What Does the Writer Alfred, Lord Tennyson Think of Ulysses - Research Paper Example

Ulysses The death of Hallam, the King of Ithaca comes as a shock to Tennyson, and he chooses to write a poem to praise ten years later. The poem is also intended to help Tennyson get through life after the death of his friend Hallam. Tennyson returns home after the Trojan War and does not feel satisfied with life in the Island. Tennyson sees Ulysses as a hero and at the same time sees him as a coward as he is afraid of his responsibility as a king and a family. Tennyson thinks that the desire Ulysses has on fleeing his Kingdom is selfish, as he wants to run away from his people and his kingdom. He is not even afraid of leaving his son who knows nothing about governing his throne as long as he gets away from Ithaca. Tennyson sees him as a hero in the sense that he is not afraid to explore and find new things in life that makes him happy (Lang 145). Tennyson admires his adventurous life as he follows his long life dream to explore the arc. Tennyson in his poem states that Ulysses will drink life to the lees meaning that he will drink himself to the fullest. He is adventurous, and he does let leave this shows how people who live in Ulysses are carefree and they only look forward to having a good a time. However, they still have bad times and good times (DiCamillo 90). He states that he has become a good name, which means that he has also travelled and has become famous. He further states that he was treated properly and honored by all the people he met. Tennyson identifies Ulysses to having an intense dissatisfaction and boredom as he finds in his island home of Ithaca. The poem begins by informing the reader about how the king gains nothing from just sitting around and by the fire with his wife and making laws for the people (Kirszner, Laurie & Stephen 34). He states” It little profits that an idle king” the people or subjects are of Ithaca are presented by the author as a large group of people who do nothing but just sit down and eat and sleep. Therefore, the author states that the citizens and the king of Ithaca are lazy, and all they do is eat and sleep. Tennyson informs the reader that he has no space left for Ithaca because all the places he has gone he has left a part of him (Joyce, Jim &Marcella et al 67). He describes the time spent on the ringing plains of windy Troy” He states that the city is ringing because there is an armor clashing together in battle. He is a hero because he is not afraid of being in the battlefield, because he finds it more fun than just sitting down and making laws for the people of Ithaca. In the eyes of Tennyson is Ulysses is a role model because although he is a king, he does not care about what his rulers of citizens say about his adventures. He is his own man and lives life the way he wants and not the way people dictate. He states previously that he lives a lee meaning that he lives a life of adventure. He further states that compares his life and experiences to an arch where he describes the untraveled world (Fénelon, Smollett & Leslie 45). He does not feel comfortable with the way the king of Ithaca is rewarded by the king for sitting around. The same king sits idle doing nothing and only makes laws for the people of Ithaca. Tennyson shows that Ulysses is mortal in the sense of urgency that he radiates especially as he radiates his own consciousness of death (Pearsall 78). He mentions that he may die every time he goes to the sea, but each time he goes he seems to come back. Ulysses even in his old age still wants to go on his travels and have fun before he dies. Although he knows that death is stalking, him it does not stop him from doing what he loves and that is, travel and have an adventurous life. He cheats death on several occasions because he wants to steal as many moments as he can before the curtain closes or before he dies. Tennyson identifies Ulysses to having an untamed spirit because although he knows that he has a responsibility of being a husband and a father to his son, as well as the King of Ithaca, he does not care one bit and continues with his adventures. He knows that he knows that nothing can stop him from what he desires to have in life. He thinks that even when he gets sick the only cure is travelling. When Ulysses goes back to his family, he seems dissatisfied with life in Ithaca to the extent that when his son asks for his throne as the king of Ithaca he does not see a problem with his son being a king (Ricks 56). He does not like his son at all, which shows that he does not appreciate that he has a family and when the opportunity arises for him to go and fight in another battle, he looks forward to it, and he does not care whether he comes out alive or dead. Tennyson ends the poem shows by showing the readers how Ulysses is happy about his life, and he is glad that his royal soldiers are willing to go with him to battle (Evslin 67). He is glad that he is leaving the boring life that is found in Ithaca, and he cannot wait to leave the kingdom. Death does not scare him in any way as he tells his soldiers that they are leaving, but he is not sure whether they will come back to their families after the war. At the end of the war, he returns home alone without his soldiers. In conclusion, Tennyson thinks of Ulysses as a hero and he appreciates him as a king and a friend. The desire to travel the arc makes Tennyson want to have the same experience rather than sit around in Ithaca and do nothing. Ulysses is a hero in the sense that he fought in the most dangerous wars of the time, and that is the Trojan War because at the end of the war, he still returns home a hero. Tennyson ends the poem by stating “one equal temper of heroic heart…..” the only reason for the adventures of Ulysses to end is because of his old age, but in case he was not old he would continue with his travels. He further states, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”. Tennyson characterizes the death of Ulysses as happy because he dies a strong man, although he has tried several times to cheat death he finally succumbs to it and dies a peaceful man. Reason being he has travelled the world, and although he does not feel satisfied with being in Ithaca he dies, there where he had not lived for a long time. Work cited DiCamillo, Kate, and K G. Campbell. Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2013. Print. Evslin, Bernard. The Adventures of Ulysses. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1969. Print. Fénelon, François S. L. M, T. Smollett, Leslie A. Chilton, and O M. Brack. The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulysses. Athens Ga: University of Georgia Press, 1997. Print. Joyce, James, Jim Norton, Marcella Riordan, Roger Marsh, and Derek Attridge. Ulysses. S.l.: Naxos AudioBooks, 2004. Print. Kirszner, Laurie G, and Stephen R. Mandell. Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Lang, Frederick K. Ulysses and the Irish God. Lewisburg [Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1993. Print. Pearsall, Cornelia D. J. Tennysons Rapture: Transformation in the Victorian Dramatic Monologue. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Internet resource. Ricks, Christopher. Tennyson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Print. Read More