ACTIVITIES - ULYSSES by Lord Tennyson
Ex. 1
- The person, who is speaking is Ulysses. He is expressing his feelings about his past life and he is speaking to no one in particular. Indeed the whole poem is a dramatic monologue and so Ulysses’ words are heard by a silent and unspecified audience, even if in the first lines it seems he is speaking to himself, while reflecting on his life.
- Ulysses is old, like his wife Penelope. The reader understands this by some lines in which the protagonist explains that he has to save as much as possible the last days he has to live on Earth. Moreover there are some references to Death.
- Ulysses is on his island, Ithaca.
- In his speech, Ulysses is setting out on his past life. He remembers all the people, the places and the adventures he had met during the war of Troy. Furthermore he considers all the feelings and thoughts caused by the war.
Ex.2
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Life on Ithaca (lines 1-5)
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It is uncivilised and… Negative adjectives such as idol, aged convey Ulysses’s total dissatisfaction with life on Ithaca
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His past life (lines 6-18)
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During his long travel, Ulysses discovers two sides of human nature: joy and suffering. Both are necessary to became a real person and to reach a complete knowledge about the world and the human nature.
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View of present and future (lines 19-32)
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In these lines Ulysses criticizes the stillness and the immobility. According to him a person “grows up” only with the experience and the exploitations of his/her talents. This concept is highlighted in the sentence: “How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!”
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Attitude to Telemachus (lines 33-44)
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Ulysses’ son Telemachus seems to be the opposite of his father, because, differently from his father, he is able to rule and to subdue his subjects. He is able to subdue them to all everything is good and useful. Ulysses is able only to travel and to gain knowledge through experiences, while he is not good to be the King of Ithaca.
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Address to his mariners (lines 45-70)
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In this section he addresses to his old companion and friends. All the mariners are actually old as Ulysses and he describes them. Both Ulysses and the mariners have enjoyed the experience during the long travel, but they have also suffered. Even if they are old, Ulysses invites them not to be scared by Death, but to live an authentic life until their last moment of life. In this section there is the message of the poem, which describes Tennyson’s thought.
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Ex.3A
Ulysses is describes as an old man, who reflects on his life and on the last moments he can live before to die. He is unhappy for the present situation, because he is the King of Ithaca and he does not like to rule and to make decisions for a community. He prefers to take decisions for himself. The role of ruler fits better to his son Telemachus, who is able to rule on rugged people and to subdue them to good and useful. Ulysses doesn’t like to rule, because he prefers to travel and to have experiences. He can be the symbol of life, because through travelling he lives an original and authentic life. Tennyson’s Ulysses is different from Homer’s or Dante’s Ulysses. In Odyssey he is a young man, who is curious and determined to came back to his native land. In the “Divina Commedia” Dante condemns him for his huge thirst of knowledge and he is collocated in the Hell. In the poem Ulysses is an old man, who reflects on his life and the poet exalts his determinations and ambitions.
Ex. 3B
Lord Tennyson sides with Ulysses because he travels a lot and he lives a lot of different experiences, that make him better himself and live an original life. On the other hand the son Telemachus stays on Ithaca and rules on his people, taking decisions for them and so he lives a non-authentic life.
Ex.4
In my opinion the poem reflects a sense of loss, especially in some lines, while the references to the Death are clear.
Ex.5
The poem is written in blank verse, characterised by an irregular meter and the absence of rhyme scheme. The poet uses some figures of sound, like alliterations, that can be found throughout the whole text. There are alliterations of letters L,M, S, R. Moreover there are some repetitions of vowel sounds in some lines of the poem. The rhythm is created by these devices and by the use of some run-on-lines.
