Tennyson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson writes with such pain and passion that was brought on by a troubled family and the death of his dear friend Hallam. His depression and anxiety helped shape some of his great works that we are reading today.

In “Ulysses”, Tennyson provides the account of Homer’s Ulysses returning after the fall of Troy. I can see a difference in this piece, since it is considered a dramatic monologue. The speaker is not necessarily Tennyson, which I appreciate. I liked that I could see it from my own perspective and I did not feel that Tennyson was trying to shape my perceptions of Ulysses and the situation surrounding him. From this piece, I can see Tennyson’s despair and search for something more. Ulysses returns to make things right at home but is still anxious to see the world and is still on a quest for knowledge, which is seen in the following lines:

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,/ To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!

I picture a man who has been hardened by battle but believes in the sanctity of what he left behind. I get the impression that he wandered all of those years to process the devastation he had seen. When he decides to return, it is with a vengeance for the people to whom he had entrusted his wife. The situation surrounding Ulysses is similar to that of Tennyson. This was written shortly after the death of Tennyson’s good friend, Hallam. I feel that he wrote this to in search of more knowledge and direction for his own life, which is what Ulysses seeks. Ulysses seeks adventure and wants to see the world. Tennyson was shattered by the loss of his mentor and subsequently experiences personal struggle.

The final line of the poem seems to sum up the theme of the poem and character “Ulysses”:
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

We can hypothesize that Ulysses’ character is a representative of how to push through the really hard times and never give in because you have experienced adverse circumstances. Although it took Ulysses years to return home and restore things as they should be, he made it a priority before he left in search of his ultimate happiness.

One question that arises from the poem is if Ulysses is indeed a hero or if he is merely being selfish by wanting to explore the world. Personally, I see Ulysses as heroic. He takes care of his affairs at home and then leaves on his quest for knowledge. He follows his aspirations and does not give up. Life is not just existence. A person is judged by his accomplishments, which is what I think Tennyson is trying to show readers. This was a time in Tennyson’s life where he needed new direction and I think he uses Ulysses to justify a new search for knowledge and guidance.