Ex 1

• The person who is speaking is Ulysses. He is telling his feelings about his life in the past and he is speaking to noone in particular. Indeed the whole poem is a dramatic monologue and so while Ulysses is speaking nobody talks 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. Furthermore there are some references to death.
• Ulysses is on his island, that is 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. Moreover he considers all the feelings and thoughts caused by the war.

Ex 2

Life on Ithaca (lines 2-5): It is barbarian and uncivilised;

His past life:he misses it, and recognises its value; words recall greatness and knowledge;

View of present and future (19-32):the present has to be accepted; and words recall hope and a desire to work;

Attitude to Telemachus (33-44):he knows he will be a greater king than him; he is intelligent;

Address to his mariners (45-70):his mariners were his friends, and mostly they were equal to him;

Ex 3

a)    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 sad for his situation in the present, because he is the King of Ithaca and he doesn’t like to rule and to get decisions for a community. The role of ruler fits better to his son Telemachus, who is able to rule on rugged people.

Ulysses doesn’t like to rule, because he prefers to travel and to live several 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 Ulysses. In Odyssey he is a young man, who is curious and determined to came back to his native land.

b)    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 his 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 and death.

Ex.5

The poem is written in blank verse, characterised by an irregular meter and there isn’t a rhyme scheme. The poet uses some figures of sound, like alliterations, that can be found throughout the whole text. There are alliterations of some letters like L,M, S, R. Moreover there are some repetitions of vowel sounds in some lines of the poem.