“Ulysses” is a dramatic monologue written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1833. He was an aristocratic belonging to the Victorian Age. A dramatic monologue is a form of poetry which developed in the Victorian Age. The features of a dramatic monologue are: it is written in a first person and the voice speaking belongs to a character and it does not coincide with the writer's voice.

The poet choose a voice different from his own one because he makes the reader freer. Indeed, he can make his own opinion on what he reads and in that way the reader can understand more about the character and his potentialities.

Furthermore, the reader can take distances from what he reads and, being more objective, he can understand more about the character and his potentialities.

The language used is colloquial. The elements that make clear that the language used is colloquial are deities and fillers.

Tennyson's Ulysses is different from our expectations. He is old and he cannot stand the life lived in Ithaca. He cannot rest, he wants to leave again. He did not like the idea to spend his last time in an island where people are considered "savage" to divide his goods with his wife (who is no longer attractive) and with people only interested in profits. Even if he was at home, he did not feel at home!

Ulysses could not rest from travel, an activity that he had always enjoyed greatly. He faced lots of problems and he lived lots of adventures that made him famous and well-known. To express that Ulysses said " I am become a name". The choice is not grammatically correct, but using it Tennyson wanted to underline the existential dimension, the essence of his own character.

Even in the selection of verbs, Tennyson made references to the going and coming, which implies a reflection and privileged the existential side of life.

The expression " hungry heart" related to Ulysses shows how passionate he is. Furthermore he is also a great comprehension of body and mind.

Tennyson remains consistent with the idea of Ulysses as someone who is looking for knowledge.

The character also demonstrates to be aware that there are two different dimensions in each individual: the dimension of relationship and the dimension of the relation with themselves.