Ulysses By Tennyson Lord Alferd Tennyson presents to us in the poem "Ulysses" an old sailor, a warrior and a king who is in retrospection on his experiences of a lifetime of travel. Ulysses' old age and strong will causes him to be restless and unable to be comfortable at home. He chooses a life of travel over his family because that is what he knows best. Because of his faults, we identify with his character. As a result, Ulysses attempts to go on to face a new but familiar journey, not knowing if it would be his last. By connecting with Ulysses' courage he awakens the heroic spirit in all of us. At home Ulysses is unable to adjust to old age. Regardless of his physical body he feels his spirit is still longing for travel.
He feels as though his wife is too old, and he governs the people with no respect, "Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole / Unequal laws unto a savage race, / That hord, and sleep, and feed, and know not of me"(Lines 3-5).
Ulysses condescends his own son by describing his timidness to rule the people and how his son
Ulysses directs this next verse toward his mariners, who have been with him through the bad times unlike his wife who was unable to. "Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me-"(Line 46). At this point both the bad and the good side of Ulysses can be identified and we are called to join in on the final journey ..."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 the gulfs will wash us down:/It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles." (Lines 56-61). Tennyson seals the bond to the readers and gives us a sence of connection to Ulysses courageous mission. We are left with the encouraging idea that no matter how old we might be physically the soul lives on. "We are not now that strength which in old days/Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are-/One of equal temper of heroic hearts, /Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will /To strive, to
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