The character of Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson VS that of Odysseus in Homers odyssey

Poets tend to be based on mythology. He borrows the authority of someone like Homer and Dante.

allusion: implicit references to Homer and Dante. The figure of Ulysses represents a fighter, the archetypal traveler-adventurer who gains experience and knowledge. Dramatic monologue by somebody other than the poet speaking out in the present tense. What is the relationship between a poet and speaker ? the speaker could be a mouthpiece for the poet

 the poet  could be a mouthpiece for the speaker

something in between

• Summary and analysis of Tennyson’s Ulysses: Ulysses is narrated by an aged Ulysses  who has become dissatisfied with his life as king of Ithaca. Ulysses had spent years fighting the Trojans (as described in the Iliad) and trying to return home (which is the subject of The Odyssey); but now that his journey is complete he feels restless and yearns to get back out into the world.

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.

from the style of writing : images of stillness

“barren” (line 2): 1)Sterile 2) vegetation.

Aged wife: Peneloppe

Describes his home in terms of barreness, stillness, idleness. He despises them (“I mete and dole”)

When he describes past travels: desire, happiness then, enjoyed    

Line 18: “I am a part of all that I have met”: my character has been shaped by the experiences I ve gained and I love traveling. So why line 23: “to rust unburnished and not shine in use”?

Ulysses declares that it is boring to stay in one place, and that to remain stationary is to rust rather than to shine; to stay in one place is to pretend that all there is to life is the simple act of breathing, whereas he knows that in fact life contains much novelty, and he longs to encounter this. His spirit yearns constantly for new experiences that will broaden his horizons;

Ulysses (Odysseus) declares that there is little point in his staying home "by this still hearth" with his old wife, doling out rewards and punishments for the unnamed masses who live in his kingdom.

Still speaking to himself he proclaims that he "cannot rest from travel" but feels compelled to live to the fullest and swallow every last drop of life. He has enjoyed all his experiences as a sailor who travels the seas, and he considers himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and roams the earth. His travels have exposed him to many different types of people and ways of living. They have also exposed him to the "delight of battle" while fighting the Trojan War with his men. Ulysses declares that his travels and encounters have shaped who he is: "I am a part of all that I have met," he asserts. And it is only when he is traveling that the "margin" of the globe that he has not yet traversed shrink and fade, and cease to goad him.

He knows he does not have much life left so what is the point in living there?

Lines 30-1-2: sinking star : represents death. He can never reach knowledge but he doesn’t want to stop traveling. Is knowledge that of death or the desire to travel?

He wishes "to follow knowledge like a sinking star" and forever grow in wisdom and in learning.

Next stanza: talks about his son.

Ulysses now speaks to an unidentified audience concerning his son Telemachus, who will act as his successor while the great hero resumes his travels: he says, "This is my son, mine own Telemachus, to whom I leave the scepter and the isle." 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."

Lines: 43: “his work, I mine”: contrast between domestic world and traveling.

When he turns to Telemachus, there is little disguise left. The naked scorn of the opening lines has simply changed to a more confident, if bored, patronizing. Ulysses "accepts" Telemachus and his duties, certainly, but he accepts them as inferior, hardly deserving of his attention. This sense of casual superiority is carried largely by his diction, which is weary, cliché-filled, "official" language. The tinge of parody is most apparent in his compliments: Telemachus is "most blameless" (l. 39) -- that is, most mediocre. Ulysses's evident relief at having dismissed this tiresome subject -- "He works his work, I mine" (l. 43) -- emphasizes the enormous elevation he has attained. The key is "I mine." He declares his intent to leave the throne to his son Telemachus ("He works his work, I mine") and gather up all of his old sailors for one final voyage:

... my purpose holds

Last stanza: He talks about heroic hearts: kind of a male idea (that of a hero)

How does he use heroism? Heroes who have the appearance of old men still fighting though they are aged: emphasis on age.

In the final stanza, Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has worked, traveled, and weathered life's storms over many years. He declares that although he and they are old, they still have the potential to do something noble and honorable before "the long day wanes." He encourages them to make use of their old age because "'tis not too late to seek a newer world." He declares that his goal is to sail onward "beyond the sunset" until his death. Perhaps, he suggests, they may even reach the "Happy Isles," or the paradise of perpetual summer described in Greek mythology where great heroes like the warrior Achilles were believed to have been taken after their deaths. Although Ulysses and his mariners are not as strong as they were in youth, they are "strong in will" and are sustained by their resolve to push onward relentlessly: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

• Form: 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. The lines are in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, which serves to impart a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses's speech. Many of the lines are enjambed, which means that a thought does not end with the line-break; the sentences often end in the middle, rather than the end, of the lines. The use of enjambment is appropriate in a poem about pushing forward "beyond the utmost bound of human thought." Process of thought is closer to the way we think. Finally, the poem is divided into four paragraph-like sections, each of which comprises a distinct thematic unit of the poem.
• Conclusion: "Ulysses," like many of Tennyson's other poems, deals with the desire to reach beyond the limits of one's field of vision and the mundane details of everyday life.

As in all dramatic monologues, here the character of the speaker emerges almost unintentionally from his own words. Ulysses' incompetence as a ruler is evidenced by his preference for potential quests rather than his present responsibilities. He devotes a full 26 lines to his own egotistical proclamation of his zeal for the wandering life, and another 26 lines to the exhortation of his mariners to roam the seas with him. However, he offers only 11 lines of lukewarm praise to his son concerning the governance of the kingdom in his absence, and a mere two words about his "aged wife" Penelope. Thus, the speaker's own words betray his abdication of responsibility and his specificity of purpose.

And while on the one hand we have a true hero craving for his home in an extended definition of the word (homeland, family, subjects) here, we have some one who is eager to leave Ithaca because it is a place no more familiar to him, having lost ties with family members and his land, he just misses traveling which of course he finds extremely exciting as contrasted with the –as he sees it-boring life in Ithaca.

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