Ulysses

Quiz: Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson

1. Recall – Form & Structure: What type of poem is Ulysses, and what does this form allow Tennyson to do that a third-person narrative would not?

1. Recall – Speaker & Setting: Who is the speaker of Ulysses, where is he at the start of the poem, and why does he feel out of place there?

1. Recall – Key Image: What does the sea symbolise in Ulysses, and how does it contrast with the symbol of Ithaca?

1. Recall – Telemachus: What role does Telemachus play in the poem, and what qualities does Ulysses associate with him?

1. Comprehension – Tone: How would you describe the overall tone of Ulysses? Explain how two contrasting emotions exist simultaneously in the poem.

1. Comprehension – The "Newer World": What double meaning does the phrase "newer world" carry in the poem, and how does it connect to the classical tradition Tennyson draws on?

1. Comprehension – Biographical Context: How does Tennyson's personal life at the time of writing Ulysses (1833) shape the poem's emotional depth? What event directly influenced its composition?

1. Analysis – Old Age as Symbol: Ulysses acknowledges physical decline yet dismisses its importance. What tension does this create, and what does it suggest about the poem's central argument regarding identity and mortality?

1. Analysis – Literary Influences: Ulysses draws on two major classical sources. Identify both and explain how each shapes a different aspect of the poem's meaning.

1. Analysis – Victorian Context: In what ways does Ulysses reflect the values and preoccupations of the early Victorian era? Refer to at least two themes from the poem in your answer.

Answer Key

1. Ulysses is a dramatic monologue. This form provides Tennyson with direct access to the speaker's inner thoughts, desires, and rationalizations, allowing for immediacy and psychological revelation that a third-person narration could not achieve.

1. The speaker is Ulysses (Odysseus), the aging hero, returned to his island kingdom of Ithaca after the Trojan War. He feels out of place because he views his role as king — governing a people he sees as uninspired and lacking ambition — as meaningless idleness.

1. The sea represents the unknown, challenge, and vibrancy — to sail is to embrace life on Ulysses' terms. In contrast, Ithaca symbolises domesticity, routine, and the unremarkable passage of time. While the sea offers vitality, Ithaca represents a kind of living death for Ulysses.

1. Telemachus is set to remain in Ithaca to govern after Ulysses departs. Ulysses praises him earnestly but with some distance, associating him with patience, steadiness, and civic duty — virtues Ulysses himself lacks and does not desire. Telemachus acts as a foil, not an antagonist.

1. The tone is restless, proud, and defiantly strong. Simultaneously, there is an undercurrent of melancholy: Ulysses is acutely aware of his age and that this voyage may end in death. These two emotions — defiant ambition and quiet sorrow — coexist without negating each other.

1. "Newer world" conveys both geographical discovery and, more ominously, death itself. In classical tradition, sailing westward into the unknown correlates with journeying towards the land of the dead. Ulysses may pursue adventure while also consciously accepting — or seeking — his own end.

1. Tennyson composed Ulysses in 1833, shortly after the sudden death of his closest friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The poem reflects his grief and struggle to find meaning after such loss. Its determination to move forward signifies more than ambition — it embodies a refusal to be overcome by sorrow.

1. The conflict between a declining body and an undiminished spirit lies at the core of the poem's emotional landscape. By dismissing physical decline as insignificant, Ulysses posits that identity is rooted in will, desire, and experience — not constrained by the body's limitations. This speaks directly to mortality and identity: the self persists beyond physical decay.

1. Tennyson drew on Homer's Odyssey, which provides the character of Ulysses as the great wanderer, and on Dante's Inferno, where Ulysses describes a final, doomed voyage beyond the known world. Homer contributes the heroic restlessness; Dante introduces the shadow of a fatal, boundary-crossing journey.

1. The early Victorian era featured industrial and imperial expansion, valuing exploration, self-improvement, and ambition. Ulysses embodies these values through themes of journey and ambition — an impulse to surpass the known world resonates with imperial exploration — and through its emphasis on education and knowledge, as Ulysses asserts that every experience enriches the self. The poem serves as a Victorian manifesto couched in classical myth.