(~ead with a Purpose
~eaa to ~iscover what this"idle king"longs to do,
Build Background
ulysses (Odysseus in (ireelq is one of the Greek leaders who fought in
rr~e ten-year-long Trojan war. Homer’s epc poem the Odyssey tells of
Ulysses’ equally long journey lame from Troy to Ithaca. In Tennyson’s
poem, Ulysses. now an old king, ~s at home with his wife and sou.
Tdemachus i~un LEHM uh kuhs. After an exciting ire of both marvels and hormrs, the old king might finally rest bat a finalia~rney
tempts hlm.
R little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
3. mete and dole: measure
Matched with an aged wife. [ mete and dole°
and give ou~.
Unequal laws unto a savage race.
5 That hoard, and sleep, and feed. and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
7. lees: dregs or sediment.
Life to the lees,° AI! times [ have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone: on shore, and when
10. Hyades (HY uh deez~:
10 Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades°
stars
that were thought to indiVexed the dim sea. I am become a name:
cate rainy weather.
For always roaming w~th a hungry heart
Much have ] seen and know~.--cities of men
And manners, climates, counck!s, governments.
15 Myself not least, but honored of them alL-And drunk ddight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
[ am a part of all that I have met:
Analyzing Biographical Information Use biographical
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
,~formatinn to consider how events in Tennyson’s own life may
~ ~ Summarizing l{ow wouid,ou sumraarize Ulysses tomnlaJnt in the first five lines?
~/~ ~{b u]~y hoard (hawrd z.’ save or store, o~en ~
secreL
~][e~ ~e~l~st v.:ttoubled ordisturbed.
have helped shane’Ulvsses:’ About the ooem, Tennyson himself
said:’Ulysses was written soon after Arthur Hallam’s death
and gave my feeling aoout the need of going forward, and braving the struggle of life perhaps more simply ttran anything in
In Memoriam:’ ’In Memoriam is Tennyson’s famous elegy to his
beloved friend.I As you read the poem. watch for words spoken by
Ulysses that echo those of Tennvson
As you read, be sure to notke the questions in the text,
which will guide you in using this perspe~tiveo
20
Gleams that untraveled world whose margln fades
Forever and forever when I move.
How dull it is ~o pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished not to shine in use! ~}
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but ever,/hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more.
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
3o And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow lcnowledge like a sinking stm;
Beyond the utmost bound of human thougia~,
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle °
35
Well-loved of me. discerning ~o fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
(~ ~Theme 4ow does U .sses think lif~ should be lived?
Vc~¢aPa~ar~ discerning :lih SURN li~ng ~ useo as adj.: dig aying goodjudgrnen~; perceptive
prudence (PRO0 duhns aaj.: cauoous managemen£.
9~8
UnltSoCol tl ~o
Viewing and Interpreting n Greek
mythology, Polypnemus was a famous
Cyclops and the son of Poseidon. the god
of the sea.Where is Pob ~hemus in this
painting? What does this representatlon
of Polyphemus tell you about Ulysses,
who manages to defeat Polyphemus in
Homer’s eDic poem the Odyssey?
~,,’sse5 Deriding Polypnemus 71 Homer’s Odyssey
38291. by Joseph Mallord Wimam Turner.
Oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London.
34. isle: Ithaca, Ulysses’ island
ldngdom off the west coast of
Greece.
6O
65
7O
subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet° adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. {~
There lies the port; the vyssel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me,-Taat ever with a frolic welc6me took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads, you and I are old;
old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unloecoming men that strove with Gods. {[~
Tae lights begin to twinlde from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. 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 sunseL and the baths
Of all the western s~ars_ untiI I die. {~
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,°
And see the great Achilles,’ whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides: and though
We are nor now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven_ that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in ~aifll
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
~I ~ Summarizin~J What will Telemachus’s job be when Ulysses is
gone? Summarize this verse paragraph.
Q ~Tbeme What does Ulysses believe about old age?
{~~ Analyzing Biographical Information How do lines
58-61 echo Tennyson’s own words about life and death?
abides uh 8¥DZ) v.:enuures.
42. meet: proper.
Ulysses and his son Telemachus. Mosaic, Ist CE.
KunstMstorisches Museum, Viem~a, Austria.
58-59. smite.., furrows: row
against the waves.
63. Happy Isles: in Greek
mythology, Elysium (ih LIHZ ee
uhmk where dead heroes lived
for eternity.
64. Achilles uh KIHL eez~:
Greek warrior and leader in the
Trojan War.