ANALYSIS OF TENNYSON’S ULYSSES

                Ulysses is a dramatic monologue written by Lord Tennyson. Starting from the title, we can expect that Ulysses will be the main character. Ulysses is a recurring character in literature, since, Dante had already written about him in Divina Commedia.

However, Tennyson’s Ulysses is old and unsatisfied by his position in Ithaca. He is king but he despises his people (“savage race”) and the unequal laws he has to make respect. The hoarding of his people resembles Tennyson’s Victorian society, based on economic wealth, and the economic growth due to the Industrial Revolution. Dissatisfaction makes him think of his glorious and adventurous past, made of war and travels, and defines himself as the sum of his experiences.

He realizes his life will soon end and his son Telemachus will take his place as ruler. He describes him as a “blameless” man, conscious of his duties and his role in society. However, he takes distance from his son’s personality, stating “he works his work, I mine”.

The final section of the monologue is a speech from Ulysses to his mariners, in which he expresses his desire to set sail once again before his death, in a final voyage to places unknown.

                Tennyson adopts the dramatis personae (Ulysses) device in order to give voice to multiple perspectives. Ulysses’ mentality is different to the Victorian society’s one. The kind of power he researches is different from the economic and politic ones: he desires knowledge, moved by curiosity, and his tension towards infinity and unknown resembles a Romantic man more than a Victorian. The other perspective is instead expressed by Telemachus, which embodies the values of the author’s society. As a result of this multiplicity and psychological expression of the character, this poem results to be innovative and “modern” compared to other Victorian mainstream poetic works.

Carlo Mauri

Daniele Sorrenti