Ulysses is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson in 1833. The poet takes simultaneously both the ancient hero of Homer's and Dante's Ulysses: Ulysses of Homer, in fact, learned from a prophecy of a travel that will last (after killing the suitors of his wife Penelope). Details recounted in Dante's Inferno: Ulysses died sailing too far because of his insatiable desire to know.

The story is narrated by the protagonist in first person, who, after returning to Ithaca and having freed Penelope, is ready to sail, conscious of his fate: Ulysses stands ready to move forward knowing that death is the end of everything.

Ulysses was not only a mythological figure, but rather a cultural icon and a romantic symbol of the fight against conformity.

Finally, Ulysses is motivated by the desire to reach the unexplored, to go beyond the boundaries of knowledge and pass any Earth border.