Elements of content
Victorian Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson creates an ironic tension for the presentation of romantic heroism. The poem grants the power presented by features like physical weaknesses and age. It portrays denial of situations and forces that catch the lives of people despite clear knowledge of the situations. The poem is a blank verse illustrating the form of dramatic monologue.
Paraphrasing the poem
This is a poem about a man without the faith for the preservation of order within his kingdom and in his own life. He sees no necessity for the guidance of the gods and through the monologue in the poem; no quest exists to pressure him into a change of opinion.
It is relatively indulgent in fantasy about the possible existence of his mariners in some sort of a dream and the desire for escaping from the present environment. The presentation takes place in the deathbed of Ulysses and he gets the chance for staying in the company of his dead sailors and accepting his final fear of death.
Analyzing the themes
In the poem, the separation of the existence of an individual and communal values seem to be the onset of true existence. The primitive self denies the need for communal existence and starts focusing on self, leaving out associated values of order, unity and harmony.
This leads to decline in the need for family, love and nation, which are treated as ‘little profits’ leading to the need for corrective measures to uphold social and moral values, “Love and all other mere externals are flattened and reduced to insignificance. The affirmations are all on the surface” (line 43 & 44).
The tone of the poem
The tone of the writer is an expansive and positive one presenting a rhetorical breather presenting life as a hunger for flattering needs to the real requirements for existence. The write expresses the power of the ego, “I have enjoyed / Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those / That loved me, and alone” (line 6-32). The thoughts of the writer are muddled and that displays an inconsistency in the structure of the poem probably because of his personal; bewilderment from the extreme desires of death and life.
There is complexity in the nature of the writer that pours out through the lines of the poem showing the disappointment in the failure of learning some lessons in life just as in the case of Ulysses and the eventual suffering of the consequences. In these lines, he is expressly disappointed by the circumstances he has gone through despite his heroic past, “Life piled on life / Were all too little, and of one to me / Little remains” (line 24–26).
Elements of form
The strategy used in the poem attacks the presented ironic dualism for the magnification of isolations of individual ego. There are extremes in the desires presenting the need for striking the extreme ends of needs such as the presentation of equality of the desire of life and that of the desire of death. There is a presentation of the demands of social constructs, and the need for social acceptance within the society, which offers substitutes.
In the opening lines, there is scorn of the social world confidently patronizing the life of people though they are inferior and not deserving of significant attention. There is focus on the heroic self with no consideration of the positions of others and only focus on self, “He works his work, I mine” (l. 43). The language used describes the attainment of elevations of Ulysses and an affirmation of his triumphant ego.
This can be seen through the fellowship of the mariners and at this point, there is rhetoric inclusion of readers into the plans of eloquent persuasion used to sway others as proven in the display of pride. This leads to the reminder of humankind and his identification with self. This self-assurance is rhetoric with individuals becoming masters of their own situations enjoying the exhilarating forms of loneliness and triumphant egos through use of alerting language within the poem.
There is restlessness in the poem presented by the speech used to describe the return of the king to Ithaca and it shows the discontent in the experiences of the travels. This is something that does not leave his desire for more traveling settled because of his undying desire for more knowledge beyond human reach. The consolation of domestic life is not enough to give him joy in the kingdom ‘savage race’ (line 4), where he serves and his only desire remains in the heroic past he adores.
In his search for continuity, the speaker starts using forceful and unadorned language in order to show the conflicts in the moods traversing between the past and the present situations of life. The contrast is used in the words and their sounds used by Ulysses. For instance, there is a persistent use of iambic pentameter through interruptions of spondees of long syllable slowing down the movements within the poem.