Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
1) Read the poem through and say:
- Who is speaking and to whom?: Ulysses is speaking to us
- How old he is: he is senior, and he thinks to his past
- Where he is: he is on his island: Ithaca
- What he is setting out on: he wants to set on because he doesn't accept the life on Ithaca, and he prefers his previous adventurous life.
2) Now read the text again, this time paying attention to the development of the argument.
Summarize what Ulysses says and feels following the guidelines on the left. For each point consider also Tennyson's vocabulary indicating which words and phrases, in particular, reveal in the hero's treats and attitudes. The first point has been written for you.
Life on Ithaca (lines 2- 5) | It is uncivilised and... Negative adjectives such as idol, aged convey Ulysses's total dissatisfaction with life on Ithaca |
|
|
His past life (11 - 18) | I become a name..I am a part of all that I have met...Ulysses remembers his life and regrets to have gave up that previous life. He used word like honour, drunk delight and the evoked scenes are epic. |
|
|
View of present and future (19-32) | Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'...beyond the utmost bound of human thought...he used words like gleams fades, to rust, breathe, eternal silence against gray spirit..Ulysses is old but he wants to continue to know the world, like a sinking star. |
|
|
Attitude to Telemacus (33-44) | This is my son, mine own Telemacus...when I am gone. He works his work, I mine. Ulysses uses word like prudence, soft degrees, good to underline the Telemacus maturity to reign but he also underlines the different behaviour that have his son towords his job and his ability to ability to submit to people's traditions. |
|
|
Address to his mariners (45-70) | There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail...to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Ulysses uses words to encourage his old mariners towords new adventures because his fate is to voyage toward new knowledge. |
|
|
3a) How is Ulysses portrayed in the poem? To answer the question, consider:
- His present situation
- The contrast with Telemacus
- What he can be taken to be symbolic of
- Whether he differs from the picture we usually associate with the hero of the Odyssey
Ulysses in very old and when he arrived to Ithaca he doesn't want to stay there but he wants to voyage to do experiences in order to know himself.
Telemacus is very different from him, as a matter of fact he represented the spirit of the Victorian Age as a matter of fact he want to reach the savage and respect his people's job.
He can be the symbol of a kind of Existence.
Ulysses by Tennyson is very different from Omero's Ulysses as a matter of fact Tennyson describes a very old man that reflects on his existence while Omero describes Ulysses like a hero.
3a) What is the poet's attitude to Ulysses and Telemacus? With whom does it side?
Tennyson is ironic toward Telemacus, as a matter of fact he dedicates a very small part to him, while he appreciated Ulysses's idea of life.
4) The poem was composed when Tennyson was still suffering for the death of his dearest friend, A. Hallam, in 1883. Does the poem reflect a sense of loss?
The sense of loss in this poem are reflected by the incapacity by Ulysses to adapt himself to the Ithaca's life.
5) As you will have realised the hero's feelings are communicated through a careful choice of words.
What observations can you make about the meter and the music of the poem and the relationship with its meaning?
There is a contrast between the sentiment of Ulysses' words and the sounds that express them.
The speaker's language is very strong, and it expresses Ulysses' conflicting humour as he searches for continuity between his past and future.