Ulysses: Tennyson

Ulysses is a captivating epic, immediately seizing its reader and dragging them to the days of its hero. Written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, it is centred around the adventures and character of Ulysses-the Roman name for the mythic hero Odysseus. 

Tennyson does not write of the hero's adventures that were detailed in just legends as The Odyssey, but of an old Ulysses, wasted and filled with regret. 

The opening lines:

"It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole"

Instantly, the poems scope becomes clear. An aged Ulysses, not content with his life and home, willing to escape across the sea for a final adventure. To die with his companions, facing danger, and to see his deceased friend Achilles for the last time!

Okay, maybe the opening lines don't reveal quite that much. 

But the blanks are filled in- the poem later alludes to many of Ulysses's journey's and former companions and foes, making good use of the dramatic monologue style you can see in many epics. Ulysses shouts to the sea and his surroundings like a king on an iron throne, giving the reader all they need to know about his character. Don't associate this with the eye-numbing epics your teachers force you to read. Tennyson's wordplay, diction, and tone is incredible and easy to understand (it helps that the poem is in blank verse, the cheater) and the reader almost feels as if they are Ulysses, such is the power of the writing. There is something about the trapped nature of Ulysses, his longing for adventure, that connects with a very powerful part of the human soul. 

By the end of the poem, you may have an urge to fight a bear. Just look at the closing lines:

"Though 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."

You might recognized these lines from the most recent Bond movie, Skyfall. And ironically enough, Ulysses has a lot in common with Mr. Bond. And its not just in the sense that they are both bold adventurers, indefatigable fighters for truth, but that both characters have their fair share of flaws that are not immediately apparent. With Bond it is drugs and women- but Ulysses has some deeper vices. 

Tennyson's Ulysses initially seems heroic and brave, but on second reading vanity begins to bleed from the writing. Ulysses explicitly states he would abandon his family and his kingdom for the thrill of adventure ("my son, mine own Telemachus/To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle)

He is not the most benevolent ruler, either- he refers to his occupation as "dole...unequal laws unto a savage race". And a close reading of the Odyssey will reveal more faults in his character, namely the 88 of his wife's suitors he slaughtered when he returned from his journey.

But the biggest flaw may be what many people admire the character of Ulysses for- his ambition. 

In traditional Christian texts, many scholars treated Ulysses's attempts to go behind human knowledge not as inspiring, but as sacrilege- in Dante's Inferno, Ulysses is condemned to the 8th circle of hell for overstepping limits set by god. And the last part of the poem- "not to yield"- is somewhat reminiscent of John Milton's description of Lucifer in Paradise Lost. Tennyson's decision to use that exact language can hardly be an accident. Is Tennyson championing an idol and hero- or is he mocking the old, corrupt man? 

Whatever the case, the poem is nonetheless worth a read. Even though the character may be representing Satan, or may indeed be a hero of yore, Ulysses is a fantastic epic, and is what I would argue to be Tennyson's most important work. 

Full link to the poem: http://www.portablepoetry.com/poems/alfredlord_tennyson/ulysses.html

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