Ulysses Short notes

 Ulysses Short notes 

Source: Tennyson 's Ulysses has mainly its sources in Homer's Odyssey and Dante's representation of Ulisse in Canto 26 of Inferno.The poem's narrative background is indebted to Homer's Odyssey especially, the foretelling of the prophet Tiresias of Odyssey's returning to Ithaca after a difficult voyage,  but then to begin a new, mysterious voyage, and eventually die a peaceful, "unwarlike" death that comes vaguely "from the sea" in the 11th book of the epic. At the conclusion of Tennyson's poem, this is hinted as Ulysses is contemplating to undertake this new voyage to "touch the Happy Isles", a place where the souls of the great people do reside, signifying death.

The character of Tennyson's Ulysses is modelled much on Dante's Ulisse in Inferno. Tennyson's Ulysses, unlike Homer's is not a man of public affairs, instead, Tennyson's Ulysses is endowed with a zeal for unquenched desire for knowledge and adventure  -"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" resonates the Dantesque damnable desire of Ulisse for knowledge beyond all bounds  "…T'explore the world".Ulisse lusts for adventure at the expense of his family and his duties in Ithaca, much like Tennyson's Ulysses who discards to be the "idle king" of a "savage race".

Shakespeare too holds his influence in forming certain perceptions of Tennyson's Ulysses as Hamlet's soliloquy: "What is a man, / If his chief good and market of his time / Be but to sleep and feed?" is reflected in Ulysses' indifference to his "savage race" as "That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me". Again, the way Ulysses sighs at the thought of rest and advocates a life of deed in the following lines "How dull it is to pause, to make an end, / To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!" has, probably, an  influence of Shakespeare's Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida:

"perseverance, my dear lord,

Keeps honour bright: to have done is to hang

Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail,

 In monumental mockery." 

Publication history: Tennyson's Ulysses was written on 20th October, 1833, shortly after the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. However, it was  published in 1842 in his second volume of poetry. 

Form : Ulysses was written in blank verse with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter often interrupted by spondees. The poem was originally blocked out in four paragraphs. Following this structure, the first and third paragraphs seem thematically parallel, whereas the first paragraph can be read as an interior monologue where  the third instances the exterior monologue.

Autobiographical elements in the text: 

Ulysses was written over a period of  time when Tennyson was going through an emotional rift caused by the death of his father in 1831 and that of his dearest friend Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833. Hallam was rooted deep in the memory of their travel together and also of their future aspirations. At the same time the vaccum created by his father's death required his domestic attention and his taking the responsibility of his family. According to Victorian scholar Linda Hughes, the emotional gulf between the state of his domestic affairs and the loss of his special friendship informs the reading of "Ulysses"—particularly its treatment of domesticity. Ulysses' discontent to ".. hoard, and sleep, and feed.." mirror that of Tennyson, who would have been frustrated with managing the house in such a state of grief. Ulysses was written under the sense of loss and that all had gone by, but that still life must be fought out to the end as Tennyson himself was attracted to the myth for his emotional sustenance. Therefore, however bold the words of his affirmation " to strive, to seek , to find and to yield" seem to be, it also is suggestive of an old man's sigh,his burdened with melancholy about the restrictions that his age brought upon him, and his struggle to defy it by moving forward. In that case, the old age of Ulysses seems to be a metaphoric resonance of Tennyson's incapability to move as his own circumstances compelled him to become "..rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!"

"It little profits...know not me"(line 1-5)

The introductory lines of Tennyson's Ulysses utter the speaker's abhorrence of leading a "dull", mundane life of domestic contentment and idle kingship. Ulysses ' kingdom of Ithaca is portrayed "savage race"as they are ignorant of the speaker's indomitable spirit of acquiring knowledge through travel and adventure and prefers a comfortable life of hoarding, sleeping, and feeding. This stasis of the Ithacans are antithesis to Ulysses' desire to go beyond "the utmost bound of human thought". Thus, his subjects, along with his 'aged wife' who opt for a life of stasis and simplicity are considered by Ulysses as " barren" because of their incapability to "produce" meaning in terms of travel and resistance to old age. The "aged wife" signifies the sexual infertility and the lacking of physical tenacity, contradictory to the resistance of Ulysses to old age and its consequent passivity. These lines echo the Victorian urge for growth in the pretext of imperialism and creates a notion of an active  masculinity that is timeless. 

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink/Life to the lees:"  

These lines express a constant pursuit of personal growth and happiness. Life is metaphorically represented as a glass of wine and the speaker is willing to drink it to its residue, signifying the depth of life beneath the surface reality, even though through odds and uncertainties that travel can provide for him. This perspective of life is aligned with the utilitarian principle of maximizing individual well-being through right action that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. While Ulysses initially appears to prioritize his own desires for adventure, leading to potential abandonment of his duties, the poem ultimately explores a nuanced understanding of mutual moral responsibility and the pursuit of individual fulfillment within a broader social context, which is consolidated by the idea of Telemachus to preserve what Ulysses is metaphorically living behind ----his "sceptre and isle". Therefore, the father will explore life to its core and "become a name" , perhaps, like Achilles and the son through "soft degrees" will subdue the rugged people of Ithaca "to the useful and the good" who ,perhaps, will eventually value the significance of Ulysses' enterprises.

 

"Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;" 

The term "Hydes" refers to a star cluster in the constellation Taurus, associated with rain and storm. As per the Greek mythology, Hyades, the daughters of Atlas, are often depicted as being sorrowful and thus, associated with rain and storms. Symbolically, Ulysses here

 alludes to the myth of Hydes to signify the overarching theme of the struggle and perseverance required in life's journey, and Ulysses too had to go through inevitable trials and challenges in the journeys he undertook. And that is how he mythologized himself and became a name ----- of adventure, of heroic deeds as the name of Hydes is associated with tumultuous storm and rain.

"Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move."

In these lines of Tennyson's Ulysses experience is likened to an arch or a pathway that opens up a wider vista of possibilities. Thus, experience, here, is taken as a powerful metaphor for the human drive to explore, learn, and seek out new horizons that always seems to be in the distance, and it recedes as one moves towards it, making it a never ending journey. This symbolizes endless possibilities that motivates a man to go beyond what is mundane and 'real' to unveil the limitless possibilities beneath.

"He works his work, I mine" 

Alfred Tennyson’s “Ulysses” moulds manhood to equate masculinity with imperial work, serving to secure men’s place in the public sphere, engaging in acts like extensive travel and seeking the unknown realms of human world.Thus, Ulysses becomes the literary logo of the Victorian urge for growth through voyage and exploration by inaugurating a notion of masculinity that may have been significant with regards to the growth of imperialistic desire and the ruthlessness deemed necessary for colonial success.

Now the question is, then why did Ulysses introduce Telemachus and talked so high of him? The answer is, the ‘hero’ Ulysses, perhaps, needs his antithesis—-a common “blameless”(signifying innocent and simple, unlike him) man upon whom he can thrust his domestic duties, as in the socio-economic phenomena of imperialistic zeal, it is imperative to ground and typify the discourse surrounding gender roles. Thus, Telemachus was given the “sceptre and the isle”___ he was made an official incharge to look over the acts of “storing and hoarding” through “soft degrees”. This is how Telemachus preserves what Ulysses is leaving behind. This juxtaposed notion of masculinity sometimes seems critical as often we may feel that Telemachus, by being the ruler of the “savage race” or “rugged” people, proves to be unworthy of Ulysses' magnanimity, but the simplicity of Telemachus might be a deliberate project to generate the narrative of sustenance to “perform” well in offices of tenderness and paying “meet adoration” to the household deities. Thus, Telemachus’s stasis compliments Ulysses' restless urge to move and “become a name”. 

What is the myth of "Happy Isles"? What does it symbolize in the poem ? 

In Greek mythology, "Happy Isles" refer to the concept of the "Isles of the Blessed" or "Elysium", a paradisiacal afterlife reserved for heroes and virtuous souls (like Achilles) for their great human enterprises.Likewise, in Tennyson's poem, the "Happy Isles" symbolize a mythical paradise or utopian destination of peace and contentment where the speaker hopes to find solace and fulfillment.  Moreover, Ulysses's restless wanderings and the trials of his voyages are juxtaposed with the calm imagery of the "Happy Isles", the metaphorical land of serene bliss that offers a glimpse of the ultimate reward of his existential journey.