He already successfully has completed so many adventurous voyages and now he feels allured to undertake more voyage. But he soon becomes tired of his life and embarked on a voyage. He has been ruling over the people of his kingdom, Ithaca for quite some time. Tennyson himself said, “There is more about myself in Ulysses which was written under the sense of loss and all that had gone by.”Īfter a long absence from his, kingdom Ulysses has returned home. Ulysses expresses the lofty ambition of man’s eternal quest for knowledge. At last, he reached Ithaca, where he ruled over his people for three years. Soon after the Trojan War, he sailed for his own Kingdom and met several adventures on his way back home. Ulysses was the king of the island of Ithaca. They are strong in will “to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield”. Perhaps they will reach the happy isles where they meet great Achilles. Takes its hold on them they would like to do some work of noble note by making use of their old age. Though they are not able to fight with gods as the used to do in their salad days, their spirits have the potential to seek newer worlds. Though their bodies have grown old their minds and spirits are still strong enough to explore the unexplored lands. In the final stanza, he encourages his mariners to move on in life. READ ALSO: Does Aristotle's schema of the elements of tragedy have any relevance today? But he feels that the more he travelled, the more untraveled world is left behind him. His travels have exposed him to various people, manners, states, attitudes, climates and governments. He had experiences which he had enjoyed and suffered greatly both on land and sea and he considered himself as a symbol for adventure. He has also had many setbacks in life which he had to endure patiently. He wants to live life to its fullest, wants to enjoy life to its last drop. He proclaims the fact that he “cannot rest from travel”. He says that he does not want to waste his talents and time by ruling the ignorant masses of Ithaca whose only aim in life is to “hoard and sleep and feed” and is never able to understand his real value. Ulysses is a dramatic monologue where Ulysses is speaking to his fellow mariners about his present situation and his attitude and ambition towards his life. It talks about the desire to reach beyond the limits of human thought. The poem also did have contemporary relevance. He talks about the inevitable hour in everyone’s life and takes a strong resolution to move on though his friend is no more alive. The poem also describes Tennyson’s personal journey after the death of his dearest friend. Ulysses makes this speech shortly after returning to Ithaca where he finds his wife aged and a rocky island which he is supposed to rule. He takes up the hero from Homer’s Odyssey and the medieval hero of Dante’s Inferno and reworks on it to create a hero with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Ulysses is an oft-quoted poem written in blank verse by Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1833 and was published with his Poems in 1842.
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