Alfred, Lord Tennyson "Ulysses"
             This poem is written as a monologue. Ulysses is the speaker. The lines are in blank verse and many of the lines are enjambed. Because of the blank verse Ulysses' speech stays more natural. The poem is divided into four paragraphs. Ulysses is about progress and living life to its full potential. Ulysses needs to do something, or he will lose his self-respect.
             The poem takes place at the end of Ulysses' life. As the poem begins, Ulysses reflects the things he did during his life, he compares his past adventures with the life he lives now as the king of Ithaca. He finds his memories far more compelling than the daily life, that he leads now and he longs to return to his journeys. Ulysses has experienced too much, to enjoy a quiet domestic life with Penelope. The use of 'savage race' in the first paragraph is intended to highlight his disdain for the lazy attitude "hoard and sleep and feed" and lack of adventure "and know not me" of the people in his kingdom. He reflects on his journeys, on his sailor comrades, on the fame he has achieved, and on his desire to escape the responsibilities of his kingdom. He has been made weak and old through the course of time, but still he strives and seeks to go forth and conquer the unknown.
             He proclaims that he "cannot rest from travel" but feels compelled to live his life to the fullest and enjoy every single day of it. He has enjoyed all his experiences as a sailor who travels the seas, and he considers himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and roams the earth. Though Ulysses is fond of the sea, he portrays it as a bad thing, "the dim sea" and later on in the poem as "there gloom the dark, broad seas" and "the deep moans around with many voices". It adds a certain key of uncertainty to the poem. It is as if Tennyson is trying to say that, even the dreams we have and the things in life we know we must do, have an element...