How does Tennyson use poetic methods in Ulysses?

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How does Tennyson use Poetic methods in Ulysses

Tennyson sets the narrative as king Ulysses from the beginning of the poem. This means the reliability of the narrator is considerably greater than if it were for example a third person narrative. Tennyson may have used this method of telling the story to expel any sense of doubt tin the reader about the events that are happening, as the poem is about a king- from a king’s perspective. In comparison however, this could add the possibility of bias to the poem. King Ulysses tells the reader of his travels, and heavily portrays himself as somewhat heroic; he has travelled far, fought hard and lived life to the maximum. However he is now stuck at home as an old man- this could mean he is exaggerates the memories he has to the reader, purely for impact, possibly meaning we as the reader do not get a balanced picture of everything that he describes such as his wife being “aged” and that being all the information we receive about her.

In the first stanza, Ulysses describes his current situation. He begins by describing his surroundings and role as king as very dull and drab. Tennyson immediately paints the reader a picture of a man who is unhappy. By using language like “still hearth” and “I mete an dole”, we start to understand that he feels stuck; he doesn’t enjoy his role and something is clearly missing from his life, the “still hearth”  being a metaphor for his loss of passion and burning drive.

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By this point we can identify the poem to be a dramatic monologue. Tennyson may have chosen to make the poem a dramatic monologue as it enhances our understanding of Ulysses- it presents Ulysses’ interests, temperament and character, adding effect to the poem. It is much easier to empathise with Ulysses this way. It allows Tennyson to add subjective emphasis to what he chooses, providing a clearer image of Ulysses as a character.  

Further on in the first part, Ulysses begins to describe his past. This is a crucial part in the structure of the poem, as it becomes ...

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