Alfred Tennyson gave a personal interpretation of Ulysses comparing him to the modern man living the Victorian age.

Tennyson’s Ulysses lives in Ithaca after his voyage lasted ten years. The speaker of the drammatic monologue is Ulysses. The monologue is arranged into four stanzas of different length.

The first stanza introduces the theme of the poem, which is Ulysses'thoughts about his living period. To him, an old king isn't suitable anymore to reign in Ithaca. The speaker is not satisfied of his present life, far away from his past and glorious experiences.

“I cannot rest from travel” is an iconic sentence of his current state of mind. He seems nostalgic to his past adventures. He also gives importance to the fact  that everything he met is now part of himself,and it influenced him in a negative or positive way.

Ulysses thinks that it is stupid to pause,he knows that he already lived the most of his life, but he wants to give importance to every single moment that lasts.

Then he introduces his son,Telemachus. Telemachus has a different personality and approach to life. He is not interested in knowledge and experience but he is a common man, extremely  prudent and suitable with the Victorian Age's values.

The last stanza is about Ulysses’ mariners. He has a really strong relationship with the mariners that followed him in the good and the bad times. He thinks that they would have followed him till death, and this make them heroes.