Critical Appreciation and Summary of Poem—Ulysses

Text of the 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 enjoy'd 

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those 

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

Thro' 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 honor'd 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 wherethro' 

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move. 

How dull it is to pause, to make an end, 

To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! 

As tho' 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 gray 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 labor, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and thro' 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 Achiles, whom we knew. 

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' 

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. 

Critical Analysis of the Poem:

Introduction: 

“Ulysses” was first published in 1842, like Break, Break, Break and The Two Voices, soon, after Arthur Hallam's death, and it expresses the poet's feeling about the need of going forward and facing life, despite the bereavement he has suffered. Ulysses was the legendary Greek hero, the story of whose heroic deeds and adventures is sung by Homer in his Odyssey: However, Tennyson's Ulysses is closely modelled on Dante's Ulysses as sketched in the 26th Canto of the Inferno. The influence of classical poets Homer and Virgil, is seen in phrasing and many verbal echoes. But despite this indebtedness, Tennyson's treatment is original, and Ulysses remains, "the noblest of all Tennyson's classical poems" (Fowler). 

A Dramatic Monologue: 

“Ulysses” is a dramatic monologue. It is dramatic because it expresses the feeling not of the poet, but of Ulysses, and it is monologue because only one person speaks throughout. The others merely listen to him. Ulysses, the hero of the Trojan War, returned to his island state of Ithaca after twenty years. He has been ruling his state for some time, but the life of peace, devoid of adventure, does not suit him. In the poem, he is supposed to be standing at the coast of the sea, surrounded by his sailors, whom he exhorts to follow him in quest of more knowledge and experience.

The Subjective Note: 

“Ulysses” has a well-marked autobiographical element. It is expressive of Tennyson's feelings about the need of facing life, despite the bereavement he had recently suffered. “Ulysses” also springs from powerful feelings prompted by Hallam's death, and it shows Tennyson finding release from pain in the creation of the beautiful, and his fondness for adapting legend to clothe personal emotion. “Ulysses” is deeply personal in such things as, "its expression of a sensibility divided between the claims of retreat and involvement, its note of courage, its elegiac melancholy, its restless dissatisfaction with the present and wish for fuller life, its yearning for the days that are no more and far, far away." Tennyson's remark that there was much of himself in the poem is true in a wider sense than he intended, for “Ulysses” is also quintessential of the, ‘Tennysonian' gathering into itself all that is representative and best in his early work and displaying magnificently its infinite riches in a little room.

Escapism: 

"The final passage is one of literature's grandest, Churchillian in its rhetoric and resolve." Its immense dignity and power to matter and manner move one deeply, as Ulysses means them to do, and continue to do so after many readings. Nevertheless, Tennyson has already established an ambiguous attitude towards his hero, one which forces our recognition of depths below the dazzling surface. The verse is measured and stately, but it also undercuts the surface strength with the 'poetical decorativeness', and melancholy music of lines like:— 

“The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: 

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs; the deep 

Moans round with many voices.” 

The lines' slow movement and elegiac quality help to stress the element of the escapist and suicidal in Ulysses' motives. So do other things, notably the ambiguity of image and symbol. Ulysses sets out at night (one would surely expect dawn in a work descriptive simply of romantic grandeur). Is the sea calling to a journey of renewal and life, or dreamful ease and death? Is it the sea of the end of Locksley Hall, or its other seas of escape? Certainly the seas here are not the 'sounding furrows' Ulysses calls them; no 'mighty wind arises roaring seaward', the landscape is still, the vessel only puffs her sail, the dark seas gloom and moan. Are the Happy Isles the Avilion of Mort D' Arthur, a land of renewal, or Lotosland and 'summer isles of Eden'? The final paragraph involves much more than a man braving the struggle of life, for the atmosphere is redolent of death, linked now not primarily with Ithaca as earlier, but with the world beyond-an island that began as a kind of sterile Shalott has become the England of the political poems. And is it accidental that the glorious last line should irresistibly summon up the shade of Milton's Satan with his, 'courage never to submit or yield'?

Artistic Merits: 

“Ulysses” is a noble poem concerned with character delineation rather than with the narration or action. It displays Tennyson's command over language and his felicity of phrasing. He has said what he had to say in the fewest possible words. This makes the diction terse and epigrammatic. Many of the lines of the poem have passed into common, everyday proverbs. Thus we have: "To follow knowledge like a sinking star"; "to strife, to seek, to find, and not to yield', etc. Tennyson was a consummate artist and he chooses his words both with reference to their sense and their sound. Music is created by the clever use of alliteration, liquid consonants 'l', 'm' and 'n' and the bringing together of a number of vowel sounds, as in the following: 

“There lies the port, the vessel puffs her sail, 

There gloom the dark broad seas.” 

The poem is written in blank verse which, especially in the last lines, acquires almost a Miltonic grandeur, and sweep and majesty of movement.

The words chosen for the purpose are quite appropriate. They are soft, pleasing, simple and monosyllabic. The following line is an example: 

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." 

The metaphors and similes used in the poem are very appropriate and in keeping with the nature of the theme of the poem. Here is an example: 

"Yet all experience is an arch where thro'! 

Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades 

For ever and for ever when I move." 

Summary of the Poem:

Ulysses who was one of the Trojan heroes thinks that there is no use ruling over a barren and craggy land and uncivilized people and administering unsuitable laws to them. He feels that he would stagnate if he continues to live with his old wife in his dull home, and he would wear out if he continues to govern his people who simply make money, eat and sleep, and have no ambition for higher things of life. So far as he is concerned, he will undertake a new adventure to gain extensive knowledge of this world. As an adventurer, he has enjoyed and suffered greatly, sometimes in the company of his friends, and sometimes all alone. He has much experience of the sea-life because he has travelled in the sea ruffled by the rains and storms raised by a group of seven stars. As a voyager, he has earned much name and fame. Wherever he went, he had a heart hungry for knowledge. He has seen various lands, governments, people and climates. He has fought a war on the windy plains of Troy for ten years with the warriors of equal strength. Thus, he has gained much knowledge and experience of this world both in peace and war.

All that Ulysses has seen and known during his adventures has become the part of his experience. Yet, he still feels that the more he has learnt, the more remains to be known as seen. His experience is just like an arch through which is seen the untravelled world. The more he moves forward to reach the horizon of knowledge, the more he feels that his destination is still far off. He thinks that it is very dull for him to stay at one place for long, retire quietly, and pass away without shining and knowing much of the world. The mere breathing is not life. Even several lives without adventures would be worthless for him. A few years remain in his life but he can save every hour of his life from death by knowing more and more about life and the world. He has whiled away three precious years of his life while his heart has been thirsting for knowledge. He is just like a setting sun but he still wants to follow knowledge beyond the bounds of human thought.

He is going to make over his royal charge to his son for whom he has a deep-sense of affection and who is competent enough to look after his kingdom. His son would win over the uncivilized people of the island slowly by applying his common sense, and discipline them in such a way that they are able to do well to the state. His son is quite innocent and virtuous and he is able to perform all his duties whether at home or outside home. After his departure from the island, his son, he is confident, will pay appropriate respect to his mother and adoration to his household gods. His son will do his duties and he must discharge his own.

The harbour lies in front of him. The boat sails off smoothly, and the darkness gradually descends over the wide-sea. His sailors, who have worked, toiled and fought with him under various circumstances, and braved rain and storms fearlessly are present before him. He addresses them and says that they including him are quite old and unfit for any adventure but old age, too, has its own honour and work. Life is work as there is not work after death. Hence, it is their duty to do something great, heroic and noble before they depart from this world in the same way as did the Trojan heroes supported by Greek Gods. He sees the twinkling lights in the rocks because the day has declined. He sees the moon going up and hears the moans of the sea.

Ulysses addresses his old companions and tells them that it is never too late to undertake a fresh adventure in search of Knowledge. They should, therefore, set out on a new journey sailing across the sea and see life on the other side. It may be that the sea-waves will drown them or they may reach the Island of the Blessed where they can meet the Greek hero, Achilles. Though the major part of their life is spent, yet much still remains. Though they do not have the same physical strength that moved earth and heaven in the youth, yet they are what they are. Though they have been made weak by time and fate, they have brave hearts and strong will-power to struggle, to seek and find new knowledge, and never to yield in life.