This my son, mine own Telemachus, (33)

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle—

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through soft degrees (37)

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me (46)

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. (53)

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite (58)

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die. (61)

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. (70)

Line 33 Ulysses introduces us to his son, Telemakhus, who will act as his successor while Ulysses resumes his travels: “He works his work, I mine”; he talks about his son’s capabilities as a ruler, praising, almost ironically, his prudence and devotion to the Gods.

Lines 37-38 Here some kind of animal is a metaphor for the people of Ithaca. They are “rugged” and have to be “subdued”.

Line 46 Ulysses refers to his “mariners” as “souls”. The “soul” is a part of the body: using a part (the soul) to stand in for the whole (the mariners) is called synecdoche. In addition the mariners are silent listeners, that is they listen but don’t answer.

Line 53 Ulysses refers to himself and his fellow mariners as men that “strove with Gods”.

Line 54 Ulysses describes the onset of night and the appearance of the stars. Here, the description of night doubles as Ulysses’ reflection on his own approaching night, his own death. In fact, this is a metaphor.

Lines 58-59 Onomatopoeic sound: “push off the sounding furrows”.

Lines 60-61 Ulysses says he intends to sail “beyond the sunset”, which is a metaphor saying he intends to sail beyond the known universe. In addition he mentions the “baths” of the stars in order to convey how far beyond the known world he wants to travel. In brief, he wants to continue to see as many places as he can before he dies so he can get the most out of life.

Line 70 The narrator seems to refer directly at the time where he lives: in this line is evident even more clearly as the mythological figure of Ulysses has been transformed into a contemporary cultural icon.