Analysis Ulysses

Ulysses is a dramatic monologue written by Alfred Tennyson. The poem is spoken by a single character, whose identity is revealed by his own words. The lines are in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, which imparts a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses’s speech. In addition it is used enjambement, indeed a thought does not end with the line-break.

Tennyson reworks the figure of Ulysses by drawing on the ancient hero of Homer’s Odyssey and the medieval hero of Dante’s Inferno; he combines these two accounts. Differently from Homer's Ulysses, Tennyson's Ulysses is old and after his long voyage, he does not stay at home with Penelope but leaves again in the name of knowledge and curiosity.

Ulysses, reflects on his present condition; first of all he considers his status: he is an idle king in an almost spectral kingdom (still hearth, barren crags), his wife is getting old and his subjects seem to be like savage animals and they do not even know him. It seems as if Ulysses is disgusted about the reality in which he lives. He says "I cannot rest from travel", he misses his voyages and adventures and he feels imprisoned in such a static island. Ulysses lived great and terrible experiences, he was always with his crew, he discovered the meaning of friendship and hate, he travelled all around the world and came into contact with multiple peoples, ideas and customs but specially he "knew himself". Ulysses quotes the “windy Troy”, it follows that the intelligent reader can create a parallel with Homer's Ulysses. Tennyson's and Homer's Ulysses seem to share the passion for adventure and life. They both reject relax and try to live hard every moment. Indeed Ulysses declares that it is boring to stay in one place, and that to remain stationary is to rust rather than to shine.

Then there is a turning point of the monologue: Ulysses speaks to his son Telemachus, who will act as his successor, he do his work of governing the island while Ulysses will do his work of traveling the seas: “He works his work, I mine.”
The next scene regards Ulysses' departure with his crew: they are old but ready for new adventures (free hearts, free foreheads). The setting is frightening (dark broad seas, slow moon, deep moans) and the speaker is conscious of the risk, however Ulysses does not change his decision, he is hungry to explore the untraveled world.

The poem’s final line, “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,” came to serve as a motto for the poet’s Victorian contemporaries: he was a model of individual self-assertion. The figure of Ulysses held not only mythological meaning, but stood as an important contemporary cultural icon.