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Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Ulysses

More challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 4 March 2014
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Ulysses -- originally Odysseus -- was the hero of Homer's epic of a ship blown off course after the battle of Troy and then the sailors being subject to many amazing adventures.

This poem takes up the story many years later, when Ulysses is now the ruler of the Greek island of Ithaca. It is a boring and unprofitable existence and our hero wishes to return once more to a life of adventure.

He decides to leave his island under the care of his son, Telemachus, and to set off once again with his trusted crew.



A QUESTION OF IMAGERY

"By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife"

Ulysses refers to the sterility of life about him. He is king but everything is frozen: the fireplace cold, the cliffs harsh and lifeless, even his wife has lost her sensual appetite and is quite useless to him.

"I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me."

His people over whom he rules are not up to his level. Their lives are basic -- they eat, sleep and jealously collect useless things. Not only have they forgotten who the great Ulysses is, but they cannot even appreciate his magnanimous laws which are far beyond their understanding.

"On shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea."

Ulysses loves life, even when it is harsh. He provides an example of how he was once confronted with winds and rain at sea that was so severe that visibility was zero. Note: the Hyades is a constellation of stars believed to have been responsible for the onset of rain.

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

Ulysses uses the metaphor of the sword. Swords were made of iron and they rusted when not in use. The active soldier would spend much time polishing and sharpening the blade to keep the rust at bay.

"And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star."

The old man, still full of enthusiasm, seeking knowledge -- just like the sailing ship seeking the stars to chart its progress.

"And pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone."

The Greek gods were a malevolent bunch of spirits. If they were not given sufficient adoration by the people, they would retaliate by inflicting dire punishment by sinking their ships, allowing victory to the enemy, etc.

Each household had its own gods too, and it was critically important to appease them so as to fend off calamity. There was certainly no love in this pantheon of gods!

"Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done."

Death is final but, before that happens, there is always something else to accomplish that is noble.

"Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows."

The sailing vessels of ancient Greece had to be rowed out of harbour and out to sea till such time as the wind could fill their sails. The "sounding furrows" refers to the deep troughs between the waves which the oars would strike.

"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 Achilles, whom we knew."

The ancient Greeks knew little of what lay beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. They were aware that there was a great ocean beyond but the rest of their wisdom lay in legends.

It seemed to them that the sun set into the ocean but, beyond the sunset, there was a world of magic and superstition.

Somewhere were the baths which washed the stars so that they always shone brightly. Perhaps they would reach the edge of the world and fall off -- "the gulfs will wash us down".

Perhaps they would reach Heaven itself -- "the Happy Isles" -- where they would meet the great Achilles whom they had all once known but who had perished on the battlefields of Troy.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



Why should Ulysses, a great king, have become so bored with life? (4)

[Need help?]




"An idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife."
  • What do these images have in common? (4)

[Need help?]




"Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea."
  • Comment on the speaker's choice of words in these lines. (4)

[Need help?]




I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart"
  • Is this statement true? (4)

[Need help?]




"Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move."
  • Explain the poet's image in your own words. (4)

[Need help?]




" The deep
Moans round with many voices."
  • Comment on how the speaker's choice of words provides the reader with a deeply rich impression. (4)

[Need help?]




"You and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all."
  • What very important message does the speaker propose here? (4)

[Need help?]




Was it a good idea for Ulysses to leave his household gods in the care of his son, Telemachus? Explain carefully. (4)

[Need help?]




"Ulysses" is described as an epic.
  • What is an epic? Why should this poem be described as one? (4)

[Need help?]

  • "Ulysses" also fits the category of a dramatic monologue. What is a dramatic monologue and explain how "Ulysses" is an example of one. (4)

[Need help?]




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