Ulysses- Denotative Analysis

• "Ulysses" is a dramatic monologue written by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

It is composed of four stanzas of different lines. Right from the title I understood the text would be about Ulysses, the king of Itaca, an hero of the Grecian mythology.

I made the hypothesis that the monologue could be about the most famous events of Ulysses's life.

• In the first stanza the speaking voice, that is Ulysses, tell us that for a king as him it is useless to stay at Ithaca: here he cannot do anything but decide laws for people that do not know him and think only at material needs. Not even his old wife is a good reason to stay there in peace.

• In the second part Ulysses says that he cannot stop travelling; he has always lived intensely: he has suffered intensely and he has enjoyed at the same way, both with people who loved him and alone, on the shore. And when he was alone and waves were coming hostile, he become famous and his name would be remembered forever for his brave to face the dangerous sea. Ulysses says also that he have lived with a "hungry heart", with the desire to know, to be more and more learned. He saw cities, he known costumes and traditions, different climates, several governments. He had fight with his company in the war of Troy. To sum up: he had lived.