Ulysses Introduction

In A Nutshell
In October of 1833, Alfred Tennyson learned of the untimely death of his close friend and Arthur Henry Hallam.
Hallam's death devastated Tennyson; seventeen years later he wrote a long poem about it called In Memoriam. In
the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, however, he wrote "Ulysses."
You might have heard of Ulysses, or Odysseus, as he is called in Homer's Odyssey, the epic poem that narrates
his long (10 years!) journey home from the the Trojan War. According to Homer, once Odysseus made it home he
still had to take one more voyage, though that voyage is only mentioned, never made. Dante's Inferno, a much
later work about a poet's journey through Hell, actually describes this voyage, though in a slightly different way;
in Dante's account, Ulysses never returns home to Ithaca and instead chooses to continue sailing, as he does in
Tennyson's poem. But unlike Tennyson, Dante condemns Ulysses for irresponsible adventure-seeking.
Tennyson's poem fuses both Homer and Dante's versions of the story; in the poem, Ulysses has made it home
(Homer), but he wants to go sailing around the world again (Dante). The poem is a long monologue spoken by
Ulysses detailing how bored he is in Ithaca (an island off the coast of Greece) and how he wants to get as much
out of life as he can.
Tennyson's presentation of the Ulysses myth reflects to some degree his own desire to get over Hallam's death
and keep living; it wasn't enough for Tennyson to achieve a state of ease and tranquility (like Ulysses did when
he got back to Ithaca). He also wanted to keep living life, taking both its ups and downs in stride in the same way
as Ulysses. Indeed, Tennyson famously claimed that the poem described in part his own "need of going forward
and braving the struggle of life" after his friend's death.
Why Should I Care?
You know that feeling you get about three weeks into summer vacation, where you start to run out of things to
do? You've been to the water park, you've slept in for the last 21 days, you haven't thought about school at all,
and finally you ask yourself, now what? That feeling escalates until, come August, you're so bored you're almost
glad school is starting again, even though after two weeks you'll wish it were still summer.
Well that's exactly how Ulysses feels, only he doesn't want to get back to school; he wants to get back out on the
ocean, where he could die or, barring that, spend the rest of his life wandering around, never to return home
again. His unwillingness to sit around to enjoy a summer vacation that will last the rest of his life coupled
with his intense desire to be out doing something speaks to our own need for action, for activity, and for
something that makes us feel more alive than do eating and sleeping.
Ulysses, however, might be just a bit crazier than the rest of us; he doesn't want to get back to school, he wants to
go back to sea, where he is almost sure to encounter all kinds of monsters and mythical creatures that would
make even the boldest of us cringe. He's a lot like that guy who's not content with running a marathon and
swimming the English Channel; he's got to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and after surviving that he wants to
climb Mount Everest without oxygen.
So, even though Ulysses is more adventurous than most of us, his experiences and desires are applicable to an
entire range of scenarios. In some ways he resembles a retired athlete like Michael Jordan, or anyone else who
has suddenly found his opportunities to do things curtailed, if not entirely eliminated. Despite the fact that
Ulysses is a sailor with Christopher Columbus -style boldness, what he has to say speaks to something in all of
us, whether we're retirees or students on vacation.
Ulysses Summary
"Ulysses" details Ulysses' intense dissatisfaction and boredom on his island home of Ithaca. The poem is a
monologue spoken by him, where he not only expresses his discontent, but also describes his desire to keep
sailing. He's getting older and doesn't have a lot of time left, so he wants to get busy living rather than busy
dying. The poem concludes with his resolution to "strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Summary
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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.
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; he wishes to follow knowledge like a sinking star and forever grow in wisdom
and in learning.
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 sons 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.
In the final stanza, Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has worked, traveled, and weathered lifes
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 Ulyssess 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.
Finally, the poem is divided into four paragraph-like sections, each of which comprises a distinct thematic unit of
the poem.
Commentary
In this poem, written in 1833 and revised for publication in 1842, Tennyson reworks the figure of Ulysses by
drawing on the ancient hero of Homers Odyssey (Ulysses is the Roman form of the Greek Odysseus) and
the medieval hero of Dantes Inferno. Homers Ulysses, as described in Scroll XI of the Odyssey, learns from a
prophecy that he will take a final sea voyage after killing the suitors of his wife Penelope. The details of this sea
voyage are described by Dante in Canto XXVI of the Inferno: Ulysses finds himself restless in Ithaca and driven
by the longing I had to gain experience of the world. Dantes Ulysses is a tragic figure who dies while sailing
too far in an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Tennyson combines these two accounts by having Ulysses make his
speech shortly after returning to Ithaca and resuming his administrative responsibilities, and shortly before
embarking on his final voyage.
However, this poem also concerns the poets own personal journey, for it was composed in the first few weeks
after Tennyson learned of the death of his dear college friend Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833. Like In Memoriam,
then, this poem is also an elegy for a deeply cherished friend. Ulysses, who symbolizes the grieving poet,
proclaims his resolution to push onward in spite of the awareness that death closes all (line 51). As Tennyson
himself stated, the poem expresses his own need of going forward and braving the struggle of life after the loss
of his beloved Hallam.
The poems final line, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield, came to serve as a motto for the poets
Victorian contemporaries: the poems hero longs to flee the tedium of daily life among these barren crags (line
2) and to enter a mythical dimension beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars (lines 6061); as
such, he was a model of individual self-assertion and the Romantic rebellion against bourgeois conformity. Thus
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for Tennysons immediate audience, the figure of Ulysses held not only mythological meaning, but stood as an
important contemporary cultural icon as well.
Ulysses, like many of Tennysons other poems, deals with the desire to reach beyond the limits of ones field of
vision and the mundane details of everyday life. Ulysses is the antithesis of the mariners in The Lotos-Eaters,
who proclaim we will no longer roam and desire only to relax amidst the Lotos fields. In contrast, Ulysses
cannot rest from travel and longs to roam the globe (line 6). Like the Lady of Shallot, who longs for the
worldly experiences she has been denied, Ulysses hungers to explore the untraveled world.
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 speakers own words betray his abdication of responsibility and
his specificity of purpose.
Lines 1-5
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.
The poem begins by telling us that a king gains nothing from just sitting around by the fire with his wife
and making laws for people who don't even know him.
The speaker at first seems at to be some kind of observer or impersonal figure who knows a lot about
how to be a king, but in line 3 we learn that the king himself, Ulysses, is speaking.
The phrase "it little profits" is another way of saying, "it is useless" or "it isn't beneficial."
"Mete" means "to allot" or "measure out." Here it refers to the king's allotment of rewards and
punishments to his subjects.
"Unequal" doesn't mean that the rewards and punishments are unjust or unfair, but rather variable.
"Match'd" doesn't refer to a tennis match or other sporting event; it means something like "paired" or
"partnered with."
Ulysses' subjects are presented to us as a large group of drones who do nothing but eat and sleep.
Lines 6-11
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea:
After his moralistic opening, Ulysses tells us more about why sitting around doling out rewards and
punishments bores him.
We learn that he is a restless spirit who doesn't want to take a break from roaming the ocean in search of
adventure. He will not let life pass him by.
The word "lees" originally referred to the sediment accumulated at the bottom of a bottle of wine; to
"drink life to the lees" means to drink to the very last drop. Nowadays we might say something like "live
life to the fullest."
Ulysses tells us that he has had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times, sometimes with his best
friends, and sometimes alone, both on dry land and while sailing through potentially destructive storms.
"Scudding drifts" are pounding showers of rain that one might encounter at sea during a storm or while
crab fishing off the coast of Alaska.
The "Hyades" are a group of stars in the constellation Taurus often associated with rain; their rising in the
sky generally coincides with the rainy season. Here they are presented as agitators of the ocean.
Lines 11-18
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 honoured of them all
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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;
Ulysses elaborates on the good times and bad times well, mostly the good times he's enjoyed during
his travels.
The phrase "I am become a name" means something like "become a household name." Ulysses has
become famous because he's traveled to so many places.
Ulysses tells us that he's visited a variety of different places, with different manners, weather,
governments, etc. He portrays himself as a Renaissance traveler of sorts with an insatiable desire
("hungry heart") to see as many places as he can, try as many foods as he can, etc.
The phrase "myself not least, but honoured of them all" is a little tricky. It means something like "I
wasn't treated like the least little thing but was honored by everybody I met."
Ulysses also describes the time he spent "on the ringing plains of windy Troy," the famous city where the
Trojan War took place: you know, that famous war dramatized in the Brad Pitt movie Troy? The "plains"
are "ringing" because of the armor clashing together in battle.
"I am a part of all that I have met" is a strange phrase. Usually we say something like "all the places I
have seen are now a part of me." The phrase suggests that Ulysses left parts of himself everywhere he
went; this sounds like another way of saying "I don't belong here in Ithaca."
Lines 19-24
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life!
Ulysses further justifies his desire to keep traveling and living a life of adventure.
He compares his life or experiences to an arch and describes the "untravelled world" as a place that
"gleams" at him through that arch. All he has to do is walk through the arch
The first two lines of the passage are very tricky, and we're not entirely sure what they mean. One way to
read "Untravelled world" is as a reference to death; it is always looking at him through the "arch" of his
experiences, but somehow seems to recede ("margin fades") as he keeps moving.
You could also think of the "Untravelled world" as an arch. As Ulysses moves, his experiences make an
arch covering the arch of the "Untravelled world." The more he travels, the more the margins or edges of
that world recede or are covered up.
Ulysses reiterates how boring it is just sitting around when he could be out exploring the world. It's a lot
like that feeling you get when you're just getting into the rhythm of things and have to stop.
He likens himself to some kind of metallic instrument that is still perfectly useful and shiny but just rusts
if nobody uses it, like that ancient bicycle in your garage. If Ulysses weren't a soldier, he might say he's
just collecting dust.
For Ulysses, life is about more than just "breathing" and going through the motions; it's about adventure.
Lines 24-32
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 grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Ulysses continues to a radiate a desire for adventure, claiming that even multiple lifetimes wouldn't be
enough for him to do all the things he wants.
At this point, though, he's an old man a "grey spirit" near the end of his life, and he wants to make the
most of what's left. It's a waste of time for him to hang out in Ithaca for three years when his desire for
adventure is still so alive.
The phrase "but every hour is saved / From that eternal silence, something more, / A bringer of new
things" is strange. It means something like "each additional hour that I live, or each hour that I am saved
from death, brings me new experiences."
"Three suns" doesn't mean three days, but rather three years. Ulysses has apparently been wasting his
time for quite a while.
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The phrase "follow knowledge like a sinking star" is ambiguous. On the one hand, Ulysses wants to
chase after knowledge and try to catch it as it sinks like a star. On the other hand, Ulysses himself could
be the "sinking star." That makes sense too; he is a great personality who is moving closer to death
(though, in our opinion, he's also kind of a rock star).
Lines 33-38
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 through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Ulysses introduces us to his son and heir, Telemachus, who seems like the right guy to take over the job
of King of Ithaca. He's smart, and he knows how to make his people do things without being too harsh
about it.
A "Sceptre" is a ceremonial staff that symbolizes authority. Ulysses means something like "I leave him in
charge."
When compared with Ulysses, Telemachus seems a lot less restless. He has "slow prudence," meaning
he's patient and willing to make the best decision for the people of Ithaca without being too hasty.
The people of Ithaca are "rugged," which means that they're a little uncivilized and uncultured. They're
like country-bumpkins with a little bit of an attitude. That's why they need to be reigned in ("subdued,"
made "mild") and put to good use.
"Soft degrees" implies that Telemachus will civilize the citizens of Ithaca in stages and in a nice way; it's
kingship as constructive criticism.
Lines 39-43
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.
Ulysses tells us more about Telemachus' qualifications; he's a straight shooter all the way, a nice guy.
"Decent not to fail" means that Telemachus is smart enough not to fail at doing nice things for people and
paying the proper respects to the gods.
"Meet" means "appropriate" or "suitable."
We're not sure whether "when I am gone" means that Ulysses is planning on going back to sea for some
more adventures, or if he's thinking about his own death.
Lines 44-50
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;
Ulysses shifts our attention from his son to the port of Ithaca, where he tells us a ship is preparing to set
sail. Looks like he's planning on skipping town after all, and with his old friends as well.
"Gloom" is usually a noun but here it's a verb that means "appearing dark" or "scowling."
"Thunder and sunshine" is used here to mean something like "good times and bad times." They have
gladly ("with a frolic welcome") gone through thick and thin for Ulysses.
The phrase "opposed / Free hearts, free foreheads" is a little tricky. Ulysses means that his sailors
"opposed" whatever came in their way "thunder," for example and they did it as free men and with a
lot of confidence ("free foreheads").
While at first it seems as though Ulysses has just been musing to himself, it turns out he's speaking to
someone. We don't know whom he's talking to, but the other person is an old man.
Speaking of old age, Ulysses suggests that even though old people are respected, they also have
responsibilities.
Lines 51-56
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:
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The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices.
Ulysses knows that death will end everything, but he still believes he can do great things, things worthy
of men who fought against the will of the gods during the Trojan War.
The Trojan War wasn't a war between men and gods, but occasionally the gods would come down and
fight with either the Greeks or the Trojans.
"Ere" is an old poetic word that means "before," as in "I will come ere nightfall."
Ulysses observes the sunset and the arrival of night, but it seems like he's thinking about his own death as
well. What's with the moaning? It reminds us of ghosts or people mourning a death.
"Lights begin to twinkle from the rocks" is an elegant way of saying the stars are coming out.
Lines 56-64
Come, my friends,
'Tis 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.
It turns out that Ulysses is addressing his friends, at least during this part of the poem. He tells them what
he's been telling us all along: it's never too late to go in search of new lands.
Here a "furrow" refers to the track or mark made in the water by the ship. He tells his sailors to "smite"
or strike it, most likely with oars.
"Purpose" can mean two different things; it can mean either "destiny," as in "sailing is my purpose in
life," or it can mean "intention," as in "I intend to sail as far as I can."
The "baths / Of all the western stars" isn't a place where the stars go to bathe themselves. It refers to the
outer ocean or river that the Greeks believed surrounded the (flat) earth; they thought the stars descended
into it.
To sail beyond the "baths" means Ulysses wants to sail really, really far away beyond the horizon of the
known universe until he dies.
The "happy isles" refers to the Islands of the Blessed, a place where big-time Greek heroes like Achilles
enjoyed perpetual summer after they died. We might say Heaven.
Ulysses realizes that he and his companions might die, but he's OK with that. If they die, they might even
get to go to the "Happy Isles" and visit their old pal Achilles.
Lines 65-70
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
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.
Ulysses yet again tells us that even though he and his sailors are old and don't have a lot of gas left in the
tank, there's enough left to go a little farther.
"Abides" is a word that means "remains."
These guys are a team with one heartbeat. They're old and broken, but they still have the will to seek out
and face challenges without giving up. They can't bench-press 200 pounds anymore, but that won't stop
them from trying anyway.
The phrase "strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not yield" means something like "we're strong
because of our will to strive" or "our will to strive is strong."
Greek Mythology
Symbol Analysis
Because the poem is spoken by a famous Greek hero it's no surprise that references to Greek mythology abound.
Ulysses refers several times to the Trojan War and mentions several mythological landmarks in order to convey
just how hungry he is for new adventures. More specifically, Ulysses' references to Greek mythology remind us
of his heroic past while also giving us a sense of the (very large) scope of his future ambitions.

Lines 16-17: Ulysses describes how he enjoyed fighting on the "plains" of Troy, an ancient city located
in what is now Northwestern Turkey.
Line 33: Ulysses introduces us to his son, Telmakhos, a figure who appears in Homer's Odyssey, an epic
poem that describes Ulysses' (Odysseus') long journey home.
Line 53: Ulysses refers to himself and his fellow mariners as men that "strove with Gods." During the
Trojan War, the gods Athena, Ares, Venus, etc. frequently took part in battle.
Lines 63-4: Ulysses suggests that if he and his friends die, they might visit the "Happy Isles," a sort of
Elysium for heroes and others who lived virtuous lives. He implies that Achilles the greatest of the
Greek heroes who fought at Troy resides there.
Traveling and Sailing
Symbol Analysis
Ulysses has done a lot of traveling; it took him ten years to get home from Troy, which means he's had an entire
decade to visit a whole lot of places. Apparently, those ten years weren't enough because all he talks about is
leaving home again. It's not entirely clear whether Ulysses wants to visit any specific place or if he just wants to
travel for its own sake. Maybe he just likes the smell of the ocean air. Either way, he wants to get out of Dodge.

Line 6: Ulysses explains that he can't stop traveling because he wants to get the most out of life.
Lines 9-11: Ulysses describes storms at as resulting from the Hyades "vexing the sea." "Vex" means to
upset, stir up, trouble; attributing human actions to a non-living thing (the Hyades) is called
personification.
Lines 12-15: Ulysses tells us that he's visited a lot of different places with different governments, people,
foods, and the like. He portrays himself as some kind of predatory animal, "roaming with a hungry
heart." Because he doesn't say "I was like a lion" or "I roamed just as a lion might," this is a metaphor.
Lines 19-21: Ulysses compares life to an arch that's a metaphor again and explains that the
"untravelled world" (death; places he hasn't experienced) gleams through it. The "untravelled world" is
likened to some kind of planet or luminous world, which means this is also a metaphor.
Lines 44-45: Ulysses directs our attention to the "port," where the mariners are preparing the ship. The
ship can't "puff" its own sail; the wind is probably doing it. Attributing human characteristics to nonliving objects is personification.
Line 46: Ulysses refers to his "mariners" as "souls." The "soul" is part of the body; using a part (the soul)
to stand in for the whole (the mariners) is called synecdoche.
Lines 56-7: Ulysses tells his companions that even though they're old, they still have time to visit places
they haven't already seen. Ulysses probably doesn't have any specific place in mind so "a newer world" is
standing in for a host of potential places he might visit; this is another example of synecdoche.
Lines 58-9: Ulysses exhorts his mariners to set sail; the phrase "smite / the sounding furrows" compares
the act of rowing to hitting or striking something; hitting something that makes a sound is here a
metaphor for rowing.
Lines 60-61: Ulysses says he intends to sail "beyond the sunset," which is another way of saying he
intends to sail beyond the known universe. "Beyond the sunset" is a metaphor.
Eating and Drinking
Symbol Analysis
As the king of Ithaca, Ulysses doesn't have a lot do besides eat and sleep and act as a judge every once and a
while. In fact, he's not too happy about just sitting around eating and drinking all day. He's hungry, sure, but for
something else. He sees the people who just sit around eating food and sleeping his subjects as more like
animals than people. This is partly why Ulysses has lost his appetite for ease, tranquility, and regular food.

Line 5: Ulysses refers to his subjects as a "savage race," who do nothing but eat and sleep, which makes
them more like brutes or "savages," than civilized people.
Lines 6-7: Ulysses says he will "drink / Life to the lees," an old version of "live life to the fullest." Living
life is here compared to drinking a bottle of something; because "like" or "as" do not appear, it's a
metaphor, not a simile.
Line 12: Ulysses explains that he's seen so many places because he's like a predatory animal with a
"hungry heart." He tacitly compares himself to a lion or tiger, which makes this a metaphor.

Line 16: Ulysses refers to his enjoyment of battle as a kind of consumption, a "drinking" of "delight."
Enjoying the delight of battle is compared to the drinking of some kind of beverage, which means this is
a metaphor.

Stars
Symbol Analysis
Before the compass was invented, sailors used the stars to guide them. Ulysses has done a lot of sailing, so it's no
surprise that stars come up several times in the poem. The stars in this poem, however, are always doing more
than looking pretty; they have the power to affect things on earth, and they're also handy as metaphors for
Ulysses' experiences and desires.

Lines 10-11: Ulysses describes how the "rainy Hyades," a group of stars in the constellation Taurus,
caused storms at sea. Of course, the stars didn't literally "vex" the sea; Ulysses gives a human attribute to
a non-human object, which is called personification.
Line 20: Ulysses compares the "untravelled world" to a gleaming object. Though he doesn't call it a star,
the fact that it's compared to some kind of celestial object "gleaming" out in space kind of makes one
think of a star. Oh, and since the "untravelled world" isn't really a star, the gleaming object or planet is a
metaphor for that world.
Line 29: Ulysses says it would be "vile" if he were to spend three years hoarding supplies and basically
doing nothing. He says "three suns" (the sun is technically a star), by which he presumably means three
complete revolutions of the earth around the sun.
Line 31: Ulysses here refers to a "sinking star," only it's not clear if that star is the knowledge he's
seeking, or himself. Either way, he says "like a sinking star," which means this is a simile.
Line 54-5: Ulysses describes the onset of night and the appearance of the stars. Here, the description of
night doubles as Ulysses' reflection on his own approaching "night," his own death. The end of a day is a
metaphor for death in this passage.
Lines 60-1: Ulysses describes how the stars rest in a body of water that the Greeks believed surrounded
the earth. He mentions the "baths" of the stars in order to convey how far beyond the known world he
wants to travel.
Animals
Symbol Analysis
There are a lot of sly references to animals in this poem, and we're not talking about Ulysses' poodle either. The
residents of Ithaca are described as uncultivated people that just eat and sleep and need to be tamed like a bunch
of wild animals. Ulysses doesn't want to end up like them, which he sees as a very real possibility if he stays in
Ithaca. He wants to be a different kind of animal, a predatory one that wanders around, consuming different
places as if they were exotic prey.

Line 5: Ulysses describes his subjects like animals; they don't eat, they "feed" like pigs out of a trough.
Oh, and they "hoard" too, as if they were getting ready to hibernate. Some unspecified animal is here a
metaphor for the citizens of Ithaca.
Line 12: Ulysses compares himself to a lion or tiger, "roaming" the seas with a "hungry heart." One of
those animals, or a similar animal, is a metaphor for Ulysses.
Lines 28-9: Ulysses remarks that if he stays in Ithaca he'll end up just like his subjects, sitting around
"storing and hoarding" things as if preparing for hibernation and an unproductive life. Again, some
unspecified animal is here a metaphor for Ulysses.
Lines 37-8: Here again some kind of animal is a metaphor for the people of Ithaca. They are "rugged"
almost like a stallion that hasn't learned how to wear a saddle yet and have to be "subdued." Some
unspecified, savage animal is here a metaphor for the citizens of Ithaca.
Analysis: Form and Meter
Dramatic Monologue in Iambic Pentameter
"Ulysses" is a dramatic monologue, a poetic form we usually associate with Robert Browning, a Victorian poet
and contemporary of Tennyson. A dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by a single person (mono-) to an
audience; that audience could be one person or a group of people referred to in the poem (at line 49 Ulysses says
"you and I are old") or any other implied audience. A monologue differs from a soliloquy (which also has one
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speaker) because it is spoken to an audience that is a part of the situation, as opposed to the audience in a theater.
A dramatic monologue is identifiable by the fact that it resembles a conversation in which you can only hear one
person talking; the speaker seems clearly to be responding to someone, but that person or group doesn't actually
speak in the poem.
As far as meter goes, Tennyson was an expert metricist, but in this poem he keeps things pretty simple, sticking
with the standard meter of English, iambic pentameter. That means each line has five iambs, or feet: each iamb
contains an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in: "To strive, / to seek, / to find, / and not / to
yield" (70).
Even though the poem is mostly in iambic pentameter, Tennyson frequently throws in different types of beats.
For example, line 69 begins with a beat that contains two stressed syllables: "Made weak." A beat with two
stressed syllables in a row like this is called a spondee. Other examples of spondees occur in lines 44, 45, and 67.
At other moments, Tennyson will use a beat that contains a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable,
as in "Life to" (7). This is called a trochee. Tennyson varies the meter of his poem periodically because it is a
dramatic monologue; nobody speaks entirely in iambic pentameter, and the changing beats give the poem a more
realistic feel, so it seems more like somebody is actually speaking.
Analysis: Speaker
Ulysses is the speaker of the poem that bears his name; he's a semi-retired soldier who's also a king. In many
ways he's a lot like a vet you'd meet at the VA hospital, or your friend's grandpa who fought in World War II.
You're sitting around talking to this guy, and he starts going on about how bored he is, how bad the food is at the
nursing home, how he wishes he could still be in the army and travel around the world. His legs are still strong,
and so is his mind. As he continues to talk, he gets more and more animated, finally realizing that if he still feels
good he should try to do the things he used to, regardless of what anybody says. Towards the end of the
conversation, he goes into the other room and comes back dressed in his old army uniform. In response to your
surprise, he gives an incredibly heroic speech about how he's willing to brave death to do what he wants to do
and picks up the phone to dial the local recruiting office.
Analysis: Setting
Where It All Goes Down
The poem takes place in several places in Ithaca; it starts by the hearth in Ulysses' palace or castle, then points to
port, and then somehow ends up there. By the end of the poem, we think that Ulysses is standing next to his
mariners by the ship.
Pretend that Ulysses is George Washington. He's just won the Revolutionary War and is now living in the
president's house in Philadelphia (the City of Brotherly Love was briefly the nation's capital); even though the
presidential crib wasn't as fancy then as it is now, it was still really nice. Now, pretend that George Washington
got really bored with living in this gigantic house in Philly and decided to head to the nearest army base and get
his old uniform back on, as if he were preparing to go back into battle. If the poem were called "George
Washington," our first president would start out by speaking to us from his humongous living room and
eventually take us to an army or naval base.
Analysis: Sound Check
Tennyson's poem is a lot like Mel Gibson's famous speech in Braveheart, or any other speech one might use to
rouse a group of soldiers to action. You can't start out yelling because you won't have any energy left at the end;
these things have to be planned carefully, and the best has to be saved for last.
The poem starts out by detailing a set of conditions or problems without overdoing it: "It little profits that an idle
king(1). Eventually, it gathers momentum, and Ulysses' voice starts to rise as he gets more and more excited.
By the end he is in full force; he has reached the climactic moment and his moving and heroic lines are almost as
memorable as Mel's, "They'll never take our freedom!" "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" could be
used in almost situation where one needs to get a group of people pumped up: before a big game, before a big
battle, or even before an important exam. Head over to "Best of the Web" to hear a couple of readings of the
poem to see what we mean.
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Analysis: What's Up With the Title?

"Ulysses" is the Roman name for the Greek hero Odysseus, the mythical king of Ithaca who fought in the Trojan
War alongside Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, and others. He spent ten years fighting in the war, and then
spent another ten years trying to get home! The Greek poet Homer wrote about Odysseus and the Trojan War in
the Iliad, while his other epic poem the Odyssey is all about Odysseus's journey home.
Despite Odysseus' cunning he's often referred to as "wily" or "crafty" Ulysses, and the whole Trojan Horse
thing was his idea it still takes him a while to combat all the monsters and near-death experiences the gods
throw in his way.
In other versions of the story, Ulysses is in no rush to get home; in fact, he's willing to keep battling strange
creatures and risk death in order to keep sailing. Both versions of the story of Ulysses are evoked in the poem;
Ulysses is at home in Ithaca (Homer), but realizes he's bored and wants to keep exploring the world, even if it
kills him (other versions). Getting home and resting up for a while is an important step, but so is getting back out
there. Ulysses is like a football player who gets injured, goes to the locker room to get taped up, and opts go back
in the game rather than spend the rest of it on the sidelines.
Analysis: Calling Card
Proverbial Phrases
There are a lot of things one could say about Tennyson's poem, but the signature in this poem has got to be the
proverbial phrase. So many of the lines in this poem read like lines out of a book of quotations; it's no accident
that Tennyson is the second most-quoted author after Shakespeare in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
(source). Lines like "Tis not too late to seek a newer world" (57) and "All experience is an arch wherethrough /
Gleams that untravelled world" (19-20) are good examples of this distinguishing feature, as are the last two:
"strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." The latter are in fact some of the best-known lines in
all of English literature.
Analysis: Tough-O-Meter
(4) Base Camp
For the most part Tennyson's poem is relatively straightforward. At a few moments, however, it gets tricky and
requires some ingenuity on the part of the reader. Lines like "All experience is an arch wherethrough / Gleams
that untravelled world" (19-20) are infuriatingly mysterious. At other times, Tennyson leaves out words that
would help us make more sense of the lines. For example, when he says "but every hour [that] is saved / From
that eternal silence, [is] something more, / A bringer of new things" (26-8) we have to insert "that" and "is" just to
make it make sense. Fortunately, lines like these are few and far between.
Analysis: Brain Snacks
Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Tennyson spent seventeen years writing In Memoriam, the poem about the death of his friend Arthur Henry
Hallam. (Source)
The phrase "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" comes from Tennyson's In
Memoriam. (Source)
As a child Tennyson would say his name "Alfred, Alfred, Alfred" over and over again until it started to sound
like nonsense. Pick any word and try it; after a while it will start to sound like pure sound. (Source)
Analysis: Sex Rating
Exactly how steamy is this poem?

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There is nothing sexual about this poem; Ulysses only mentions his wife once, and he practically complains
about her age. Ulysses has other things to worry about besides sex, like sailing and exploring new places.
Analysis: Shout Outs
When poets refer to other great works, people, and events, its usually not accidental. Put
on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literature, Philosophy, and Mythology

William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 4, Scene 4, lines 23-25 (4-5)

William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act 3, Scene 3, lines 144-147 (22-23)
Dante, Inferno, Canto 26 (57-62)
Homer, Odyssey (whole poem)
Trojan War (17)
Ulysses Theme of Dissatisfaction
Let's face it, Ulysses is really bored. He can't stand just sitting around the house with his wife all day, eating and
sleeping and settling disputes every once in a while. It would be like if you spent the entire summer traveling
around the world and then had to go to your corner office where all you had to do was count your money and live
in luxury. Yeah sure, it'd be nice, but wouldn't you get a craving for adventure every once in a while? After
visiting all kinds of strange places, Ulysses has to go back to Ithaca where, since he's the king, he doesn't really
have to do a whole lot. He's still in good physical shape, and he can't stand it that he doesn't get to put that body
to use.
Questions About Dissatisfaction
1. What do you do when you get really bored? Play video games? Go running?
2. Isn't there some other way for Ulysses to deal with his boredom than going away possibly forever?
3. Is it possible that Ulysses is just in need of an attitude adjustment? Is his boredom or dissatisfaction the
result of his own outlook on life?
4. Would you be OK with feeling bored if it meant happiness, security, food, and money?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
Ulysses' boredom is all in his head; he has responsibilities, and he can't just abandon them because he's bored.
Ulysses displays an ancient Greek hero's version of a mid-life crisis.
Ulysses Theme of Perseverance
Ulysses is an untamed spirit, and nothing is going to stop him; he's got a disease, and the only cure is to keep
traveling, to keep moving on. It's not that his life in Ithaca isn't good; there's a voice inside his head that tells him
his life is synonymous with perseverance, and that he should continue to see as many places as he can before he
dies so he can get the most out of life. He's determined to persevere against the lures of domestic tranquility, even
if it kills him.
Questions About Perseverance
1.
2.
3.
4.

We tend to admire perseverance. Is Ulysses' perseverance admirable?

When might perseverance be a bad thing?
Is there anything you care strongly enough about that you'd be willing to risk death to keep doing it?
How would you feel if you wanted to persevere in something but were forced to stop for no apparent
reason?

Chew on This
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Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

Ulysses sounds heroic and gung-ho, but his perseverance is compromised by the fact that he doesn't even know
where he's going, what he's striving against, and what he's looking for.
Ulysses should persevere in his responsibilities as a king, father, and husband rather than sailing around the
world.
Ulysses Theme of Mortality
The strong sense of urgency that Ulysses radiates stems largely from his own consciousness of death; it seems
like every time he talks about going back to sea he mentions the fact that he might die soon, or die out there.
Ulysses knows that death is stalking him, and he wants to try and cheat it for as long as he can. In other words, he
wants to try to steal as many moments as he can before the curtain drops. And he thinks by traveling more he can
somehow forestall death, can make the "eternal silence" wait just a bit longer for him.
Questions About Mortality
1.
2.
3.
4.

Are you afraid of death? Is Ulysses?

Are there things you want to do before you die? Do you have a "bucket list"?
Is life really too short, or is that just a clich?
If you were near death, would you want to spend your last moments with your family or on adventures?
Why do you think that Ulysses doesn't want to spend the rest of his days with his family?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
Ulysses realizes he might die, but he's not upset about it because he knows his fame will outlive his body.
Ulysses refers to the afterlife, but is ultimately unsure whether or not he'll go there and whether or not it even
exists.
Ulysses Theme of Old Age
In a lot of ways, Ulysses resembles a retiree, someone who's had a long, eventful life and has been forced to hang
it up just a bit too soon. Death isn't just stalking him because that's what death does; it's stalking him because he's
old! Ulysses spent twenty years away from home, and even if he left home at the age of 25, that would still make
him 45. That's like 70 if you're living in 1200 B.C.! And that's one of the reasons why he's in such a hurry to get
out of Ithaca; he doesn't want to spend his few remaining years sitting around watching his son take over the
family business. He'd rather say his goodbyes now and see what happens.
Questions About Old Age
1.
2.
3.
4.

Do you know any old people that are like Ulysses?

Are you worried about getting older and not being able to do the things you used to?
Is there anything good about getting older?
Ulysses says that "old age hath yet its honour and its toil" (50). In what ways does old age have
"honour," and what are some of the responsibilities that come with old age? Is Ulysses trying to escape
those responsibilities by leaving Ithaca?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
Ulysses says that "old age hath yet its honour and its toil" (50); by his own admission old age has responsibilities
and he's trying to get out them. He contradicts himself.

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Ulysses is an old man who wants to be young again; he is hopelessly attempting to transgress a boundary that
can't be crossed.
Ulysses Theme of Exploration
Ulysses is like that guy you once knew who was totally happy taking whatever he could fit in his backpack and
setting off for Europe, or Africa, or any other sprawling land mass. On one of those trips he got lost, was
presumed dead, but later made it back home; now he's on his way out the door again because he's not done
looking for new places. Ulysses knows he might die, but the search, the process of exploring, satisfies him in
ways that nothing else can.
Questions About Exploration
1. Would you be scared embarking on an exploration of an unknown territory?
2. What is that makes people want to continue exploring and searching?
3. Why does Ulysses feel the need to keep exploring? Is he looking for something, or does he just like
being on the move and seeing new places?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
Ulysses wants to seek a "newer world," by which he means a world that isn't as ancient as his own; he wants to
find a less primitive place where people are less animalistic than they are on Ithaca.
Ulysses is an explorer but also a colonizer; he doesn't only want to see new places, he wants to take what he can
from them.
Ulysses
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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
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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 foreheadsyou 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.

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