In Alfred Tennyson’s Ulysses the old King is comparing his active past life to the paralyzed of the present.

In the first line Tennyson describes the actual life of Ulysses. He is an idle and old aged king, in a country he doesn’t feel to belong to and in which the “hearth” is still and the land is waste and barren. Penelope lost her beauty, she became an aged wife and Ulysses is no longer attracted to her. People doesn’t know him and he rewards and punishes them without knowing them too. Then he says that he will exploit his life until death because even if now he is so paralyzed, he has lived intensely his past life. He became one of the most important king and person in the history sailing the seas roaming with a heart full of desire of knowledge. He saw a lot of cities knowing a lot of cultures, but most of all he became conscious of himself. He reminds also his most important deed: the conquer of Troy. He reminds the battle with delight because it has been the greatest and most important moment of his life.