Ulysses By TennysonLord Alferd Tennyson presents to us in the poem “Ulysses” an old sailor, awarrior and a king who is in retrospection on his experiences of a lifetime oftravel. Ulysses old age and strong will causes him to be restless and unable tobe comfortable at home.
He chooses a life of travel over his family because thatis what he knows best. Because of his faults, we identify with his character. Asa result, Ulysses attempts to go on to face a new but familiar journey, notknowing if it would be his last. By connecting with Ulysses’ courage he awakensthe heroic spirit in all of us. At home Ulysses is unable to adjust to old age.
Regardless of his physical body he feels his spirit is still longing for travel. He feels as though his wife is too old, and he governs the people with norespect, “Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole / Unequal laws unto asavage race, / That hord, and sleep, and feed, and know not of me”(3-5). Ulysses condescends his own son by describing his timidness to rule the peopleand how his son is more capable of the common duties. Ulysses boasts with asense of superiority in trying to reassure himself.
This is my son, mine ownTelemachus, / To whom I leave the scepter and the isle- / Well-loved of me,discerning to fulfill / This labor, by slow prudence to make mild / A ruggedpeople, and through soft degrees / Subdue them to the useful and the good. /Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere / Of common duties, decent not tofail / In offices of tenderness, and pay / Meet adoration to my household gods,/ When I am gone. He works his work, I mine (33-43). Being a life long travelerprevented Ulysses from learning any of the responsibilities of being a fatherand a husband. Instead, he was traveling abroad consoling with kings, generalsand gods, traveling to “cities of men / And manners, climates, councils,governments”(13-14). The only thing he gained from his travels was theunending quest for more.
Retiring home is an unsatisfying dull life, which isimpossible for Ulysses bear. After all the battles and fame he has won Ulyssesrealizes his old age and feels required to “pause, to make and end, / To rustunburnished, not to shine in use! / As though to breathe were life!”(22-24)Ulysses reveals on lines 25-31, his old age and fear of dying, but rejectsdeath’s attempt to muscle its way into his life. Were all too little, and ofone to me Little remains; but every hour is saved From that eternal silence,something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns tostore and hoard myself, And this grey spirit yearning in desire To followknowledge like a sinking star, Ulysses directs the next verse toward hismariners, who have been with him through the bad times unlike his wife who wasunable to. “Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me-“(46). At this point both the bad and the good side of Ulysses can be identified and weare called to join in on the final journey .
. . Come my friends, ?Tis not toolate to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite Thesounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.
It may be the gulfs will wash us down: Itmay be we shall touch the Happy Isles (56-61). Tennyson seals the bond to thereaders and gives us a since of connection to Ulysses courageous mission. We areleft with the encouraging Idea that no matter how old we might be physically thesoul lives on. We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth andheaven, that which we are, we are- One of equal temper of heroic hearts, Madeweak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and notto yield (66-70). This awakens the hero at heart for everyone and makes us feelproud and motivated to take on life.
