Activity

“Ulysses” by Lord Alfred Tennyson

1)

a) Ulysses is speaking and he doesn't address anyone in particular but expresses their thoughts;

b) Ulysses isn’t young but he is middle-aged;

c) he came home to Ithaca;

d) he wants to travel with his companions to continue his experiences.

2)

His past life: during his many travels, he discovered what suffering and joy are. He met men, manners and customs and was honored by all. The expression “and drunk delight of battle with my

pears” make the reader understand he lived intensely;

View of present ad future (19-32): Ulysses expresses his feelings through an inner monologue. The life that remains is short and you do not have to wait any longer but start a new journey.

With the expression “not to shine in use” Ulysses underlines the importance to live intensely;

Attitude to Telemachus: (33-44): he considers his son Telemachus very reliable and able to teach ethe useful and the good to a rough people. He uses the adjective “blameless” to underline this features;

Address to his mariners (45-70): Ulysses’s mariners are faithful companions. They enjoyed and suffered with him. He invites them to start a new voyage. Even if they are weak for old age, their will is still strong (“made weak by time and fate, but strong in will”).

3a) Ulysses is presented like a old man, dissatisfied with his present situation because he feels he is not living intensely . His past experiences made him feel alive. According to him, travelling gives meaning to life.

Comparing Ulysses to his son Telemachus , Ulysses is able toorganize his own life and making plans while Telemachusis able to make decisions for others. In the poem you can notice the theme of voyage, symbol of life. In addition travelling means know. Ulysses is different from the hero of the Odyssey because the second is young, longing for make new experiences and to explore the world but he doesn’t know why. Ulysses is aware of the life he chooses to face.

3b) The poet exalts the figure of Ulysses presenting him as a person full of life, brave and enterprising while Telemacus is considered an ordinary man who simply does his job.

4) The sense of loss in this poem is expressed by his lack of a home. He is in lack of something that he hopes he is going to find travelling.

5) In this poem the meter used is the blank verse: iambic pentameters and the poet doesn’t use rhymes. The rhythm of the poem is created by the alternation of the present and the past of the protagonist.