Lord Alfred Tennyson's Ulysses is a poem written in 1833 after the death of Lord Tennyson's friend Arthur Henry Hallam. It was written to provide the poet some emotional support, making possible for him to go on living. The main character, Ulysses, is represented as an old man who has come back from his voyage and doesn't like to be in Ithaca again, as the island is seen as a savage place inhabited by people interested only in profit. Ulysses regrets the idea of end his life there, because he is still curious and wishing to live his life fully. Also, he reflects throughout the entire poem about his existence.
The poem is a dramatic monologue, a poem where there's a voice that doesn't coincides with the poet's one and that expresses his opinion and thoughts. Lord Tennyson is the first one to use it, taking it from the theatre. The dramatic monologue can be divided in three parts. The first one deals with the reality Ulysses has to face after he has come back to Ithaca. The second part shows the differences between him and his son Telemachus, who is more keen on politics rather than adventures, like his father. The third one faces Ulysses' desire to do something worth before dying.
Lord Tennyson uses tenses variation like "I am become a man" to convey the existential dimension of the character, also obtained with anaphoric constructions like "he has enjoyed greatly, he has suffered greatly", representing the way to obtain knowledge.