Pricing & PlansUlysses

Tennyson, Alfred Lord (1809 - 1892)

1It little profits that an idle king,

2By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
3Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
4Unequal laws unto a savage race,
5That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
6I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
7Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
8Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
9That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
10Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
11Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
12For always roaming with a hungry heart
13Much have I seen and known; cities of men
14And manners, climates, councils, governments,
15Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
16And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
17Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
18I am a part of all that I have met;
19Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
20Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
21For ever and forever when I move.
22How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
23To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
24As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
25Were all too little, and of one to me
26Little remains: but every hour is saved
27From that eternal silence, something more,
28A bringer of new things; and vile it were
29For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
30And this gray spirit yearning in desire
31To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
32Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
33      This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
34To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,--
35Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
36This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
37A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
38Subdue them to the useful and the good.
39Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
40Of common duties, decent not to fail
41In offices of tenderness, and pay
42Meet adoration to my household gods,
43When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
44      There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
45There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
46Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me--
47That ever with a frolic welcome took
48The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
49Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old;
50Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
51Death closes all: but something ere the end,
52Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
53Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
54The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
55The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
56Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
57'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
58Push off, and sitting well in order smite
59The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
60To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
61Of all the western stars, until I die.
62It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
63It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
64And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
65Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
66We are not now that strength which in old days
67Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
68One equal temper of heroic hearts,
69Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
70To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Notes

1]"Ulysses was written soon after Arthur Hallam's death, and gave feeling about the need of
going forward, and braving the struggle of life.

10]Rainy Hyades: a group of stars which rise with the sun in spring at the rainy season.

34]the isle: Ithaca, of which Ulysses was king.

60]the baths: the place where the stars seem to plunge into the ocean.

62]wash us down: The ocean was imagined by Homer as a river encompassing the earth, and
on the west plunging down a vast chasm where was the entrance of Hades.

63]the Happy Isles: the islands of the blessed, supposed to lie to the west of the Pillars of
Hercules, i.e., in the Atlantic. "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Structure

"Ulysses" is divided into three parts. In the first part, Ulysses says there
is little point in his staying home “by this still hearth” with his old wife,
doling out rewards and punishments for the "savage" people who live in
his kingdom.
Then, he emphasizes that he “cannot rest from travel” but is determined
to live to the fullest and swallow every last drop of life. He has enjoyed
all his experiences greatly as a sailor who travels the seas, and he
considers himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and roams the
earth. His travels have made him know many different types of people
and ways of living. They have also made him taste the “delight of battle”
while fighting the Trojan War with his men. Ulysses declares that his
travels and encounters have shaped his character: “I am a part of all that I
have met”. And it is only when he is traveling that the “margin” of the
globe that he has not yet visited shrink and fade, and cease to goad him.
Ulysses declares that it is boring to stay in one place, and that to remain
without action is to rust rather than to shine; to stay in one place is to
pretend that life is the simple act of breathing, whereas he knows that life
is struggle, traveling, action, and he longs to live this kind of life. His
spirit yearns constantly for new experiences that will broaden his
horizons; he wishes “to follow knowledge like a sinking star” and forever
grow in wisdom and in learning.
In part Two, Ulysses speaks about his son Telemachus, who will act as
his successor when he resumes his travels. He speaks highly but also
patronizingly of his son’s capabilities as a ruler, praising his prudence,
dedication, and devotion to the gods. Telemachus will do his work of
governing the island while Ulysses will do his work of traveling the seas:
“He works his work, I mine.”
In the final part, Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has
worked, traveled, and faced bravely life’s storms over many years. He
declares that although he and they are old, they still have the ability to do
something noble and honorable before “the long day wanes.” He
encourages them to make use of their old age because it "is not too late to
seek a newer world.” He declares that his goal is to sail onward “beyond
the sunset” until his death. He suggests that they may reach the “Happy
Isles,” where great heroes like Achilles go after their deaths. Although
Ulysses and his mariners are not as strong as they were in youth, they are
“strong in will” and are able by their resolve to push onward relentlessly:
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Form/Dramatic Monologue
This poem is written as a dramatic monologue: the entire poem is spoken
by a single character, whose identity is revealed by his own words. In the
dramatic monologue, the character is speaking to someone who does not
speak at all. Through the speech, the speaker reveals unintentionally
certain aspects of his character. In this poem, Ulysses appears as a heroic
man who refuses the dull life at home and decides to strive for the
discovery of newer worlds. Hence, he resigns his post as a king to his son
Telemachus and sails with his old men for more knowledge and
experience. This is good, but hidden under his speech, one can see some
bad qualities in his character. For example, he refers to his wife Penelope
as the "aged wife". This is unjust for a woman who remains faithful to
him and waited patiently for his return from the Trojan War, though he
was absent from her for twenty years. His outward praise of his son
Telemachus also hides some scorn and belittlement of the boy who is soft
and decent. Thus, Ulysses appears very proud of himself, and his last
journey may appear as an escape rather than a real longing for knowledge
and experience.
The lines are in blank verse, which serves to give a fluid and natural
quality to Ulysses' speech. Many of the lines are enjambed, which means
that the idea moves on to include many lines. The sentence does not end
at the end of the line but moves on to the next line. The use of
enjambment is appropriate in a poem about pushing forward “beyond the
utmost bound of human thought.”

Themes
1. This poem is about courage and fighting on; fighting even when
one personally sees no point in fighting because all that mattered
has been lost. It says that though we may personally be ‘made
weak by time and fate’ we must remain ‘strong in will’. Man must
not surrender at all; he must strive and fight the difficulties of the
world courageously. Man can follow knowledge to the end of his
life and find out new things and new worlds even if he is old and
physically weak. Old age is not the end of life. As Ulysses tells his
old sailors there is something of noble note yet to be done.

2. This poem also concerns the poet’s own personal journey, for it
was composed in the first few weeks after Tennyson learned of the
death of his dear college friend Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833.
Tennyson was shocked and kept himself at home seeing it is
useless to face the difficulties of life. Ulysses, who symbolizes the
grieving Tennyson, declares his resolution to push onward in spite
of the awareness that “death closes all” (line 51). Tennyson seems
to have written the poem to encourage himself to go out and
resume fighting for a better world despite shocks and setbacks. As
Tennyson himself stated, the poem expresses his own “need of
going forward and braving the struggle of life” after the loss of his
beloved Hallam.

3. 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:
the poem’s hero longs to flee the boring daily life and to travel in
search of knowledge and adventure to the end of the world. Thus
for Tennyson’s immediate audience, the figure of Ulysses held not
only mythological meaning, but stood as an important
contemporary cultural icon as well. In this way, Tennyson has
victorianized a Greek mythological character, by making him
embody the Victorian ideals of heroism.
Q1 What is The main theme of the poem “Ulysses” by Tennyson?

  Fulfillment of life: Ulysses is not satisfied with the kind of idle life he
leads after his return from the Trojan wars. For him, life is not just the
accumulation of years, “Life piled on life.” It is the accumulation of
experiences and knowledge, which come through hard work. Life void of
action and adventure leads to decay, while an active life makes one excel
and shine: “How dull it is to pause, to make an end,/To rust unburnish’d,
not to shine in use!” Ulysses is keen on living life full of knowledge and
adventures.

Q2 What Is Dramatic Monologue And How Does Tennyson Use It

Successfully In His Poem " Ulysses"?

Dramatic monologue is a literary form in which a character, addressing a

silent auditor. The speaker intentionally or unintentionally reveals
information about his personality or his state of mind. In the poem
Ulysses, Ulysses is supposed to be speaking and expressing his thoughts
and feelings to the silent listeners. He is standing before the royal palace
of Ithaca and speaks before the mariners, who had been his fellow
sojourners during his long journey to Troy. The monologue begins with
his cynical remarks towards life.