Ulysses

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
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 untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one 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 to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
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,—
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
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,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
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,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
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,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
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.
- Alfred Tennyson (1809 – 1892)
- He Became Poet Laureate in 1850. Since the demise of Wordsworth
- He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830.
- Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes
- At the age of 17 published first poem - Poems by two brothers (1826)
- Went to trinity college, where he befriended with Arthur Henry Halam
- “I don't think that since Shakespeare there has been such a master of the English language
as I — to be sure, I have nothing to say”. - Tennyson

- Works
- In memoriam AHH: (1850)
- Lotus Eaters: (1832)
- Trip to Spain with AH Halam, which inspires his to write the poem
- It is a Choric song of the Lotus Eater’s:
- It is opposite of Ulysses: after the Trojan war he visited many places:
- Lotus is an island in Africa he visited where the inhabitance eat Lotus, which contains
narcotic elements.
- Ulysses visited and warm welcomed by all and are given the Lotus and all have it
except Ulysses:
- then all are kicked and lulled in the shore of the sea and sing:
- that song is the Choric song of Lotus Eaters.
- Theme: why should we toil hard, struggle, see and strive? At last Ulysses persuaded
them and lead again..
- Quote: “There is no joy but calm!’ – Why should / We only toil, the roof and crown of
things?”

- Quotes
- "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”
- "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”
- "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”
- "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”
- "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”

- Facts about the poem Ulysses

- "Ulysses" is a poem in blank verse
- Written in 1833 and published in 1842 in his well-received second volume of poetry
- Poems (1842): a two-volume collection in which new poems and reworked older ones
were printed in separate volumes
- His closest friend, Arthur Hallam, died in 1833.
- Tennyson said of the poem: “Ulysses was written soon after Arthur Hallam’s death, and
gave my feeling about the need of going forward, and braving the struggle of life.”
- Unlike other poems, ”Ulysses” was not revised after its publication
- It is a popular example of the dramatic monologue
- Twin Poems: A pair of poems that discuss contrasting views on life are “Ulysses” and “The
Lotos Eaters”
- Ulysses
- Ulysses is the latin variant of Odysseus
- He is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca
- He is the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey
- He is returning from the Trojan War (10 years)
- He is returning to his kingdom - Ithaca
- Name of His Wife - Penelope
- Name of his Sone - Telemachus
- Name of Father - Laertes
- Name of Mother - Anticlea

- Homer / Dante
- The adventures of Odysseus were first recorded in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (800–700 BC)
- Most critics find that Tennyson's Ulysses recalls Dante's Ulisses in his Inferno (1320 AD)
- Ulysses appears in works by several other authors, including Euripides, Horace, William
Shakespeare, and Alexander Pope.
- But the most important source for the character in Tennyson’s poem is the Canto 26
Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy, an epic poem by the medieval Italian poet
Dante.
- 3 division of Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso
- In Dante's portrayal, Ulysses and Diomedes are condemned for using his cleverness and
eloquence to deceive others.The two are punished for their roles in deceitful schemes,
including the Trojan Horse, which led to the fall of Troy.
- In Dante's moral universe, Ulysses' desire to go beyond the limits of human experience is
seen as hubris, leading to his punishment in Hell.
- However, in Ulysses, Tennyson presents an older Ulysses, restless and dissatisfied with life
after returning to Ithaca. While Homer’s Odysseus eventually finds peace at home,
 Tennyson’s version longs for new adventures, which represents a significant departure
from Homer’s narrative
- In Dante’s version, Ulysses is portrayed as a restless seeker of knowledge who goes on one
final voyage beyond the known world, driven by insatiable curiosity. He dies at sea,
defying the limits set by the gods.

Dramatic Monologue
- Only one Speaker, who speaks in an uninterrupted flow
- It is the speaker not the poet
- He talks about a very dramatic situation in his life
- There will be a silent listener
- We will get the reactions of silent listener from the speech

Vocabulary
- Crags (Line 2) - Steep, rugged rocks.
- Mete (Line 3) - To deal out.
- Dole (Line 3) - To give out, distribute
- Lees (Line 7) - The sediment left at the bottom of a vessel of wine or some other liquid. To
"drink to the lees" means to drink to the very last drop.
Scudding (Line 10) - Moving swiftly along the water. Drifts (Line 10) - A rain shower driven by
the wind.
- Hyades (Line 10) - A cluster of stars located in the head of the constellation Taurus. In Greek
mythology, the Hyades were a group of nymphs who wept when their brother Hyas died and
were transformed into a group of stars that became associated with rain.
- Vext (Line 11) - Troubled or disturbed.
Margin (Line 20) - An edge or boundary; the outermost part of
- something.
- Unburnish’d (Line 23) - Not polished.
- Vile (Line 28) - Disgraceful.
- Suns (Line 29) - Years.
- Sceptre (Line 34) - An ornamental rod used to signify kingship or rule.
- Discerning (Line 35) - Working thoughtfully.
- Prudence (Line 36) - Wise, sensible judgment. Meet (Line 42) - Appropriate.
Wrought (Line 46) - Worked.
- Frolic (Line 47) - Joyful.
Unbecoming (Line 53) - Not appropriate for.
Wanes (Line 55) - Grows dark.
 Smite (Line 58) - Strike.
Sounding (Line 59) - Reverberating with sound. Furrows (Line 59) - The tracks left by a ship
over the sea. Gulfs (Line 62) - Deep parts of the ocean.
- Happy Isles (Line 63) - In Greek mythology, the place where the souls of blessed mortals go
after death (like the Christian notion of Heaven). Blessed mortals would include great warriors
like Achilles.
- Achilles (Line 64) - The greatest warrior on the Greek side when the Greeks, including
Ulysses, fought the Trojans during the Trojan War.
- Abides (Line 65) - Remains.
- Temper (Line 68) - Character, especially a character that is balanced and composed.

Form, Metre and Rhyme

- It does not have regular stanzas.
- Instead it is divided into three sections of different lengths:
- Section 1: Lines 1 - 32 - Focuses on Ulysses's present and past, and seems to be addressed to
Ulysses himself
- Section 2: Lines 33 - 43 - Focuses on his son, Telemachus.
- Section 3: Lines 44 - 70 - Focus on Ulysses's future, and it is addressed to his former crew-
mates
- The poem is written in iambic pentameter
- That hoard, | and sleep, | and feed, | and know | not me.
- The poem frequently deviates from the meter, however, and especially makes use of
spondees - two stressed syllables.
- There is no regular rhyme scheme in the poem, which is written in blank verse

Poetic Devices
- ALLUSION : An allusion in a poem refers to a person, place, historical event, or ancient
source such as the Bible, mythology, ancient poets etc.
- Homer’s Greek epic The Odyssey and Dante's Inferno
- At one point, the goddess Calypso holds Odysseus captive on her island and offers to
make Odysseus immortal and allow him to stay with her as her lover
- Yes, in The Odyssey, after Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, the Cyclops prays to his father,
Poseidon, the god of the sea, to take revenge on Odysseus and make his journey home as
difficult as possible. This scene is pivotal because it sets the stage for Poseidon's relentless
hostility toward Odysseus throughout the epic. Polyphemus prays:
- "Hear me, Poseidon, Earthshaker, dark-haired god,
If I am truly your son,
Grant that Odysseus, the sacker of cities,
 Will never reach his home on Ithaca.
But if it is fated for him to return,
Let him come late, having lost all companions,
In another’s ship, and find trouble at home."
- Following this, Poseidon makes Odysseus' journey arduous, and Odysseus faces many
trials.
- Line 2: “barren crags”
- Line 3: “aged wife”
- Line 6: “I cannot rest from travel:”
- Lines 13-14: “Much have I seen and known; cities of men / And manners, climates, councils,
governments,”
- Lines 16-17: “And drunk delight of battle with my peers, / Far on the ringing plains of windy
Troy.”
- Lines 19-21: “Yet all experience is an arch where thro' / Gleams that untravell'd world
whose margin fades / Forever and forever when I move.”
- Lines 30-32: “And this gray spirit yearning in desire / To follow knowledge like a sinking
star, / Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. ”
- Lines 56-61: “Come, my friends, / 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. / Push off, and
sitting well in order smite / The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds / To sail beyond the
sunset, and the baths / Of all the western stars, until I die. ”
- Line 62: “It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: ”

- SYNECDOCHE: As a literary device, synecdoche allows for a smaller component of something

to stand in for the larger whole,
- Lines 30-32: “And this gray spirit yearning in desire / To follow knowledge like a sinking
star, / Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.”
- Lines 45-46: “My mariners, / Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—”
- Line 68: “One equal temper of heroic hearts,”

- Metonymy
- Line 34: “the sceptre” - Metonymy

- UnderStatement: It is a literary device by which a particular quality of a person, object,

emotion, or situation is downplayed or presented as being less than what is true to the
situation
- Line 15: “Myself not least”
- Line 39: “Most blameless is he”
- Line 40: “decent not to fail”
 - Line 53: “Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.”

- METAPHOR: A metaphor makes a comparison by stating that one thing is something else
without using like or as.
- Lines 6-7: “I will drink / Life to the lees”
- Line 12: “hungry heart”
- Line 16: “drunk delight of battle”
- Line 17: “ringing plains of windy Troy”
- Line 18: “I am a part of all that I have met”
- Line 23: “To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!”
- Lines 66-67: “We are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven”

- Diacope: It is a rhetorical device that involves the repetition of words, separated by a small
number of intervening words. It comes from the Greek word thiakhop, meaning “cutting in
two.” The number of words in between the repeated words of a diacope can vary, but it
should be few enough to produce a rhetorical effect.
- Line 8: “Greatly,” “greatly”
- Line 21: “For ever,” “forever”
- Line 24: “life,” “Life,” “life”
- Line 25: “little”
- Line 26: “Little”
- Line 49: “old”
- Line 50: “Old”
- Line 65: “much,” “much”
- Line 67: “we are,” “we are”

- ASSONANCE : The repetition of vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry

- Line 1: “i,” “i,” “i”
- Line 2: “i,” “i,” “a,” “a”
- Line 3: “a,” “a,” “a”
- Line 4: “a,” “a”
- Line 49: “o”
- Line 50: “O,” “o”
- Line 51: “o,” “o”
- Line 52: “o,” “o,” “o,” “o,” “o”
- Line 53: “o,” “u,” “o,” “o,” “o”
- ALLITERATION : The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or
stressed syllables
- Line 12: “h,” “h”
- Line 16: “d,” “d”
- Line 31: “s,” “s”
- Line 32: “B,” “b”
- Line 52: “n,” “n”
- Line 68: “h,” “h”
- Line 69: “w,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “w”
- Line 70: “T,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “s,” “t”

- SIMILE : The subject of the poem is described by comparing it to another object or subject,
using 'as' or 'like'
- Lines 30-32: “And this gray spirit yearning in desire / To follow knowledge like a sinking
star, / Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.”

- ENJAMBMENT: Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break

- Line 3: “dole”
- Line 4: “Unequal”
- Line 6: “drink”
- Line 7: “Life,” “enjoy'd”
- Line 8: “Greatly,” “those”
- Line 9: “That,” “when”
- Line 10: “Thro',” “Hyades”
- Line 11: “Vext”
- Line 12: “heart”
- Line 13: “Much,” “men”
- Line 14: “And”
- Line 19: “wherethro'”
- Line 20: “Gleams,” “fades ”
- Line 21: “For”
- Line 24: “life”
- Line 25: “Were,” “me”
- Line 26: “Little,” “saved”
- Line 27: “From”
- Line 28: “were”
- Line 29: “For”
- Line 30: “desire”
 - Line 31: “To”
- Line 35: “fulfil”
- Line 36: “This,” “mild”
- Line 37: “A,” “degrees”
- Line 38: “Subdue”
- Line 39: “sphere ”
- Line 40: “Of,” “fail ”
- Line 41: “In,” “pay ”
- Line 42: “Meet”
- Line 47: “took”
- Line 48: “The,” “opposed ”
- Line 49: “Free”
- Line 55: “deep ”
- Line 56: “Moans”
- Line 58: “smite”
- Line 59: “The,” “holds”
- Line 60: “To,” “baths”
- Line 61: “Of”
- Line 65: “tho'”
- Line 66: “We,” “days ”
- Line 67: “Moved”
- Line 69: “will ”
- Line 70: “To”

McQs
1. Ulysses is also known as
1. Odysseus
2. What was Ulysses son’s Name
1. Telemachus
3. Ulysses feels annoyed with
1. His wife
4. Ulysses fought inn the ………… war
1. Trojan War
5. Who wrote the poem Ulysses
1. Alfred Tennyson
6. When was ulysses written
1. 1833
7. Ulysses is the king of ………..
1. Ithaca
8. When was Ulysses published
 1. 1842
9. Ulysses is written after the death of …………
1. Best friest Arthur halam
10. Tennyseon belongs to which age of English Literature
1. Victorian
11. Ulysses is primarily an example of
1. Dramatic Monologue
12. The poem written in the form of ………….
1. Blank verse
13. At the end Ulysses hopes to meet …………..
1. Achilles
14. What classic work most influenced Tennyson’s poem, Ulysses
1. Dante’s Inferno (canto 26)
15. How many sections are there in the poem
1. Three
16. How many lines are there in the poem
1. 70
17. Who is ulysses
1. King of Ithaca, Varier of Trojan War
18. What was Ulysses’ wife name
1. Penelope
19. Figure of speech used in this line ‘ To follow knowledge like a sinking star’
1. Simili e
20. What is Hyades
1. Group of 7 start responsible for rain and storm (V shaped)
21. Tennyson became Poet Laureate in the year
1. 1850
22. After the Trojan War how long did Ulysses stay in Ithaca
1. Three Years
23. In the poem Hoard Means
1. To collect
24. Ulysses was addressing his
1. Mariners
25. Ulysses compares himself to ………. In the poem
1. Sword
26. The Old age hath its honour and ………..
1. Toil
27. Ulysses hope that in the happy isles they could meet ….
1. Achilles
28. Eternal Silence is an example for
1. Euphemism
29. Happy isle refers to ………….
1. Canary Island
30. Which is the twin poem of Ulysses
1. Lotus Eaters
31. He works his work, I mine - about whom Ulysses says this
 1. Telemachus
32. Ulysses believes that Old age is not an age of ………….
1. Rest
33. Drunk delight of battle - allusion is to ………. Work
1. Iliad
34. ‘I mete and dole’ - Here mete and dole means ………….
1. Administer or rule
35. Free heart and Free foreheads are the examples of …………..
1. Synecdoche
36. Sceptre is an example of ……………
1. Metonymy
37. …………… margin is fading foreever.
1. The Untravelled world
38. The last line of the poem is …………
1. To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield
39. In the poem the word ‘crags’ means …………
1. Rocky island
40. Which poem of Tennyson is based on Homer’s Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno?
1. Ulysses
41. Who are regarded as savage race in the poem
1. People of Ithaca
42. Who is described as the most blameless in this poem
1. Telemachus