Exploring: Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses - a
dramatic monologue
This essay looks at why Tennyson wrote "Ulysses" and what this poem actually
means. Thank you. Sam
Exploring Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses – a dramatic monologue
By Samyuktha
Why did Tennyson write Ulysses?
Alfred Lord Tennyson was the son of Reverend George Clayton Tennyson, who
in the early years of 19th century was rector of the church at Somersby in
Lincolnshire. In 1828, Tennyson entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he
soon found soul mates in a society called "The Apostles", which met frequently
for debates on literary and social questions. It was here that Tennyson met
Arthur Henry Hallam, his greatest influence yet. Due to his father's hardship,
Tennyson was forced to return home. During their separation, Hallam died of a
fever, evoking a deep depression in Tennyson with which he wrote some of the
best poetry:- "In Memoriam", "The Passing of Arthur", and "Ulysses".
"Ulysses was written soon after Arthur Hallam's deathand gave my feeling about
the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life perhaps more simply
than anything in 'In Memoriam.'" - Tennyson
Ulysses is an epic poem dealing with the story of legendary Greek mariner who,
having become bored with a settled life amongst inferior people, decides to
relinquish his throne and set sail once more in search of further excitement.
Tennyson takes the latin translation of the Greek epic "Odyssey" by Homer, and
creates this dramatic monologue (70 lines of blank verse). This was first
published in Poems, 1842.
What is epic poetry?
The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of
narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a
heroic or mythological person or group of persons. In the West, the Iliad,
Odyssey, and the Nibelungenlied; and in the East, Mahabharata, Ramayana,
Shahnama and Epic of King Gesarare often cited as examples of the epic genre.
The composition of epic poetry, or of long poems in general, has become
uncommon in the Western world since the early 20th century. The term "epic"
however has been recycled to refer to prose works, films, and similar works,
which are characterized, by great length, multiple settings, large numbers of
characters, or long span of time involved. As a result of this change in the use
of the word, many prose works of the past may be called "epics" which were
not composed or originally understood as such.
What is a dramatic monologue?
A dramatic monologue is a type of long lyric poem, developed during the
Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a lengthy
speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. The monologue is
usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced
by a critical situation.
UNDERSTANDING THE POEM
This poem can be understood in three parts:
Lines 1 to 23: Verse 1: explores the reasons for his boredom referring to his
earlier adventures with his courageous mariners
Lines 24 to 43: Verse 2: explores his desire to travel more and plans to place
Telemachus on the throne
Lines 44 to 70: Verse 3: Ulysses overlooks the harbour and explains where he
intends to sail talking about his indifference to death and age...
EXPLANATION
1. It little profits that an idle king,
2. By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Ulysses refers to the sterility of life about him. He is the king, but everything is
frozen: the fireplace cold, the cliffs harsh and lifeless, even his wife has lost
her sensual appetite and is quite useless to him.
3. Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
4. Unequal laws unto a savage race,
5. That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
Ulysses has the immense experience of many adventures. He is obviously a
philosopher and an intelligent person. The people, over whom he rules, on the
other hand, are uncouth and boorish. A very difficult situation for a ruler,
where his wise laws are all beyond the understanding of his people.
6. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
7. Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy'd
the lees is the sediment found at the bottom of a bottle of wine. In the old
days where there was no adequate means to filter the wine before bottling it,
an amount of gunk always found its way into the bottle and would settle at the
bottom. One had to be careful, in pouring the wine, not to disturb it. To drink
right down to the lees, therefore, meant to drink everything, right down to the
bottom of the bottle.
8. Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
9. That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
10. Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
11. Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
The Hyades is a constellation of stars which looks very dim and misty in the
night sky and which was therefore associated with rain . If you've ever been at
sea, or been at a coastal town (like Cape Town in the winter) and watched the
rain sweep across the ocean, you will have noticed how it "scuds" across the
water and dims or obliterates (vexes or troubles) the horizon.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
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 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 for ever when I move.
The poet is using the tried and trusted image of life being a river, flowing ever
onward but, in this case, there is a series of arches over the river through
which the traveler must pass. But once one is through one arch, another arch
appears, and on and on to the end of life. Beyond the arch, of course, is the
future.
22. How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
23. To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
It compares life to ancient weapons, like swords and chain mail, which rusted if
not constantly looked after, not used. The active soldier would spend much
time polishing and sharpening the blade to keep the rust at bay.
24.
25.
26.
27.
As tho' to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all to little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
the "eternal silence" is, of course, a euphemism for death. Ulysses is getting old
but he realizes that dedication to a life of adventure will push back the
moment of death. His old age and fear of dying, but rejects death’s attempt to
muscle its way into his life.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
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.
The word spirit denotes a being that is full of life. Indeed, the human spirit is
the life force within the body. In this case it is a gray spirit because the
speaker is getting on in years and his hair is going silver-grey. At the same
time, the concept of a grey head denotes wisdom. The wisdom of the speaker
is then reinforced by his determination to seek knowledge. He uses the tried
and tested image of the star, which was used to guide ships at night. So
trustworthy was this, that ships could sail around the world in their quests for
fortune, guided at all times by the stars. The old man, still full of enthusiasm,
seeks knowledge — just like the sailing ship seeks the stars to chart its
progress. So great is Ulysses zest for knowledge that it is beyond the bounds of
human thought. No human can think this expansively!
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isleWell-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
what the people of Ithaca needed was a ruler who had plenty of patience to
civilize them. Ulysses believed that he himself was incapable of such patience
but he had faith that his son, Telemachus, was admirably equipped for the
work.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
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,
the ancient peoples had many gods. There were gods everywhere - gods in the
mountains, gods in the plains, gods in the cities, river gods, fruit gods and gods
of the harvest. In short, there were gods for every occasion. Each city and town
had its own gods, and each household too had its own.
The Greeks believed that these gods were fairly malicious beings who might
take revenge if not appeased with ample offerings. It was therefore dangerous
for Ulysses to set sail while leaving his own household gods unappeased. They
might, for example, decide to sink his ship! It was therefore a relief for him
that he could trust Telemachus to make offerings to his gods for him. His
journey might then be a safe one.
43.
44.
45.
46.
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-
= mariners, who have been with him through the bad times unlike his wife who
was unable to.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
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 had 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.
The poet appears to be using a combination of onomatopoeia and
personification. He compares the sea to a person who is moaning from a deep
and everlasting sadness. At the same time, the word “moaning" captures the
sound made by the waves. The "many voices” applies to the many waves,
lapping and moaning in different tones.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
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.
The Mediterranean Sea was the centre of the universe for the Greeks. Yet they
knew that, if they sailed ever westward towards the setting sun, they would
pass through the Straits of Gibraltar and out into the Atlantic Ocean. It is clear
that this voyage had taken place at least once, because the Greeks knew of the
existence of a series of islands off the coast of Africa.
They called these islands the Happy Isles where lived the spirits of the dead.
So, says Ulysses, if they sailed towards the sunset and out into the ocean where
the stars were washed each night, it was possible to meet Achilles once more.
(Achilles had fought with Ulysses at Troy where he had been killed, and
presumably now lived at the Happy Isles.)
62. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
63. It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
64. And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Come my friends let's away now and row this ship into the deep waters of the
Mediterranean, then head westward to where the sunsets, and keep sailing till
we die. Who knows what lands we may reach? Perhaps even Heaven itself
where we might be honoured to make the acquaintance of the great Achilles
once more. We are what we are, but we still have a morsel of life left in us to
achieve amazing things
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the 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.
Tennyson seals the bond and gives us a connection to Ulysses’ courageous
mission. We are left with the encouraging Idea that no matter how old we
might be physically the soul lives on.
[1842]
PARAPHRASE
It is of little use for a king to remain idle, bored out of his bracket, and ruling a
people who simply are unable to appreciate me. Indeed, many don't even know
me! I can no longer rest from the excitement of traveling. I intend to live life
to the full. I have enjoyed my life immensely thus far, even though there has
often been hardship, both on shore and upon the stormy seas. I am a legend for
what I have seen and done, for the strange peoples, lands and governments I
have visited. I have been everyone's equal, and have delighted in fighting
alongside my fellow soldiers, even far away from home on the battlefields of
Troy. Adventure runs in my blood, but my life is now pathetically boring. And
yet, despite my advancing age, I still feel I can hold death at bay for just a
little bit more by undertaking further exciting adventures and fulfilling my
passionate thirst for knowledge.
I shall therefore abdicate my throne in favour of my son, Telemachus. He's a
trustworthy fellow who will rule wisely, slowly civilizing these boorish people
so as to make them industrious and useful. He knows what he must do, and I
can rely on him. He will also make sure to keep my household gods satisfied so
that they won't get angry in my absence and sink my ship while I'm not looking.
There below me is the harbour. The ship has all her sails ready for departure.
My sailors are trustworthy folk who have delighted in sharing my previous
adventures, who love fun and excitement, and who are also capable of tough
work and hardship. It's true we are all old, but we are still capable of a bit
more from life. After all, death brings an end to everything, so we must live it
up now while we still have the chance. The night is approaching, the moon is
rising slowly into the sky, and the lights of the harbour are beginning to
twinkle.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHARACTER
Ulysses is a heroic ancient mariner who is looking at his life afresh and feels he
misses the essence of it - adventure. He does not see himself as a king who will
rule until death over some people who just blindly follow him. He does not
want the responsibilities of a king, husband or father. Instead, he was traveling
abroad consoling with kings, generals
and gods, traveling to “cities of men / and manners, climates, councils,
governments”(13-14). Through his monologue he contrasts himself with his son.
Ulysses - the life of infinite search
Telemachus - the life conscientious absorption in duty
Ulysses condescends his own son by describing his timid self to rule the people
and how his son is more capable of the common duties.
All he knows is to travel and that is all he sees himself yearning to do.
http://oldpoetry.com/column/show/32