Ulysses - Tennyson

       Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses provides an effective example of Victorian dramatic monologue thanks to his structure and content.

Ulysses is the dramatis personae between the poet and the reader. In the poem, the speaking voice is reflecting on his life after having returned to Ithaca.

       The poet chooses to present an old Ulysses, breaking the traditional representation of the young, strong men. As a result the reader comes into contact with the human, and not the heroic side of Ulysses, presented not only as a mythological character but mainly as a man. So, the reader comes across the psychological aspect of such a personality. What is more, it is possible to understand that the speaking voice is living a crucial moment of his life, because he knows he is going to die.

       In the analysis I am going to consider different sections of the text according to themes presented.

In the first section (vv. 1-32) the dramatis personae is introducing his present condition of man. Ulysses, now old is living in Ithaca with his aged wife Penelope, as a ruler of his kingdom; he dislikes the place and the idea of stasis. The reader feels his natural desire of knowledge and travelling: he is a man of world (Much I have seen). In the first place he underlines that he lived immensely, enjoying intriguing adventures and suffering greatly; come at the end of his being, he is living it in its powerful essence (I will drink/Life to the lees ). As a result of the multiplicity of experiences lived, Ulysses is aware of his “plural identity”: he is a part of all he has met. The expression seems postmodern, since one’s identity is produced by experiences. In particular, the metaphor of the arch conveys the idea of tension and energy of his past events. In addition Ulysses clearly expresses his need for knowledge and define it. According to his experience, knowledge is going beyond material limits, be brave, curious and open-minded, so that it is always possible to find out “food for thought”. In the poem, the concept of border is both material and conceptual. On one side, Ulysses refers to his voyage beyond the strait of Gibraltar; on the other side, he means to be open-minded and challenge human thought.

All in all Ulysses introduces himself as a “romantic travelling addicted”, attracted by mystery, fascinating by a never-ending thinker challenge and disappointed by a pale waiting for death.

Secondly (vv. 33-43), the speaking voice present Telemachus, his son. The idea of possession is underlined by the use of alliterations. Telemachus embodies the typical Victorian mentality, since he is concerned about the useful and the good.

As a result the characters are the personification of two different philosophical conceptions of life. Ulysses is linked to the romantic idea of man and to the idealistic view of living, while Telemachus represents the Victorian spirit and its utilitarian realism.

The use of the dramatic monologue allows the poet to make different perspectives speak; the double perspective world conveyed makes the reader reflect on the different ways mind can think and life be lived.

In the last section of the poem (vv. 44-70), a silent group od listeners is evoked by the speaking voice: Ulysses is speaking to some of his mariners. He firstly remember their past adventures, emphasizing their courage and their past strength. Secondly he invites them not to rest in the mind’s travel and not to end seeking a new world (Come, my, friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world). Ulysses wants to end is life travelling and discovering new places because the sense of life is knowledge and to know means to go beyond physical and conceptual limits. According to the speaking voice, it is never too late to seek a new world, so that life has to be lived completely. Despite Ulysses is old and he knows he is going to die, he has a heroic heart, his past temper has not changed. All in all, Ulysses expresses is total and never-ending need of knowledge, stating that he wants to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

The last consideration adds to meaning to the whole poem and to Ulysses’ s personality based of an endless need of knowledge and an infinite “intellectual hungry”. In addition, the musical sound created by words choses and the faster pace suggest a melancholic attitude of the character, linked to his continue tension toward life, evoking a hidden fear for death.

       In conclusion, Tennyson portrays an unusual Ulysses, mainly concerned about the seek of knowledge and never completely satisfied by what has been discovered.

The linguistic device of the dramatic monologue adopted by Tennyson provides the reader an additional perspective, different from Tennyson’s one, so that the absence of a unique truth is suggested together with the distance between the poet and the text. In addition it allows the poet, as well as the reader, to examine the character’s personality and unveils the complexity of human mind.

Ulysses appears as a noble man in his seek for knowledge but as an ordinary human in is fear for death.