NOTES OF 16^TH APRIL 2012

Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson

The composition is a dramatic monologue written to create a tool to face life.

The Ulysses described by Lord Tennyson is older than the others Ulysses in literature.

The author chose the figure of Ulysses because he is well-known by everyone and he represents the ideal of the pursuit of knowledge.

Ulysses has come back home but he is not happy of spending the last years of his life among utilitarian and profit-interested people.

He doesn’t feel at home and he always talks of “coming back”.

Moving from the outside to the inner side of the character, the intelligent reader feels that he is reflecting on his experiences and on the meaning of life. The reader can also understand why Ulysses doesn’t feel at home: he wants to travel, not to stay, and live his life fully, both suffering and enjoying greatly.

The words “I am become a name” seem to be a grammatical mistake not using the past perfect, but the perception verb to be leads the attention on the existential side of life.