A. Tennyson – Ulysses – analysis

Alfred Tennyson is an English Victorian poet. His poems are frequently based on classical mythological themes. Ulysses is a poem in blank verses and a dramatic monologue in which Odysseus exposes his inability to rest after the return to Ithaca. Ulysses is a mythological character who fought against the city of Troy as narrated in Homer's Iliad. It takes ten years for him to come back home after the end of the war (Odyssey). The monologue is the bridge between Homer's poems and Dante's Inferno in which Ulysses reports his last sea travel heading towards the mountain of Purgatory.

Ulysses is commonly known for his extraordinary intelligence: building a wooden horse to trick Trojans and to conquer the city is one of the most famous manifestation of his acuteness.

Tennyson's choice of the dramatic monologue implies a deep inner characterization of Ulysses who is he only one speaking to a silent audience.

The text is organized into four stanzas each one of different length.

In the first stanza Ulysses is speaking to himself, complaining that he is now an old, useless “idle king” who laws onto a “savage race”. The semantic choice of “idle” suggests his stagnate sensation of being trapped into a frozen island where no epic journeys or battles are allowed.

Ulysses is an old man, and feels old looking at his “aged wife” that is a metaphor for the erosion of time which is gradually forcing him to abandon sea traveling, the only thing that seems to matter. Ulysses is old but still an ambitious man, as adventurous and curios as ever and cannot stand the sight of such a lazy people who “hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me”. The characterization of the setting is a further element of desperation for Odysseus: the “still heart” cannot cohabit with his burning desire of adventure while the “barren crags” cannot satisfy his glorious desire of life. Barren connotes both the “crags” and the “aged wife” who cannot follow Ulysses' last blaze of life.

The beginning of the second stanza synthesizes Ulysses' feelings: “I cannot rest from travel”. He has devoted his life to traveling: resting on his island feels like dying. He seems to speak to the reader who is now part of the monologue as a silent listener, a pathetic companion of the old hero. The enjambement between “drink” and “life” highlights the expression “life to the lees” providing a deep connotation of Ulysses' desperation.

The following lines portray Ulysses as a romantic hero who has titanically fought against the forces of Nature and who has “suffere'd” and “enjoy'd” his condition. The enjambement underlines the adverb “greatly” which is isolated by the following comma, making the reader linger on the extraordinary and heroic essence Ulysses. The rhythm slows down and communicates the sorrow of a man who has left his life-force in the deepest seas. His “hungry heart”, needing nutrition, made him vexing “the dim sea”, fighting against Neptune and other mythical figures and Gods. Ulysses knows he will not feel like this anymore, he has “become a name”, a shadow of its own glory; his fame is the only thing left.

However Ulysses is a man of mind, always looking for new knowledge. His melancholic “much have I seen and know” conveys his desire to see and to know more. He has met “cities of men, manners”. There is an undercover comparison with the “savage race”: while the unknown and distant “cities” “honour'd” him his own people “know not me”, his own people “know not” him.

He is in need of and “untravell'd world” and he needs to “shine in use!”. The metaphor refers to the shields and swords he used in the Troy War: they need to shine and not to pause, just like him.

Ulysses is nevertheless conscious of his limits as a man: his mind cannot refuse that he is not in full energy. “Little remains”: what remains needs to be “saved”. From now on the theme of Death seems to pervade the monologue: the psychological sorrow caused by his restlessness heart is enlarged by the consciousness of death.

The ending couplet of the stanza is a strong synthesis of Ulysses' philosophy of life: “to follow knowledge (curiosity) like a sinking star (consciousness of death, of being a sinking boat on the sea of life, a boat that needs to shine for the last time) beyond the utmost bound of human thought (the heroic desire to go beyond every limit, to challenge Gods and men)”.

The third stanza introduces Ulysses' son Telemachus. He embodies the features of a Victorian Age man who knows exactly how to act and what to do, setting himself and his people between the useful and the good.

Ulysses loves his on, and loves his isle (“well-loved of me”) but that is not where his heart wants him to be: the government of the island is now up to Telemachus, he needs to go by sea. That is why he “leave”s the “sceptre” the symbol of his power as a king. Telemachus will be a good king, as the lexical choices “mild”, “prudence”, “fulfil”, “useful” and “good” suggest His good ability to reign is conveyed by the accumulation of good features and by the repetition of “my son, mine own” which gives to Telemachus a little bit of his father's abilities.

The ending verse of the stanza is a dramatic consideration on death and on his relationship with his son. The enjambement between “gods” and “when I am gone” isolates the second part of the sentence, making it a sentence of its own. Telemachus will be good as a king, but he is not like his father, their works are separated. He will never be glorious like him. The anaphoric repetition of “work” conveys such separation: Telemachus is the perfect “idle king”, who can “subdue them (“rugged people”) to the useful and the good”. Ulysses travels, and that is his “work”. The stanza is short and conveys the marginal importance of Telemachus: he is not useful for Ulysses' glorious objectives.

The last stanza swifts the audience from the reader to the “mariners”, Ulysses' sailors and companions. Ulysses glances at the port, that “lies” like him on the isle, and that is his way out to the sea. “The vessel puffs her sail”; this is the first thing Ulysses notices: the “brad seas” are calling him and the boat is ready to go. As gloomy as him, the water is dark and seems to miss his hero. The enjambement enlightens the mariners: they are connoted by the possessive “my”, that creates a deep bound between them and Odysseus. The following line strengthens such bound, making the sailors “think” with Ulysses: they are made of his own substance, they are closer to him than Telemachus, welcoming “the thunder and the sunshine” just like him. The balanced king Telemachus could not be more different from them.

A rush of pride seems to pervade Odysseus' words as he says “you and I are old”. But there is still hope, still something to do: even if “death closes all” “honor” remains, and “something ere the end” “may yet be done”. Not his people, not his wife, not even his son can make him feel as proud and alive as his mariners can do. Even if death is closing his circle around them, every second spent together is a second of life, while living “still” and rest on the isle is meaningless. Nature gurgles and the sea bubbles as the man approaches the boats: the long day is setting, a new day of life is climbing. “The deep” is highlighted by the colon and put at the end of the line, in a privileged position.

Ulysses' voice is rising as he calls his friends (“come, my friends”) and invites them to “push off”, to “strive with Gods” and to “sail”. They need to go “beyond the sunset”, where the sun represent the passed day of restfulness and lack of life. Death is the only thing that can stop him.

The last part of the stanza is the ending part of the poem. Ulysses is now flamed with emotion, screaming his heart out. His mind knows he is old, his mariners are old: his heart, however, is stronger and will make him live his life. The lexical choices communicates the contrast between the first and the last stanza: “stars”, “Happy Isles”, “Achilles” are the epic elements that destroy the “savage race” and the “old wife” he is leaving.

In the last three lines Ulysses reaches the peek of emotion. He is now the hero he missed to be, and the whole sailors are united by “one equal temper of heroic hearts”. Even if their bodies are “weak” their will is “strong”. The last line is an extreme and pathetic synthesis of Ulysses philosophy of life: “to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield”, that is how a true man, a true hero must live.