"Ulysses" is a poem written by the Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1833 and published in 1842 in his second volume of poetry.

The title “Ulysses” immediately recalls to the reader’s mind the character Odysseus from Homer's Odyssey ("Ulysses" is the Latin form of the name), who was the hero of the epic poem : a legendary Greek king of Ithaca. He was married to Penelope, father of Telemaco. Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility. He was one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War. He fought in the Trojan War alongside Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, and others. He spent ten years fighting in the war, and then spent another ten years trying to get home. There is also the figure of Ulysses in Dante's Inferno, Canto XXVI, in which Dante is led by the Roman epic poet Virgil to meet Ulysses and hear his tale. In Homer, Odysseus is told by the blind prophet Tiresias that he will return home to Ithaca but will then make one more journey to a land far away from home. In Dante Ulysses gathers his men together to prepare for the journey and exhorts them not to waste their time left on earth.

This poem is written as a dramatic monologue. The dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by a single character to an audience (at line 49 Ulysses “you and I are old”) The speaker seems to be speaking with someone, but that person or group doesn't actually speak in the poem. The lines are in blank verse, this peculiarity serves to give a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses’ speech. In different lines there are enjambments (=the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break), in which the sentences often end in the middle, rather than the end, of the lines. Also the use of enjambment serves to give more fluency to Ulysses speech.

The poem takes place in several places in Ithaca; it starts by the hearth in Ulysses' palace or castle, then points to port, and then somehow ends up there. By the end of the poem, we think that Ulysses is standing next to his mariners by the ship.

The poem is divided into four paragraph-like sections, each of which comprises a distinct thematic unit of the poem.

  The first paragraph Tennyson introduces the protagonist and considers his status: he is an idle king in an almost spectral kingdom (still hearth, barren crags) with an ancient savage population. The speaking voice is old, he has spent a life in travelling and now he does no more seem to be able to rule (in the second scene he says "I cannot rest from travel"), he is melancholic of his adventures and he feels like imprisoned. In particular, the battles in Troy are quoted, so that the reader immediately creates a parallel with Homer's Ulysses. Tennyson's and Homer's Ulysses seem to share the passion for adventure and life "gleaming" and "shining".They both reject pauses and passiveness and try their best to live hard every moment, which life gives them. At line 2 there is a metaphor : “the hearth is still” which help the reader to understand Ulysses condition: he doesn’t want to be there.In the last part of the first paragraph there are different alliterations of the sound n, which suggest the exclusion of the protagonist.

The second sequence continues his characterization, referring to his love fore travelling and is need of knowledge.

The third scene is a turning point of the monologue: Ulysses gives Telemachus, his son, the custody of the kingdom. Telemachus' qualities and the virtues of the king (prudence, tenderness, decent) are emphasized also by the alliteration of the sound s and the lexical choice. Telemachus is the opposite Ulysses. Ulysses’ son appears as one of Ulysses’ propriety because of the idea of possession that comes out from all the alliterations “mine” and “own”. In this sequence there is also the desire to leave of Ulysses, which is also present in Dante’s Inferno.The reference to Dante’s comedy is much more recognizable in the following stanza. It contains the exposition of the Ulysses’ decision to leave and the words that he uses to convince his old companions to leave again.

The last stanza Ulysses refers to the mariners, with who he has worked. He declares that although he and they are old, they still have the potential to do something noble and honourable before "the long day wanes." He encourages them to make use of their old age because " 'tis not too late to seek a newer world. They’re old in their physics, but this is worthless because they’re most important part, that is the spirit, is still strong and alive. ) The setting of this stanza is gloomy. The sentence says by the speaking voice, where he affirms that he will "to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeld" can synthetize the whole poem. He accepts his destiny: Ulysses is perfectly aware of the closeness of death and wants to leave anyway.