Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses

The present poem consists of a dramatic monologue held by the mythological character Ulysses, one who definitely stroke Tennyson’s attention for his heroic deeds, his experiences up hills (Troy) and down dales (Aegean Sea), his eagerness to travel, to know, to discover, to live.

The poem is based on a combination of Homer's account in his Odyssey with Dante's version of Ulysses' story. According to Dante, Ulysses never returned to his island home from Ithaca after the fall of Troy; instead he persuaded some of his followers to seek next experiences and proposed a voyage of exploration towards the west beyond the strait of Gibraltar. Tennyson, on the contrary, pictures Ulysses in Ithaca some time after his reunion with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus and, presumably, after he had resumed the administrative responsibilities involved in governing his kingdom.

The poem is arranged into five stanzas of different length, but it might be divided into three narrative cores:

1. The first one has the function to supply a psychological characterization of the speaking voice: one who "cannot rest from travel" but feels compelled to live to the fullest and swallow every last drop of life. One who enjoyed all his experiences as a sailor traveler of the seas. One who had been exposed to many different people and ways of living. One who had be plunged into war. Ulysses himself declares his travels and encounters shaped the man he actually is: indeed he asserted "I am a part of all that I have met" . In conclusion he expresses his desire to “follow knowledge like a sinking star", asserting that – I anticipate what Ulysses will tell his mariners in the last sequence - even if everyone has to die, there is still time to live, starting for new adventures.

2. The second one introduces the character of Telemachus, his son, whose nature contrasts with the heroic one of his father: Telemachus embodies the typical features of the Victorian hero, someone who acts “between the useful and the good”, according to Utilitarian principles. Telemachus will succeed Ulysses as a moderate ruler, praised for his prudence, dedication, and devotion to the gods. Simultaneously to his son’s reign, Ulysses will do his job of traveling the seas ("He works his work, I mine.")

3. In the last sequence Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has worked, traveled, and weathered life's storms over many years. He declares that despite they are quite old, they still have the potential to do something noble and honorable before "the long day wanes." Therefore, even if Ulysses is aware death is coming closer, he wants to take advantage from a last voyage in order to be glorious and heroic for one last time.

In conclusion the reader may infer that Tennyson shapes his Ulysses considering Dante’s one, rather than the one of the Odyssey: from the Greek epic poem the Victorian poet deduces Ulysses' heroism, while from the "Divina Commedia" he recalls his "thirst of knowledge" which flows into the value of "curiositas". Moreover, similarly to the Dante Alighieri, the poet focuses on the old Ulysses who came back to Ithaca after his long journey. On the other hand there are many discrepancies about the reason which brought the romantic hero to leave: the main reason is again the curiosity to travel and to know, but Tennyson adds the awareness of a death which is coming closer and closer and the unwillingness to reign boringly, a role Ulysses considers unsuitable.