George Drought · 19 October 2001

I first read this poem when I was 13, fifty years ago and it had such an impact that I have tried to base my life on its statements and philosophy

George

Grace Ming · 5 October 2002

My name is Grace and I have just done some analysis on this poem versus Homer’s epic for a recent paper. By all means, I think Tennyson is a wonderful writer and this poem is absolutely gorgeous, but it contradicts a bit with the original story. Having read the original epic, I have to say that Tennyson’s argument for having Odysseus leave Ithaca for a second time is pretty weak. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus’s perseverance is driven purely by his desire to return home, not by adventurous spirit. Even after living with Calypso for ten years, Odysseus admits, “each day I long for home,” and no matter what trial the gods put before him, his “tough heart can undergo it.” In Tennyson’s poem, however, a different purpose seems to drive Odysseus. Odysseus says his “purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until [he] dies.” I think his quest in the poem is a bit pathetic. After living at home for three years, Odysseus seems to have gotten bored with his “aged” wife and wants to go sailing again. He feels that his life rusts “unburnished” on Ithaca. What is he saying?! In my opinion, his one adventure is enough to last ten lifetimes! Okay, Odysseus is suffering from a bit of wanderlust and obviously has a strong will to live life to the fullest (sorry about the cliché), but frankly, Tennyson’s poem shows Odysseus to be incredibly impulsive. He does not even seem to care about all the pain that his family has suffered during his first journey. Every night, Penélopê cannot sleep from grief and even prays to be “shot by Artemis” so that she can meet Odysseus in the underworld. Laërtês weeps at his son’s name. Telémachus risks his life to learn of his father’s fate. Odysseus’s mother even kills herself mourning. Odysseus is simply selfish to want to leave again. Plus, Athena may not help him out this time. In addition, his leaving Ithaca would undermine the killing of the suitors at the end of the epic. Although Tennyson’s argument is weak when put in context with the original epic, the poem by itself is very beautiful and convincing. The vivid language strongly portrays Odysseus’s longing to pursue knowledge and meaning in his life, despite his age. Tennyson’s message is what makes this poem so wonderful. And it comes across so clearly and strongly that it warms the hearts of all who read the poem, inspiring them “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

Grace Ming · 5 October 2002

To whomever it may concern,

My name is Grace and I have just done some analysis on this poem versus Homer’s epic for a recent paper. By all means, I think Tennyson is a wonderful writer and this poem is absolutely gorgeous, but it contradicts a bit with the original story. Having read the original epic, I have to say that Tennyson’s argument for having Odysseus leave Ithaca for a second time is pretty weak. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus’s perseverance is driven purely by his desire to return home, not by adventurous spirit. Even after living with Calypso for ten years, Odysseus admits, “each day I long for home,” and no matter what trial the gods put before him, his “tough heart can undergo it.” In Tennyson’s poem, however, a different purpose seems to drive Odysseus. Odysseus says his “purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until [he] dies.” I think his quest in the poem is a bit pathetic. After living at home for three years, Odysseus seems to have gotten bored with his “aged” wife and wants to go sailing again. He feels that his life rusts “unburnished” on Ithaca. What is he saying?! In my opinion, his one adventure is enough to last ten lifetimes! Okay, Odysseus is suffering from a bit of wanderlust and obviously has a strong will to live life to the fullest (sorry about the cliché), but frankly, Tennyson’s poem shows Odysseus to be incredibly impulsive. He does not even seem to care about all the pain that his family has suffered during his first journey. Every night, Penélopê cannot sleep from grief and even prays to be “shot by Artemis” so that she can meet Odysseus in the underworld. Laërtês weeps at his son’s name. Telémachus risks his life to learn of his father’s fate. Odysseus’s mother even kills herself mourning. Odysseus is simply selfish to want to leave again. Plus, Athena may not help him out this time. In addition, his leaving Ithaca would undermine the killing of the suitors at the end of the epic. Although Tennyson’s argument is weak when put in context with the original epic, the poem by itself is very beautiful and convincing. The vivid language strongly portrays Odysseus’s longing to pursue knowledge and meaning in his life, despite his age. Tennyson’s message is what makes this poem so wonderful. And it comes across so clearly and strongly that it warms the hearts of all who read the poem, inspiring them “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

John Morgan · 21 October 2002

I read this poem when i was trapped by personal circumstances and feeling pretty low. It inspired me so much i read it, again and again, until i knew it by heart. That was ten years ago and it inspires me still.

It was written when Tennyson was in his extreme period. His friend Hallem died and Tennyson who suffered from “black blood” (depression manic(?) ) went into ten years of silence. This silence ended with three poems; Tithonus, AHH; and the greatest; Ulysses.

Tennyson wanted to express the need to go forward with this poem. To do this he looked back to Homer’s great traveller Ulysses the “man of many resources.”

This is complex poem and there are two main interpretations. THe first is that this is the great hero going out to one last great adventure, THe other is this is an irreponsible old man running away from his family and friends. These two interpretations are not necessarily contradictory. Some people even think Ulysses could be on his death bed reciting this poem.

What you have got to remember is this poem is about something more and not something less. It is a journey of the mind and not the body it is to follow knowledge like a sinking star, The sailors that he summons, for example, are all already dead.

For all his flaws it makes this ulysses all the more heroic. Let it inspire you. Never yield.

David Holliday · 18 January 2003

Tell you what…

A real “sailor” reads a lot, since the winds are pretty steady and there’s a lot of water out there.

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and despite medications, still get major depression in the winter months.

The last couple of nights I’ve been contemplating suicide, so I turned my myself to friends online (who appreciate the best in in human thought); as a means of survivival. The response has been great, and you can ascertain that my “shout for help” worked.

You’ve “made my day” by reminding me how immense, beautiful and generous the Universe is.

Sincerly,

-David

Mekonnen Haile · 11 February 2003

This note is addressed to Grace Ming (eggceo17@…). Perhaps what I have to say below has already been brought to your attention, but just in case it hasn’t I thought it worth pointing out.

You write: “Having read the original epic, I have to say that Tennyson s argument for having
Odysseus leave Ithaca for a second time is pretty weak. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus’s perseverance is driven purely by his desire to return home, not by adventurous spirit…”

The “Ulysses” that Tennyson has appropriated for his great poem is not the Odysseus of Homer. Rather, it is the Ulysses of Dante. Mythical characters are often reborn when appropriated by great poets. An example is Agamemnon, whose story and portrayal by Aeschylus contrasts sharply from his representation in Homer, just as he must have been transformed by Homer himself who took him from the general fund of myth that the ancient poets borrowed generously from. Shakespeare, who borrowed general plot and characters from Holinshed is another great example.

In Canto XXVI, you will find the Ulysses that Tennyson portrays. When addressed by Dante, the soul of Ulysses, clothed in a tongue of flame in which it eternally burns speaks up and says: “When/ I sailed away from Circe, who’d beguiled me/ to stay more than a year there…/ neither my fondness for my son nor pity/ for my old father nor the love I owed/ Penelope, which would have gladdened her,/ was able to defeat in the longing/ I had to gain experience of the world/ and of the vices and the worth of men” (lines 90-95, translated by Allen Mandelbaum).

So, the Ulysses with the wanderlust that Tennyson portrays, is Dante’s creation. Dante has placed Ulysses in hell; one cannot infer clearly whether or not Dante admired his lust for experience. Dante was a principled fellow who passed judgment with intimidating objectivity, the best example being Brunetto Latini (“Are you here, Ser Brunetto?”) for whom he had an obvious fondness and who may have been a mentor of his. But that didn’t pose any problems as to Ser Brunetto’s eternal fate. He was a homosexual. Similarly, Dante thought Ulysess’ lust for experience a sin, and a terrible one at that as he has him in the 8th circle.

But with Tennyson, the Poet Laureat of England during its greatest age, when it “ruled the waves,” Ulysses is something different. Homer’s Odysseus is a shadowy figure, related but different, and is in the background of the re-incarnated Ulysses of Dante and Tennyson.

Olga Cuenca · 31 March 2003

Remember that always SOMEBODY that is really above all that we can feel in this life is in LOVE WITH YOU!!!!!! If you think….. you can easy find that you have to wait until your last moment

REMEMBER THAT ALWAYS SOMEBODY
THAT IS REALLY ABOVE OF ALL,
MAY YOU FEEL, GREAT IN ANY CIRCUSNTANCE.
THINK ABOUT….. WHEN YOU FEEL GREAT,
THINK ABOUT….. WHEN YOU FELL WEAK
THINK ABOUT….. SOMEBODY LOVES YOU LIKE NOBODY!!!!

PoseidonRed26 · 1 May 2003

where did u hear those quotes from??? there pretty good and inspiring.

Joseph Daniels · 6 June 2003

I’ve often speculated that the prayer penned by Ignatius of Loyola may have had an influence on the closing of this masterpiece poem. I reproduce Ignatius’ prayer below:

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If Tennyson was educated by the Jesuits, he would have very likely been exposed to this prayer.

jd

l.keil · 2 July 2003

After having read this poem and spent a great deal of time thinking about my own mortality it occurred to me, through this poem, that its ultimate message of “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” is one of continual hope. We never have the right to give up because there is always something we can do to further ourselves or others no matter how close to death. When a person is diagnosed with a terminal illness it may seem impossible at times to continue fighting. Through “Ulysses” I have come to the understanding that even though we must all one day die, there will always be the opportunity to improve the world before we do. That is our mission until our heart comes to rest.

Laura Keil

Ellen Kardon · 20 February 2004

This poem is the definitive defense of the Liberal Intellectual, one who “follows knowledge like a sinking star”…always striving for new experiences, new insights.

NeaDavid · 19 May 2004

well this is probely the most random question to be sent to you, however you should feel privilidge that i have asked for your advice on this. Please may you help me, to understand this poem, im studding it for an exam and i hear that this poem shall be on the paper, i would really like to understand the poem so i can give my personal opinions, and write about the signifance of this poem.

thank you

Lucy

Luke Pulaski · 2 June 2004

Grace, I think you have grossly misunderstood Tennyson’s Ulysses. Ulysses is not an adventure-mongering zealot, quite to the contrary. The journey he is alluding to throughout the poem is the quest for knowledge, wisdom and truth. Ulysses, knowing his materialistic life has been fulfilled and his duties as a king and father have been complete. Yes, he says, I am famous (“I am become a name”), I love my sun—and he me, and I have lived through all the battles and adventures any warrior can dream of, but, in a stark contrast from the view of that time, he knows that is not all there is too life. In his dying days, he wishes that his greatest weapon, (even in the Iliad and Odyssey) his mind, does not…rust in the sheath to use his metaphor.

Knowing he will never reach the “utmost bound of human thought,” (As the goal is a golden arch on the horizon…and every step closer you get to the horizon, it gets a step further—my Freshman English teacher put this another way, but in the same sense Tennyson is using here… “The more I know, the more I know I don’t know”) Ulysses still wishes to gain more knowledge.

The allusive “something” out there mentioned several times in the poem is that knowledge which he seeks in his dying days. In fact, unlike how you interpreted him, Ulysses has sown his wild oats (your turn to forgive my cliché) and gained a sense of wisdom in his old age. He says “we are not now that strength which in the old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.” He has come to realize that the strength and ego he, in his prime, thought indefatigable, was just that: ego. “We are what we are” Insignificant lives. And even though he has come to realize this, and his physical strength wanes, he is yet strong in will. Still the warrior in him must get the final word, but it is still as truthful as anything else he said, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” Not to yield in any battle, fight, or journey… regardless if its is for survival or knowledge.

Grace, you don’t need to believe anything I say here, it’s just my interpretation of this poem. It is, as you said, very beautiful. And, of course, I’m just a sophomore in high school (St. Ignatius College Prep Mr. Daniels, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve said that prayer before basketball games…) Lucy, I don’t know if this will help on your exam—or if you still need to take it—but feel free… just hope you don’t ever show it to Mr. Bjorkquist, as I need to use some of this on my own exam tomorrow.

Luke

Kim Hanson · 1 December 2004

I’ve just read this poem, about twice for my own English exam. I can understand a person’s viewing Ulysses as being ungrateful to his wife based on his comments of her being an “aged wife” and “barren crags”. Yet remember Shakespeare’s sonnet My mistresss’ eyes. Ulysses being known well throughout the world is a fact. This man survived about as much as the gods could throw at him. This alone would have made him well known and revered in every state in Greece (etc.). Illusions of grandeur are when we assume too much and believe it. I think Ulysses is talking about how old age wears the body down, but the will is still strong maybe even wiser. Ulysses also notes that he must die in order to travel on the last journey where his “mariners” are “waiting” for him. Ulysses may also feel that he has done the extent of what he can. Marriage is about sharing your life with another person and helping that person grow. Perhaps he doesn’t see how he can help his wife grow. He also notes that his son is able to competently rule as king, perhaps even better. I am still in High School, so take my words anyway you like, but just be open to a new idea. (I still believe that a poem does not have one “answer” but the answer is accepting the contradction that can arise)

Nathaniel Stetson · 9 December 2004

I beg to differ with Ms. Saw’s interpretation. My view of Ulysses’ comment on Penelope’s age has always been one more of resignation than of contempt, perhaps even of self-deprecation (if she is aged, how old must he be? Greek men married younger women, as a rule). Also, the poem makes no mention of the time between Ulysses’ return and his speech.

Most central to the poem, however, is Ulysses’ ability, like Aeneas of Virgil’s eponymous epic, to escape the prison of the Homeric ideal. Heroes of that time were violent, self-serving, closer to the gods than to men–indeed, many of them were illegitimate offspring of one Olympian deity or another–but Ulysses rises above this ideal; though formidable in battle, he is best renowned for his wits, and, more tellingly, he realizes that it is the fault of his time that he must “mete and dole/ Unequal laws unto a savage race.” His time is, bluntly, savage and barbaric, as one can tell from the glorification of such a warrior class as theirs, and he is ahead of it in his attempt at equality.

Obviously, his departure for ten years from his homeland has fundamentally changed him, which change is the cause of his own folk not knowing him. I don’t entirely see that he doesn’t know them–the two are not automatically inclusive. As to his “patronizing” attitude, I don’t see what’s wrong with trying to make one’s people–one’s ultimate responsibility–mild, useful, or good, and the Ithacans of the time certainly needed some measure of subduing (cf. my comment above and the shameful treatment of Ulysses’ supposed widow by the local noblemen).

I have absolutely no idea whence springs the idea of “chronic sexual repression”; it sounds an awful lot like a case of projection to me. Similarly, the last point about yielding to illusions [sic; I assume “delusions”] of grandeur and “in the process, los[ing] our humanity” sounds rather pretty until you think about it. Where does Ulysses say anything about hopeless insignificance? After all, “that which we are, we are;/ One equal temper of heroic hearts,/ Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will.” It could certainly be worse.

In the end, I think, Ulysses is a tired, worn old man who, having lived through such terrible wonders as he has, is desolate at the thought of his waning and eventual death. Realizing that strength of the body is denied him, he pursues the ultimate goal of will and mind, far surpassing mere feats of strength in its beauty and elegance. He can do nothing to halt the decay of his body, but his heart is still heroic, and he will not yield.

BoyzRsmellYsoRu · 7 November 2006

To Grace Ming:

My dear, this poem’s depiction of Ulysses is not based on Homer’s depiciton of him, but rather Dante’s depiction of him. Read Dante’s “Inferno” and also Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and you will see that this Ulysses is like Dante’s.

Debra · 4 January 2007

When I first read this poem at the age of 17, I thought it was bold and heroic. I read it the other night at 52 years and finally understand it. It is much harder to continue going forth when you know you will be met by age, pain, heartache, and indifference. But you have to keep going.

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Chant Peter (CA - Toronto) · 16 February 2007

A few thoughts…Ulysses was, I believe, destined to die only when he met a man who knew not his fame. Hence he set out on his final voyage knowingly seeking his fate…and likely tired of his otherwise undying state, a state that would prohibit his son’s timely inheritance. It is also presumptuous to think that Ulysses was in command or even thought he was in command of his fate; he clearly was not, and knew he was not. Hence the passive tone of his reflections even on his own greatness.

For those that have been through the storms of life and survived, there is not a sense of victory but a sense of survival. Not all who are challenged by the Fates overcome their circumstances. How does one explain those who survive from those who do not? One survives what the gods inflict not by accident; the one who survives is one who does not quit, but takes the challenge, and does not yield. Tennyson survived a bleak and dark odyssey through depression, and emerged with this sparkling insight: he now knew how Ulysses must have felt at that point in his life; in this poem Tennyson shares his personal understanding of the ancient’s fate with this eloquent expression of the experience.

Osborne Natasha · 8 November 2007

(responding to Grace)

Just to comment on the fact that the poem’s inconsistency with the ‘original epic’ is by no means important.

Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ is a legend told from a fictional interpretation of the character, Ulysses.

However Dante’s Ulysses was a tragic king longing for fulfilment, escape and adventure: leaving for the last time in vain hope to satisfy his restless longing.

Tennyson combines both interpretations in order to fit his own feelings of pride and tragedy into his words, (he was writing in direct response to his emotions in the face of the death of a beloved friend ‘Hallam’).

I believe that this poem defies accuracy in its perfect melodic beauty and hence is very difficult to criticise.

Utterly taken with it, as you’d imagine…