“Ulysses” By Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ethan Hoyt, Ray cana, Thang Nguyen

What’s Happening Ulysses' 10 year journey has come to an end, however he still yearns for another adventure.

Time Period & Style Written in blank verse Victorian Era

l. 1-5 “idle king”- Boring, pointless, having no true duty “ still hearth”- Safe home, unchanging “barren crags”- Lifeless, infertile “I mete and dole/ Unequal laws unto a savage race,/ That hoard and sleep, and feed, and know not me”- Creating civilized people

l. 6-17 “I cannot rest from travel: I will drink/ Life to the lees”- Get the best out of his life “All times I have enjoy’d . . . I am become a name;”- Journeyed through the best and worst but became famous “For always roaming with a hungry heart . . . But honor’d of them all”- Curiosity breeds discovery “ And drunk delight . . . Troy.”- Love of the fight

l. 18-32 “ I am part of all that I have met;”- Experiences shaped him “ Yet all . . . I move”- Experience enables adventuring “ How dull . . . To breathe were life.”- It is a waste to be idle in life “ Life piled on life . . . Little remains:”- More time is needed for me to be satisfied “ But every hour is save/ From that eternal silence . . . A bringer of new things;”- Seize every moment to do something “ For some three suns to store and hoard myself . . . Beyond the utmost bounds of human thought.”- Desire to journey and experience new things cannot be explained by reason.

l. 33-43 “ This is my son, mine own Telemachos/ To whom I leave the scepter and the isle-”- Leave the throne to his successor “ Well-loved of me, . . ./ Subdue them to the useful and the good.” – King’s role is to civilize his new subjects. “ Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere/ Of common duties, decent not to fail . . ./ When I am gone.”- Telemachos is able to take over the role of King and head of the house.

l. 43-56 “ He works his work, I mine.”- Different jobs, different worlds “ There lies the port, the vessel puffs her sail:/ There gloom the dark broad seas.”- The sea calls for me. “ My mariners,/ Souls that have tol’d and wrought an thought with me-” Seamen, shipmates who have been by my side “ That ever with a frolic welcome took/ The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed/ Free hearts, free foreheads-”- Loyal and hardy “ you and I are old;/ Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;/ Death closes all:”- Time cannot be avoided “ but something ere the end,/ Some work of noble note, may yet be done,/ Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.”- Time left to be used to accomplish great things.

l. 57-64 “ The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: . . . With many voices.”- The world is calling to us “ Come, my friends/ ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.” Let us disembark “ Push off, and sitting well in order smite . . . Until I die.”- Objective is to see and experience all the world has to offer.

l. 65-74 “ It may be that the gulfs will wash us down . . . The Happy Isles,/ And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.”- Though the end is present, paradise of heroes awaits. “ Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’/ We are not now that strength which in old days/Moved heaven and earth; that which we are, we are;”- Our past strength is not present now; it is what it is “ 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.”- The body is weak but the will is strong.

Theme & Purpose The spirit is not bound by man’s mortality. Age does not hold him back – “ . . . But strong in will” Passion supersedes his family

Essay Thesis: Tennyson in his poem of a thirst for adventure, “Ulysses”, utilizes his use of diction and an archetype of the sea as well as figurative language to convey his hunger for adventure and need to escape. Through his emphasis on maritime diction and the archetype of the adventure and mysterious sea, Tennyson effectively reveals his unsated desire for more than a complacent lifestyle. Moreover, Tennyson’s use of powerful metaphors and allusions contribute to accentuate and hyperbolize his integral conflict.

Works Cited Shmoop Editorial Team. “Ulysses: lines 1-11 Summary.” Shmoop.com Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. Tennyson, Alfred. Ulysses. Placerville: Blackwood, 1979. Print. “Tennyson’s Poetry.” N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015

Annotated Poem