Ulysses

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Dr. M. Fahmy Raiyah

CONTENTS
Alfred Tennyson
Text
Analysis

THE POET

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

(18091892)
Alfred Tennyson was born August
6th, 1809, in Lincolnshire, the fourth
of twelve children.
The death of his friend Arthur Hallam
in 1833 (he was only 22) shocked
Tennyson profoundly, and his grief
lead to most of his best poetry,
includingIn Memoriam, "The Passing
of Arthur","Ulysses," and "Tithonus.
In 1850 he was appointed as Poet
Laureate
His short poems include short lyrics,
such as "Break, Break, Break", "The
Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears,
Idle Tears" and "Crossing the Bar".

THE POEM

Ulysses
(1842)

It little profits that an idle king, It little profits: It is useless

By this still hearth, among these barren crags, hearth: the area of floor around a fireplace
Matchd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
matched: paired with mete and dole: to give
Unequal laws unto a savage race, unequal: just, treating all people equally
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink drink to the lees: drink to last drop
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoyd (live life to the fullest)
Greatly, have sufferd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro scudding drifts the rainy Hyades thro: through scudding drifts: heavy rain
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; Haydes: a group of stars associated with rain
always roaming with a hungry heart vext: vexed, annoyed, made angry
Much have I seen and known; cities of menI am become a name: I have become famous
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honourd of them all; 15
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro

Gleams that untravelld world whose margin fades
20
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnishd, not to shine in use!
Burnish: polish
As tho to breathe were life! Life piled on life tho: though
Were all too little, and of one to me 25

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were vile: unpleasant
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
Three suns: three
years

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

gray spirit: old man
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle sceptre: stick carried by kings
or queens

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil 35

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild prudence: cautiousness
A rugged people, and through soft degrees rugged: uncivilized
Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail
40
In offices of tenderness, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
....................................
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

gloom

(used as a verb): appearing dark

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with

me
That ever with a frolic welcome took
frolic: cheerful
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed good times
and bad times
Free hearts, free foreheads you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
50
Death closes all: but something ere the end, ere:
before
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite smite: strike (with
oars)

The sounding furrows1; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths2 60
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,3
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
1- a "furrow" here is the track or mark made in water by the
oars.
2- The baths: the ocean where the Greeks believed the stars
descended
3- Happy Isles: Heaven of Greek heroes

Tho much is taken, much abides; and tho abides:

continues to exist

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we
are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 70
yield: surrender

ANALYSIS

FORM
Blank Verse: The poem is written in blank verse or
unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Dramatic Monologue: The dramatic monologue is a
poetic form in which the speaker of the poem is a
character, distinct from the poet, addresses a silent
listener, revealing his or her character, in a certain
situation.
The Victorian period is the high point of this form. It is
commonly used by Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew
Arnold, and others.
Ulysses is spoken by Ulysses, addressing an unidentified
listener or his fellow mariners, expressing his discontent
with living without adventures.

 Stanza form: The poem is divided into three

stanzas, or groups of lines, coinciding with
the division of thought.
o First stanza (lines 1-32): Ulysses is
speaking to himself expressing his
dissatisfaction with his idle life and his
longing for his former life of adventure.
o Second Stanza (lines 33-43): Ulysses
speaks to an unidentified listener about his
son.
o Third Stanza (lines 44-70): Ulysses is
speaking to his old crew about the need to
go again to the sea.

 Elegy: The tone of the poem is

elegiac. It is one of many poems that
Tennyson wrote in response to the
death of his close fiend Arthur Hallam.
The poems reference to death as the
end of a life full of adventures has a
biographical relevance. The poem
also laments the end of a lifestyle, the
life of the restless warrior and
adventurer.

THEMES
Fulfillment of life:
Ulysses is not satisfied with the kind of idle life
he leads after his reurn 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 unburnishd, not
to shine in use! Ulysses is keen on living life to
full.

 Exploration and Colonization: The poem is a

piece of propaganda for imperialism,
encouraging the British to go out and capture
the world. Ulysses is a representative of the
spirit of imperialism during the Victorian period.
Ulysses son, on the other hand, represents the
other side of managing the vast empire, taming
and subduing the savage nations under the
British control. The poem glorifies the life
battles and conquest; Ulysses persuades the
mariners to continue the mission of conquering
new territories to enlarge the empire and to
fulfill Britains obligation to rule and culture
the rest of the world.

Other themes:
Death
Old Age