1) Read the poem through and say:

 who is speaking and to whom

 how old he is

 where he is

 what he is setting out on

In this poem Ulysses, an old king, is speaking to his mariners from Ithaca.  He is setting out on a last great adventure.

2) Now read the text again, this time paying attention to the development of the argument. Summarize what Ulysses says and feels following the guidelines on the left. For each point consider also Tennyson's vocabulary indicating which words and phrases, in particular, reveal in the hero's traits and attitudes. The first point has been written for you.

Life on Ithaca (lines 2-5)

It is uncivilized and… negative adjectives such as idol,aged convey Ulysse’s total dissatisfaction with life oh Ithaca

His past life

His past life was adventourous, he has travelled and faced difficulties with his mates. He has both enjoyed life and suffered.  The modal adverb greatly underlines Ulysses’s past glory.

View of present and future (19-32)

The experience is window open to the new. Traveling is essential to enjoy the world.  The significance is conveyed by the simile experience-arch.

 Attitude to Telemachus (33-44) 

Telemachus is smart and  devoted to the social duties: he can surely be a good governor. Positive adjectives such as well-loved and most blameless characterize him.

Address to his mariners (45-70)

Ulysses asks his mariners to start a new adventure together looking for a new world.  The writer uses the present conditional to underline the different possibilities they can still have in their elder life.

3a) How is Ulysses portrayed in the poem?

 To answer the question, consider:

 His present situation

 The contrast with Telemachus

   What he can be taken to be symbolic of

 Whether he differs from the picture we usually associate with the hero of the Odyssey

Ulysses is portrayed as an old man that wants more adventure from his life. He doesn’t want to live only breathing and doing nothing else: he wants to travel more with his old mariners. While he gets bored reigning his kingdom and doesn’t feel like he belongs in Ithaca, his son is very patient and willing to govern Ithaca the best he can. Thelmacus is more quiet than his father, who can be taken to be symbolic of man’s never ending desire to have more. 

3a) What is the poet’s attitude to Ulysses and Telemachus? With whom does it side?

I think that the poet sides with Ulysses because he better represents human instability and imperfection. I think that Thelemacus is depicted as a too perfect person to be real.

4) The poem was composed when Tennyson was still suffering for the death of his dearest friend, A. Hallam, in 1883. Does the poem reflect a sense of loss?

I don’t think that the poem reflects a sense of loss: Ulysses seems to be ok with the idea of death, he wants to sail as far as he can until he dies.

5) As you will have realised the hero’s feelings are communicated through a careful choice of words.

What observations can you make about the meter and the music of the poem and the relationship with its meaning?

It is a seventy-line blank verse dramatic monologue. The iambic pentameter isn’t constant and so the poems appears quite realistic as if somebody is actually speaking. The text is full of enjambements that slow the rhythm.