelling. On the other side Telemachus doesn't travel so he doesn't live for himself but he lives for that savage race.
Activity 4
The poem was composed when Tennyson was still suffering for the death of his dearest friend Arthur Halam in 1833. Does the poem reflect a sense of loss?
I think the poem reflect the sense of lost. Moreover the poet, in my opinion, want to tell us that Arthur Halam life was a kind of life like Ulysses' one.
Activity 5
As you will realized the hero's feelings are communicated trough a careful choice of words.
What observations can you make about the metre and music of the poem and their relationship to his meaning?
The metre that the poet uses is the blank verse, a kind of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, no rhyme.