Ulysses is a poem in blank verse by the Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson, written in 1833 and published in 1842in his well-received second volume of poetry. The mythical hero Ulysses describes his discontent and restlessness upon returning to his kingdom, Ithaca, after his travels. Despite his reunion with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus, Ulysses yearns to explore again.

(verse 24) Ulysses declares that it's boring to stay in just one place all life, as if life is the simple act of breathing. He is at the ending of his life and every instant of this is steal from death. It would be cowardly to still want to live for three days only for the desire of know more than we can.

In the second part of the poem, Ulysses introduces his son Telemachus. He seems to represent the Victorian view, devoted to the social duties: he has the appropriate qualities to govern the isle of Ithaca, to make more mild-mannered the people and making them understand what is "useful and good".
This values are typical of the Victorian age; the improvement of the social and economical conditions based on puritans' principles.
Thanks to his son's ability with the country, Ulysses fells free to live home and travel without the fear of anarchy.

In the last stanza, Ulysses turn back to his mariners. Most of them are by now old, like Ulysses, but even if death is quite near, there is time for a new journey. Some action can still be fulfilled by those who had fought against the Gods.
When the day was ending and the sun was going down ("the long day wanes"), he encouraged his men to make use of their old age because it's not too late to look for a newer world (" 'T is not too late to seek a newer world"). Ulysses invites his sailors to go offshore until he dies. The reference to death gives a note of melancholy to the poem and even the quote that refers to the Happy Isles, a place inhabited by the spirits of death people. But all that has been said is unsure ("it may be"). This part of the poem end with a optimistic and, at the same time, pessimistic consideration about life: many years have been passed since they travelled and fought, but the will is still present (" make weak by time and fate, but strong in will").