... in the two-volume "Poems", Tennyson creates his idea of an old Ulysses by using the ancient hero of Homer's Odyssey, and the medieval hero of Dante's Inferno. Translated from Greek ("Odysseus") to Roman, Ulysses represents the aging hero feeling that there is no point in staying home "by this still hearth" with ... hero who endures numerous struggles as he travels home, capable of surviving attacks from gods. Dante's Ulysses is a tragic figure who dies while sailing too far in an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and ends up in Dante's Inferno when he knowingly uses wit to satisfy his wor...

• Word Count: 1975
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School