The objective of the present essay is to provide a textual analysis of Tennyson’s Ulysses. In doing so, I will consider the title, the structure, the level of denotation and connotation, the overall effect and the ideal reader. 

Firstly, I will consider the title: Ulysses. Since he is a famous character of Greek mythology, the reader can recollect who he was and imagine why Tennyson has written about him. Ulysses was a Greek hero, king of Ithaca, that fought during the Trojan war. After the massacre of the Trojan horse, he travelled ten years around the world. When he went back home, he decided to renounce his family and live new experiences travelling around the world.

Concerning the structure, Tennyson’s Ulysses is the first true dramatic monologue addressed to an unknown audience. It is interesting to underline that Ulysses had a long tradition that dates back to Dante’s Inferno; however, differently from Dante, Tennyson exalted Ulysses’s adventurous spirit. 

Considering the denotative level or better the content, the poem reported of Ulysses after had came home from a ten years travel, he decides to leave his family in Ithaca and to start a new adventure. 

Taking into account the connotative level, there are lots of relevant aspects to highlight. Right from the first seven lines, the reader can understand that the speaking voice is Ulysses himself. He portrayed Ithaca’s inhabitants as animals that ammass things, sleep and feed. Verbs like hoard, sleep, feed contribute to provide a savage image of Ithaca’s inhabitants. Ulysses continues stating that he cannot stop travelling. The metaphor I will drink life to the lees demonstrates Ulysses’s desire to live life to the fullest. Also an astronomical reference (rainy Hyades) is cited. Using the expression I am become a name, Ulysses means that he became famous for his several travels. Roaming with a hungry heart is an additional metaphor that delineates his desire to discover new places and to live new experiences. The expression I am a part of all that I have met is significant too, because it implies that Ulysses does not feel like he belongs to Ithaca. Afterwards, with a new metaphor he states that his life is an arch, and reading the expression untravelled world the reader can easily understand a reference to death. This expression reminds also to Hamlet’s quotation The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn no traveller returns that is strictly connected to death too. According to Ulysses, every hour is essential because it allows him to live new experiences. To follow knowledge like a sinking star is an equivocal expression because on one side it can be interpreted with the simile "Ulysses is like the sinking star”, on the other side, it can be read with the simile “the knowledge he is looking for is like the sinking star”. Important to underline are also two verbs to store and to hoard employed also in the first lines, which highlight the fact that Ulysses would be like an animal if he continues to stay in Ithaca. After that Ulysses provided a brief description of his son Telemachus to whom he left the responsibility to reign the island of Ithaca. Differently from his father, Telemachus is prudent and seems to be suitable for civilized Ithaca inhabitants defined by Ulysses like rugged people. Moreover, Telemachus is depicted by his father as a smart guy, able to rule and be respectful of gods. The expression When I am gone can be explained in two different ways: on one hand, Ulysses can refer to his new experiences he wants to have and on the other hand he can refer to his death. The attention is now focused to the port of Ithaca where a ship is arranging to set sail. Here there are two particular rhetorical figures: the personification of the vessel: it is the wind that blows up the sail and the synectode of the souls that refers to a part of mariners’ body that underlines the importance of the soul rather than the body itself. Going on, Ulysses exploits an additional metaphor the long day wanes: the slow moon climbs to convey the idea that the end of the day is like the end of his own life. Furthermore, in this passage an old poetic word is employed: ere which means before. The expression Come, my friends makes the reader understand that Ulysses is addressing his friends and inviting them to have new experiences because it is never too late to learn new things. A newer world is an additional synecdoche that refers to places that they may visit. Ulysses’s aim is to reach and go beyond the horizon: once again, Ulysses’s desire to live comes to the surface. Besides that, To sail beyond the sunset is a metaphor that suggests a farway and unknown place. The poem ends with a very significant sentence made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield which means that everyone with willpower can reach his or her goals.

Regarding the phonological level, the reader can note the presence of anaphoric use of language, alliterations and sounds’ repetition. For example at line 21 there is the alliteration of the letter “d” therefore a dental sound: drunk delight that conveys a sensation of hardness, how the battle with his peer would have be. Going close to the end there is an anaphora: it may be that is repeated for two consecutive lines.

The overall effect conveys the idea of life and dynamism, the desire to discover new places and to learn new things. Moreover, it is interesting to say that Ulysses’s willpower depends on his relationship with other people. Since he has travelled a lot, he has a different point of view on the world that can be defined as innovative, different from his son that has always lived in Ithaca. 

Concerning the ideal reader, he or she may be someone interested in Ulysses’s figure, an adventurous person looking for inspiration and has a good knowledge of Greek mythology in order to understand the references in the text. 

Last but not least, it is relevant to note that Tennyson’s choice regarding the form of the dramatic monologue is not casual because this form reveals his interest in human psychology. You have to keep in mind that Tennyson wrote Ulysses soon after his friend Arthur Hallan’s death and therefore it can be interpreted as an instrument to investigate humans’ soul.