AGE:
Tennyson strode across the Victorian Literary World for six decades. The Victorian Age, which, in literary history, the Age of Tennyson. The growth of industrialism bred a spirit of materialistic attitude and a mood of Skepticism in his age. He lived in such a period of doubt, conflict and uncertainty as well as the age of exploration, travel, adventure and colonisation.
INSPIRATION:
The spirit of the Age is reflected in his poem
Ulysses, Ulysses who is bent on sailing___
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
May be regarded as the aspiration of
Tennyson's age for imperialistic expansion as well as an anticipation of the modern man who is out to hit the planets.
SOURCE:
Homer's
Odyssey describes the return of Odysseus to Ithaca and his recovery of his aged wife and throne but tosses to the foreign lands along with his fellow-mariners by the storm. However the poem dealt with Dante's
Inferno which expresses the voyage of Ulysses in search of knowledge with insatiable quest for fresh adventure.
Tennyson draws on both his predecessors and the tale of the legendary Greek hero assumes in his hands of timeless relevance. the poem may have given room for a great deal of conflicting interpretations. there may be questions as regard(s) the propriety of Ulysses' neglect of duty and his relinquishing domestic and social responsibilities in search of sensational exploits. The rhetorical outbursts are interpreted as insincere and inauthentic expressions, which do not convey the true voice of feeling. All the same lines such as:
All experience is an arch where thro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move.
are
eternal reminders of his indomitable spirit.
Ulyssean resolution and independence show in the lofty conclusion conveyed in the mos exalted language on one can conceive---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
made weak by the time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Convinced Carlyle that Tennyson was a true poet and made him recant his
earlier hasty judgement: "The older we grow, the more it appeals to us and Tennyson composed it when he was barely 24".
CONCLUSION:
We will be doing justice to him, if we highlight these positive virtues. Tennyson, like Spenser and
Keats, combines in himself the painter and musician. His reputation rests on his mastery of the perfect
phrase; the synthesis of sound and sound of the fusion of the musical and
pictorial. Thus
Tennyson was/is a great poet of all times.
----- mastanappa puletipalli
Ulysses – Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ulysses, king of Ithaca, was one of the Greek heroes who
participated in the Trojan War which continued for ten years. It was the
strategy of ‘Trojan horse’ suggested by him that enabled the Greeks to win the
war. After the war he and his men wandered about for another ten adventurous
years.
Having returned to his native
land after an interval of twenty years Ulysses is quite dissatisfied with the
dull life there. The people do not know his greatness and he in turn finds it
difficult to appreciate their way of life. As a soldier he has drunk the
delights of battle on the ringing plains of windy Troy. As a traveler he has seen many
countries and come across many kinds of people, their customs and manners.
Wherever he went he was honoured by those. All along he has had a very active
life and so he cannot adjust to an idle life. Therefore he wants to undertake
another voyage which will provide opportunities for more adventures.
If he leaves Ithaca there is his
son Telemachus to look after the administration of the country. In a way he is
a far better man to be the king of Ithaca.
He has the qualities necessary for a good ruler, namely patience and
prudence. He will work in a slow and systematic manner to improve the rugged
people. And more over he is the most blameless and will do his temporal and
spiritual duties in an exemplary way.
Then turning to his fellow
mariners Ulysses says that they are men who have faced many adventures in all
kinds of circumstances. Besides, they are men who even fought with Gods. Of
course they are now old and are incapable of further similar adventures. But
there are things which even old people can do. Then pointing to the harbour he
earnestly invites his men to join him in his last voyage. It is possible that
they may drown. It is equally possible that they may reach the Happy Isles,
where they will be able to meet the great Achilles whom they knew. Whatever may
be the consequence, his aim is to be active and not be discouraged by
difficulties.
The monologue of Ulysses reveals
his character, his self-confidence and love of adventure. At the same he has no
illusions about his present condition. He knows fully well that he is not the
man he was.
