Why does the author describe ulysses as ever-confident

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  • "Ulysses" Poem
  • The History of Ulysses
  • "Ulysses" Poem: Summary
  • "Ulysses" By Tennyson: Analysis
  • Background: Publication, Format and Subject Matter
  • The History of Ulysses
  • Background: Publication, Format and Subject Matter
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Explore the ''Ulysses'' poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Read the summary and an in-depth analysis, discover the meaning of the poem, and identify its significance. Updated: 10/18/2021

"Ulysses" is a poem by the Victorian poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson was born on August 6, 1802, in Lincolnshire, England. He began writing poetry at a young age and would continue to write poems until his death in 1892. His poetry became well known for its attention to detail and precision in form. He became the Poet Laureate of England in 1850, and in 1884, he became the first person to receive the title of "Lord" for his work in poetry.

The poem, published in a collection titled Poems in 1842, is a dramatic monologue delivered by the now-aged hero, Ulysses (the Latin form of the Greek name Odysseus). In the poem, Ulysses reflects on the time he spent as an adventurous, seafaring leader and tries to come to terms with his present, less exciting life. Tennyson succeeds masterfully in conveying Ulysses' passion for new experiences. His powerful word choice and expert pacing deliver a poem that is both lyrical and epic.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Ulysses" 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 enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through 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 honored 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 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. 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.

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.

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 honor 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,

'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.

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.

The History of Ulysses

It's been about 180 years since Tennyson published 'Ulysses.' It's regarded as one of the more significant works from Victorian times, certainly one of his more significant works. It doesn't hurt that it falls into a long tradition of writing things that are based on The Odyssey. Odysseus is also known as Ulysses to the Romans. Homer, the Greek poet, basically started out writing The Odyssey. Dante uses Ulysses; the narrator encounters Ulysses down in Hell. Tennyson does this; James Joyce does it in his big, awesome novel Ulysses. So there's a long tradition of people using this character or this idea. Tennyson fits into that, and that's one of the reasons why we still read this, look at it and wonder: what's he doing to this story?

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Ulysses

"Ulysses" Poem: Summary

Tennyson's poem begins with Ulysses, now an old man, lamenting the idleness of his present life in Ithaca. He is restless. He cannot fully appreciate his wife or the people he governs. Instead, he finds himself thinking back to his adventures at sea. Then his thoughts shift. He begins to think about how his Odyssey brought him fame, and he worries that fame has somehow reduced him to a legend. He explains that in becoming a legend, he has ceased to be a person: "I am become a name." He begins to reflect on all the experiences that have shaped him. Each time he experienced something new, it made him crave more new experiences. He has not lost his thirst for adventure, but he is unable to quench that thirst. Ulysses feels that he is wasting the time that he has left as he languishes in Ithaca.

As Ulysses reflects on his desire for adventure, his thoughts wander to his son, Telemachus. Ulysses plans to leave his kingdom to Telemachus, whom he believes is capable but somewhat mild in nature. Ulysses vacillates between thinking of Telemachus as a committed, virtuous leader, and Telemachus as a less robust, forceful leader than he himself was. He thinks about how his legacy will continue with Telemachus; then, he abruptly decides that his legacy will be separate from that of Telemachus: "He works his work, I mine."

At this point in the poem, Ulysses catches a glimpse of the port and is once again transported to memories of his past journey. He begins to think fondly about his crew of sailors. Just as he recalls their adventurous spirits, he realizes that they, like he, are old now. Ulysses accepts that he is old, and that death is not far away, but he also feels that he has something left to accomplish. He wants to return to his life at sea: "'Tis not too late to seek a newer world." He yearns to venture into the unknown with his crew and to make new discoveries. The poem ends with Ulysses acknowledging that he has grown old but refusing to give up on the prospect of adventure: "Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/ To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

"Ulysses" By Tennyson: Analysis

In "Ulysses," Tennyson offers the reader a new version of Ulysses, the hero in Homer's ancient poems The Iliad and the Odyssey. In Tennyson's poem, Ulysses' story arc is complete. The Trojan War is won; Ulysses has found his way home and reclaimed his kingdom. The reader might imagine that in his old age, Ulysses would bask in the glory of his accomplishments, but this is not the figure that Tennyson presents. Instead, Tennyson's Ulysses misses the epic struggles of his youth. In the first few lines of the poem, Tennyson employs the images of "an idle king," a "still hearth," and "barren crags." He reduces Penelope, his long-suffering wife, to his "aged wife" and his own subjects to "a savage race."

Tennyson's Ulysses "cannot rest from travel"; he finds no peace in his own kingdom. Ulysses is a person who has lived his life with intensity: "All times I have enjoyed greatly, have suffered greatly." Now, he finds himself immobilized. His epic story has already been told, and he has been reduced to a legend. All his adventures are in the past. Ulysses does not feel finished, however; Instead, he feels as though the prospect of adventure is endless: "Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough/ Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades/ Forever and forever when I move." Ulysses is alive, but by his own definition, he is not living. Tennyson employs a number of vivid images to explain just how deeply Ulysses despises his sedentary life. Ulysses likens his existence to that of an unused sword: "to rust unburnished, not to shine in use!" In another instance, he imagines his existing days being stockpiled away for some unforeseen reason: "to store and hoard myself."

This Tennyson poem is one of the more significant works from Victorian times.

Background: Publication, Format and Subject Matter

It stars Ulysses, who, in Tennyson's poem, has returned from the epic quest that's detailed by Homer, where he was trying to come home from the war and got lost. He was all over the ocean looking for home, essentially. This is after The Odyssey is completed. Tennyson picks it up, and now Ulysses is older, restless and yearning for the adventures of his youth. In a lot of lights, this poem can be read as a call-to-action against age, against monotony and against feeling down. That's one way people read it that you'll see as we look at it.

It was originally published in 1842 in Tennyson's really super-popular book not-so-creatively titled Poems, but it was actually written a long time before that; it was written in 1833. This was part of Tennyson's grieving process for his friend who died, Arthur Henry Hallam. This also inspired other big deal work that we also have a video on called 'In Memoriam, A.H.H.' He held it back from publication because there was a book that was published earlier of his that didn't get great reviews, also called Poems. He didn't really feel like publishing anything else for a while, so that's why he waited so long.

Part of the reason we love 'Ulysses,' or why it's so interesting in relation to other Ulysses-centric works, is that it's a really good example of dramatic monologue. This is a form that Robert Browning, another Victorian poet, really got into. Tennyson takes a stab at it in this poem, and he does a really good job. Basically, it's when a character is speaking as that character. It's addressing someone or a thing, but revealing the character is a huge part of the poem, rather than a speaker talking about stuff. We're not really sure who Ulysses is addressing in this poem - he might just be talking to himself, he might be talking to someone else. We don't really know.

'Ulysses' is also interesting because it tends to generate a certain amount of controversy in terms of how we should read it. When it was first released in 1842, people saw it as a pretty straight heroic tale, an epilogue to The Odyssey (maybe an epic-logue). But starting in the twentieth century, critics started to wonder if maybe the poem shouldn't be read in such a straightforward way. This could be because the twentieth century had looser morality and poets that were more likely to be more ironic than straight. To those critics, there's a real harsh irony buried in 'Ulysses,' which is that the poem's subject is unfit, kind of an awful statesman. He's not a good leader. He sacrifices his social and familial responsibilities in a snotty way. He's pretending to be young again. So there's one way where you can read it as noble, striving-against-old-age stuff; there's another way you can look at it where he's just a petulant dude. We're going to go through the thing, and keep these two poles in mind in terms of which you think it might be. We're going to go through it; we're going to stop and talk about its interesting aspects and by the end see if you know what you think about it.

The Poem

'It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.'

That sounds depressing. As 'Ulysses' opens, our speaker is not happy: he's 'idle,' lives near a 'still hearth' among 'barren crags' and has an 'aged wife.' Don't say that, people; don't say that about your wives. It's also not cool because she waited 20 years for him while he was out making war, whoring and pillaging and all that stuff. Not cool, Ulysses; I hate him already. He's not happy with his social duties: he gives out 'unequal' laws to a 'savage race' that doesn't know him. The way he describes that they 'hoard, and sleep,' he clearly has a lot of disdain for his people. We also should note that he does say that he's giving the unequal laws. He might be taking a little of the blame for this. Who knows? That's kind of up for debate. He goes on:

'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: 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;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.'

So Ulysses is going over some of the details of his glory days of his journeys. He makes it plain that he really misses them. We have the more active language than we got in the beginning - 'drunk delight,' 'enjoyed/greatly.' He's having fun just thinking about all this stuff that he did. He also seems to have a really high opinion of himself; he says 'I am become a name' and that everyone was honored to know him. He seems a little arrogant, but the 'I am become a name' phrase is an interesting trick on the reader. When we see the title of this poem, 'Ulysses,' we know who that is. So now when he says this, we can almost see this process of him turning from a man into a legend that we can all use, something that he may be objecting to. His time isn't done; he isn't malleable for everybody at this point. He goes on and he says:

'I am a part of all that I have met;

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. 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.'

Now we get more listlessness, 'How dull it is to pause… not to shine in use!' He's basically saying that what he's doing now doesn't count as living. That's taken up in a modern way by Nicki Minaj in her song: 'I am no longer tryin' to survive… but to live doesn't mean you're alive.' It's practically Tennyson! He refers to himself as the 'grey spirit yearning in desire' and that he wants to pursue knowledge 'Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.' He got these lofty aspirations, but he's also recognizing that he is old. He wants to live up to the adventures of his younger self. Now he turns his eyes to his son. He says:

'This my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle--

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through 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.'

The History of Ulysses

It's been about 180 years since Tennyson published 'Ulysses.' It's regarded as one of the more significant works from Victorian times, certainly one of his more significant works. It doesn't hurt that it falls into a long tradition of writing things that are based on The Odyssey. Odysseus is also known as Ulysses to the Romans. Homer, the Greek poet, basically started out writing The Odyssey. Dante uses Ulysses; the narrator encounters Ulysses down in Hell. Tennyson does this; James Joyce does it in his big, awesome novel Ulysses. So there's a long tradition of people using this character or this idea. Tennyson fits into that, and that's one of the reasons why we still read this, look at it and wonder: what's he doing to this story?

Background: Publication, Format and Subject Matter

It stars Ulysses, who, in Tennyson's poem, has returned from the epic quest that's detailed by Homer, where he was trying to come home from the war and got lost. He was all over the ocean looking for home, essentially. This is after The Odyssey is completed. Tennyson picks it up, and now Ulysses is older, restless and yearning for the adventures of his youth. In a lot of lights, this poem can be read as a call-to-action against age, against monotony and against feeling down. That's one way people read it that you'll see as we look at it.

It was originally published in 1842 in Tennyson's really super-popular book not-so-creatively titled Poems, but it was actually written a long time before that; it was written in 1833. This was part of Tennyson's grieving process for his friend who died, Arthur Henry Hallam. This also inspired other big deal work that we also have a video on called 'In Memoriam, A.H.H.' He held it back from publication because there was a book that was published earlier of his that didn't get great reviews, also called Poems. He didn't really feel like publishing anything else for a while, so that's why he waited so long.

Part of the reason we love 'Ulysses,' or why it's so interesting in relation to other Ulysses-centric works, is that it's a really good example of dramatic monologue. This is a form that Robert Browning, another Victorian poet, really got into. Tennyson takes a stab at it in this poem, and he does a really good job. Basically, it's when a character is speaking as that character. It's addressing someone or a thing, but revealing the character is a huge part of the poem, rather than a speaker talking about stuff. We're not really sure who Ulysses is addressing in this poem - he might just be talking to himself, he might be talking to someone else. We don't really know.

'Ulysses' is also interesting because it tends to generate a certain amount of controversy in terms of how we should read it. When it was first released in 1842, people saw it as a pretty straight heroic tale, an epilogue to The Odyssey (maybe an epic-logue). But starting in the twentieth century, critics started to wonder if maybe the poem shouldn't be read in such a straightforward way. This could be because the twentieth century had looser morality and poets that were more likely to be more ironic than straight. To those critics, there's a real harsh irony buried in 'Ulysses,' which is that the poem's subject is unfit, kind of an awful statesman. He's not a good leader. He sacrifices his social and familial responsibilities in a snotty way. He's pretending to be young again. So there's one way where you can read it as noble, striving-against-old-age stuff; there's another way you can look at it where he's just a petulant dude. We're going to go through the thing, and keep these two poles in mind in terms of which you think it might be. We're going to go through it; we're going to stop and talk about its interesting aspects and by the end see if you know what you think about it.

The Poem

'It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.'

That sounds depressing. As 'Ulysses' opens, our speaker is not happy: he's 'idle,' lives near a 'still hearth' among 'barren crags' and has an 'aged wife.' Don't say that, people; don't say that about your wives. It's also not cool because she waited 20 years for him while he was out making war, whoring and pillaging and all that stuff. Not cool, Ulysses; I hate him already. He's not happy with his social duties: he gives out 'unequal' laws to a 'savage race' that doesn't know him. The way he describes that they 'hoard, and sleep,' he clearly has a lot of disdain for his people. We also should note that he does say that he's giving the unequal laws. He might be taking a little of the blame for this. Who knows? That's kind of up for debate. He goes on:

'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: 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;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.'

So Ulysses is going over some of the details of his glory days of his journeys. He makes it plain that he really misses them. We have the more active language than we got in the beginning - 'drunk delight,' 'enjoyed/greatly.' He's having fun just thinking about all this stuff that he did. He also seems to have a really high opinion of himself; he says 'I am become a name' and that everyone was honored to know him. He seems a little arrogant, but the 'I am become a name' phrase is an interesting trick on the reader. When we see the title of this poem, 'Ulysses,' we know who that is. So now when he says this, we can almost see this process of him turning from a man into a legend that we can all use, something that he may be objecting to. His time isn't done; he isn't malleable for everybody at this point. He goes on and he says:

'I am a part of all that I have met;

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. 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.'

Now we get more listlessness, 'How dull it is to pause… not to shine in use!' He's basically saying that what he's doing now doesn't count as living. That's taken up in a modern way by Nicki Minaj in her song: 'I am no longer tryin' to survive… but to live doesn't mean you're alive.' It's practically Tennyson! He refers to himself as the 'grey spirit yearning in desire' and that he wants to pursue knowledge 'Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.' He got these lofty aspirations, but he's also recognizing that he is old. He wants to live up to the adventures of his younger self. Now he turns his eyes to his son. He says:

'This my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle--

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through 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.'

Why did Tennyson write Ulysses?

Tennyson wrote the poem "Ulysses" after the unexpected death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. In the poem he examines the meaning of life.

What are the two main themes of Tennyson's Ulysses?

Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" explores the themes of seeking adventure and the meaning of life. Ulysses misses his old adventurous life and feels that life without excitement is no life at all.

What is the summary of Ulysses?

The poem "Ulysses" is a dramatic monologue delivered by the aged Ulysses. In it, he laments the lack of adventure in his life, and he yearns for the excitement of his younger years.

What is the meaning of Ulysses by Tennyson?

In the poem "Ulysses," Tennyson explores the concept of what would happen to a hero like Ulysses after he has grown old. Tennyson shows Ulysses grappling with how he can continue to find meaning in his life when he is no longer able to have adventures.

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