Ulysses - Lord Alfred Tennyson

In the first part of Tennyson’s Ulysses the reader has understood that Ulysses wants to take a voyage even if he is old. It comes in forefront his Romantic attitude. At the same time Ulysses is aware of the little time left to him. He is old and so “little remains to live”. He speaks about his age saying “gray spirit”. He is compared to a sinking star. Such image recalls the little time the star can live before dying.  His job is to follow knowledge like there is no limit, of what can be known. According to Dante, Ulysses went beyond what was allowed by religion. The reader must remember that Dante lived in the Middle Ages, in a society ruled by religious conventions. On the other hand Tennyson lived in the nineteenth century in England which was the protagonist of Colonialism: British ships moved around the world without limits. Tennyson’s society influenced his idea of Ulysses. The main protagonist is passionate, proud and ready to fight: he is a hero.

The third section is an invitation to reflect. It deals with Telemachus, Ulysses’ son. The repetition of the “m” sound recalls his closeness to his son. He declares that he will leave his power to his son who is able to cope with this duties. He is not similar to his son. He makes his duties by making slow steps, he pays attention not to annoy other people in order to take consensus. Ulysses is passionate and since he cannot tell his fellows countryman that they are a savage race, he decides to leave his power to his son. He concludes this section with the line “He works his work, I mine”.

The last section of Tennyson’s Ulysses I’m going to analyze deals with Ulysses’ departure. Right from the start the reader finds out the differences between his fellows mariners and his fellows countryman. It comes in forefront his feeling about his marines. He is fond of them, he speaks of them as souls. They worked hard and made efforts with him, they actually know him. They faced dark sees which is an image for the unknown. The line “free hearts, free foreheads” recalls a repetition of the “f” sound which evokes a windy sound. Such line means the marines’ balance with heart and brain. They are old as he is and he is inviting them to enjoy with him his voyage. The words Tennyson uses comes from two main semantic fields. He uses words such as “honour” which recalls the figure of an epic hero. The words such as “toil” recalls Utilitarism which developed during Tennyson’s era. There are many naturalistic references that recalls Romanticism. This section evokes the classical myth too. The images of the Happy Isles recalls the Island of the Blessed that is a paradise of perpetual summer, the figure of Achilles remembers the epic hero. His final invitation to his marines is that they can keep on striving, seeking, finding, and not yielding. They will be not made weak by time and fate, however they will continue to be strong in will.