Ulysses

Summary

Ulysses is a seventy-line dramatic monologue in blank verse that Tennyson wrote in October 1833, within weeks of learning that his closest friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, had died suddenly in Vienna. He published it in his two-volume Poems of 1842. The speaker is Homer's Odysseus, called by his Latin name, years after his return to Ithaca. Homer has the prophet Tiresias foretell that he will make one more journey inland and die a gentle death in old age; Dante, in Inferno XXVI, imagines instead that he set out again with his old companions past the Pillars of Hercules and drowned within sight of a mountain. Tennyson takes the moment before that last voyage. In the first movement the aged king, idle by his hearth among barren crags, scorns the dull work of ruling a savage race who hoard, sleep and feed and do not know him. He cannot rest from travel; he has enjoyed and suffered greatly, become a name, and seen cities, peoples and the plains of windy Troy. He is a part of all he has met, yet experience is an arch through which the untravelled world gleams and recedes. To pause is to rust, and he longs to follow knowledge like a sinking star. In the second movement he presents his son Telemachus, who will inherit the island and by slow prudence civilize its people, blameless and devoted to common duties and the household gods: he works his work, I mine. Readers differ on whether this praise is warm or faintly condescending. In the third movement he turns to the harbour and to his old mariners. They are old, but death closes all, and some work of noble note may yet be done. As the long day wanes and the moon climbs, he urges them to push off and sail beyond the sunset until he dies, perhaps to be drowned, perhaps to reach the Happy Isles and see Achilles. The poem ends with its most famous line: though much is taken, they remain strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Tennyson later said the poem expressed his feeling about the need to go forward after Hallam's death.

Plot or Argument

• Lines 1-32: The restless king

  Ulysses scorns his idle rule over Ithaca, recalls his wanderings and the war at Troy, and declares that life is more than breathing and that he yearns to follow knowledge beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

• Lines 33-43: Telemachus

  He presents his son as heir, praising his prudence, patience and piety in the common duties of government, and separates their callings: he works his work, I mine.

• Lines 44-61: The call to the mariners

  At the harbour at dusk he addresses his aging companions, insisting that some work of noble note may still be done, and announces his purpose to sail beyond the sunset until he dies.

• Lines 62-70: The resolve

  He weighs drowning against the Happy Isles and Achilles, admits what time has taken, and closes with the vow to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Characters

• Ulysses, speaker; aged king of Ithaca

  Homer's Odysseus in old age, restless at home and resolved on a final voyage.

• Telemachus, his son and heir

  Praised as prudent, blameless and fit for the patient work of governing Ithaca.

• The mariners, his old companions

  Aging shipmates who once shared his labours, now summoned to sail again.

• Achilles, remembered hero

  The great warrior of Troy whom Ulysses hopes to see again in the Happy Isles.

Lessons

• Life is more than breathing

  Ulysses refuses to rust unburnished and insists that every hour saved from death should bring something new. The poem gives a powerful voice to the conviction that a human life is measured by its use and striving rather than by its length.

  • What does Ulysses mean by As tho' to breathe were life?
  • Why does he compare himself to an unpolished tool?
  • Is his restlessness a virtue, a fault, or both?

• Two callings, one household

  The middle section sets the father's vocation of adventure beside the son's vocation of patient government. Ulysses calls Telemachus blameless and fitted for the useful and the good, then says he works his work, I mine. The poem invites readers to weigh the heroic and the domestic as different kinds of duty.

  • What qualities does Ulysses praise in Telemachus?
  • Is the praise sincere, or does Ulysses think his son's work is lesser?
  • Which life would serve Ithaca better?

• Courage in old age

  Ulysses and his mariners are old and weakened by time and fate, yet he insists that something ere the end may yet be done. Written by a grieving young poet, the poem turns loss into resolution, and its closing line has become a motto for perseverance.

  • What does Ulysses admit has been taken from him and his men?
  • How does knowing that Tennyson wrote this after Hallam's death change your reading?
  • Why has the last line been used so often as a motto?

Context

Tennyson wrote Ulysses in the autumn of 1833 after the sudden death of Arthur Henry Hallam, the brilliant friend engaged to his sister Emily. The poem belongs to the same period of grief that produced the first sections of In Memoriam. Its sources are Homer's Odyssey, especially Tiresias's prophecy in Book XI of a last journey, and Dante's Inferno XXVI, where Ulysses tells of a final voyage beyond the known world that ends in shipwreck.

Composition

The manuscript is dated October 1833. Tennyson withheld it during a decade of little publishing after harsh reviews of his 1832 volume, and it appeared in Poems (1842), the two-volume collection that established his reputation. Tennyson remarked later, as recorded in his son's memoir, that it gave his feeling about the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life after Hallam's loss.

Reception

The poem was admired from its first publication and became one of the most quoted Victorian poems. Its closing line has served as a motto for explorers, schools and athletes, and in the twentieth century critics debated whether Ulysses is a model of heroic perseverance or a restless figure who abandons his duties, a question the Dantean source sharpens.

Comparisons

• the-odyssey

  Homer's Odysseus longs for home and fights to reach Ithaca; Tennyson's, having reached it, longs to leave, building on Tiresias's prophecy in Book XI.

• the-divine-comedy

  In Inferno XXVI Ulysses urges his old crew to pursue virtue and knowledge beyond the world's edge and drowns; Tennyson borrows the speech but leaves its outcome open.

• my-last-duchess

  Browning's duke, like Tennyson's king, reveals himself through a single dramatic monologue; the two poems of the 1830s and 1840s helped define the form.

• on-his-blindness

  Milton's sonnet finds service in patient waiting when action is denied; Ulysses refuses to wait and seeks service in action to the end.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The scornful opening lines about an idle king, an aged wife and a savage race, and what they reveal about the speaker's mood.
• The image of experience as an arch through which the untravelled world gleams in lines 19-21.
• The change of tone when Ulysses presents Telemachus in lines 33-43, and the phrase he works his work, I mine.
• The slow monosyllables of dusk in lines 54-56 before the call Come, my friends.
• The four infinitives of the final line and the order in which they come.

Key terms and names

Dramatic monologue

A poem spoken by one character to a listener at a particular moment, revealing the speaker's character; here Ulysses addresses first himself, then an audience, then his mariners.

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, the metre of Paradise Lost and of Shakespeare's plays, which Tennyson uses for all seventy lines.

Ithaca

Ulysses' rocky island kingdom off western Greece, the barren crags of line 2.

Telemachus

Odysseus's son, who in Homer searches for his father; here the heir who will govern by slow prudence.

Hyades

A star cluster whose rising the Greeks linked with rainy weather, so the rainy Hyades of line 10 recall storms at sea.

Happy Isles

The Isles of the Blessed of Greek myth, far to the west, where heroes such as Achilles were thought to dwell after death.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why is Ulysses dissatisfied with his life on Ithaca, according to lines 1-5?
2. Comprehension What does Ulysses plan to do, and whom does he invite to go with him?
3. Interpretation What does Ulysses mean when he says he is a part of all that he has met?
4. Interpretation Is the description of Telemachus admiring, condescending, or both? Point to specific words.
5. Interpretation Does the poem expect the voyage to end in the Happy Isles or in the gulfs? Why leave both possible?
6. Interpretation How does knowing that Dante placed Ulysses in hell for his last voyage affect your judgment of Tennyson's speaker?
7. Big Question Is restless striving for knowledge and experience a noble calling, or a refusal of ordinary duty and contentment?

Faith Connections

• Philippians 3:13-14 (Scripture)

  Paul forgets what is behind and presses toward the mark of the high calling of God, a Christian form of the forward striving Ulysses voices, directed toward a goal rather than an open horizon.

• Hebrews 11:13-16 (Scripture)

  The patriarchs confess themselves strangers and pilgrims who desire a better country, a heavenly one; Ulysses also seeks a newer world, but without naming its end.

• Dante, Inferno XXVI (Great Conversation)

  Dante's Ulysses persuades his men that they were made to follow virtue and knowledge and sails to his death beyond the permitted bounds; Tennyson's poem takes up that speech and leaves the reader to judge it.

• Augustine, Confessions I.1 (Church Fathers)

  Augustine says the human heart is restless until it rests in God, a diagnosis of the restlessness Ulysses feels but locates in travel and knowledge.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Mere breathing is not life; a man is defined by what he has done and met. Ulysses has done great things and still has strength of will, while ruling Ithaca suits his son better. Death is certain, but some noble work may yet be done before it. Therefore he and his old companions should sail again and spend their remaining days striving rather than rusting.

Rhetorical device: asyndeton and climactic tricolon. The final line, To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield, sets four infinitives in a rising sequence, with the last negated for emphasis.

Debate: Resolved: that Ulysses is right to leave the governing of Ithaca to Telemachus and sail again.

Memory Work

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.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Writing Prompts

Essay: Analyze the three audiences of the poem (Ulysses himself, the listeners who meet Telemachus, and the mariners) and argue how the shifts of address shape our judgment of the speaker.

Comparison with The Divine Comedy: Compare Tennyson's Ulysses with the Ulysses of Inferno XXVI. What does each poet admire or condemn in the hero's last voyage, and why?

Medical Lens

The poem is a portrait of old age refusing decline: Ulysses and his men are made weak by time and fate yet strong in will. It was also written in the first weeks of Tennyson's mourning for Hallam, and Tennyson himself described it as his response to the need to go on after that loss; it can be read as a record of grief turned into resolve, though the speaker never mentions grief directly.

• Lines 49-53 and 65-70

  Ulysses admits that he and his mariners are old and weakened, and insists that age still has its honour and its work.

  Aging Senescence

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Divide the class into three groups, one for each movement of the poem (lines 1-32, 33-43, 44-70), and have each group report to whom Ulysses speaks, what he wants and how his tone changes.

• Dialogue

  Write the reply Telemachus might give after hearing his father's description of him, in blank verse or prose, and decide whether he is grateful or hurt.

• Essay

  Read Inferno XXVI beside the poem and argue whether Tennyson's Ulysses is a hero to imitate or a warning, using Dante's judgment as one piece of evidence.

Further Reading

• In Memoriam A.H.H., Alfred, Lord Tennyson

• Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, Hallam Tennyson

• Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart, Robert Bernard Martin

• Tennyson, Christopher Ricks