Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson (About the Poet, Poem & Summary)

 

Ulysses

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

(About the Poet, Poem & Summary)

 

Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. His verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Tennyson also wrote short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears", and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes, such as "Ulysses", although "In Memoriam A.H.H." was written to commemorate his friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and student at Trinity College, Cambridge. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including Idylls of the King, "Ulysses", and "Tithonus". During his career, Tennyson attempted drama, but his plays enjoyed little success.

A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplace in the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw" ("In Memoriam A.H.H."), "'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", and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".

‘Ulysses’ is the poem, which is based on Homeric legend, concerning Ulysses. Ulysses was a Greek king of Ithaca. He returned home after a long wandering from Troy. He did not like the peaceful unadventurous life at home. He started another voyage of adventure toward the happy isle. 

In the poem, Ulysses is the symbol of ‘the desire for more knowledge’. The poem can be divided into three major parts. In the first part of the poem, Ulysses expresses his dissatisfaction for an idol life and also, that what he had done till now, in second part he talks about his son Telemachus and in the last part of the poem he tells us, what he is going to do in the remaining part of his life and also shows his strong determination and will.

Ulysses

(The Poem)

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.

Summary

Ulysses, who is the symbol of ‘the desire for more knowledge’ returns after a long voyage to his kingdom Ithaca. Here, he does not like the life of inactivity and he yearns for another voyage. The life of inactivity and ruling over those people, who do not know him, so vexes him, that he gives unequal laws to his savage race. Ulysses says, that whatever he had done, done greatly.  He had enjoyed and suffered greatly, not only on shore but on voyage too. He had enjoyed the life, with those that loved him and alone too. According to him, he is now famous for following the knowledge. After visiting many places, he finds, that he is not the least but honored of all those, whom he had met. He had also enjoyed the delight of battle. He says, that all his experience seems a starting point. For him, to make an end of his journey, is to rust unburnished. He feels sorry, because some three years have left in his life to store knowledge. He saves every hour of his life from death. Every hour of his life is precious because they are the bringer of new experiences and knowledge. He wants to follow knowledge beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

The poet further describes the son of Ulysses, for whom he says, that he has the wisdom to make his rugged people mild. He says, that his son is centered in the sphere of common duties.

After leaving the scepter and the isle to his son, Ulysses again prepares himself and his mariners for their last voyage. They are now old but they know, that the old age has its honor too. They want to sail beyond the sunset and are hopeful to reach the happy isles and meet their Greek heroes. In the last lines of the poem, Ulysses gives a note of hope to his mariners and says, that the time has made them weak but they are strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.