Attempt a critical appreciation of Tennyson’s Ulysses.

Attempt a critical appreciation of Tennyson’s Ulysses.

Ulysses is a poem written by the Victorian Poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the traditional blank verse in unrhymed Iambic Pentameter, which serves to impart a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses’ speech. It was written in 1833 and published in 1842. It is in the Dramatic Monologue form where the main principle controlling the poet’s choice and formulation of what the lyric speaker says is to reveal to the reader, in a way that enhances its interest, the speaker’s temperament and character.

This poem is set when King Ulysses returns home to Ithaca from a long journey of fighting in the Trojan Wars. His pursuit of knowledge beyond human bounds and for his adventures in disregard of his family has been critiqued heavily on a positive and negative light.

The first stanza introduces us to the mindset of Ulysses. His idea of an ideal King is not of one who sits around the fire with his wife and making laws for people who don’t even know him. He compares people to a sort of animal (“savage race”), who needs to be fed and taken care of. He feels uneasy as he knows he is meant for more meaningful things.

He continues speaking to himself by proclaiming that he “cannot rest from travel”. He mentions the various types of “manners, climates, councils, governments” he had come across and his thirst for knowledge is still not quenched.  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 covered up. He is getting bored sitting on his own homeland and feels the urgency to leave yet again for another journey. He compares himself to a metal, that is still full of shine but if he is not active for a while he could rust, just like an unused metal would rust. He feels life is beyond just breathing and surviving. Ulysses feels this urgency to leave as he feels death is nearing him and hence refers to himself as a “sinking star” and “grey-spirited”..................................................................................................................................................

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Milan Tomic

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

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