By: Lord Alfred Tennyson
Tennyson’s Life

Lord Tennyson lived from August 6,
1809-October 6, 1892, and was a Poet
Laureate of Great Britain. He was
admired by Queen Victoria, and
continued to be admired by her until his
death. He had a wife and two sons who
continued to publish his literature after
he died.
The Plot

The plot of the story was to tell a tale of
growing older and to explain the
difficulties of coming to term with that.
Literary Devices

In his poem, Lord Alfred Tennyson uses
the literary devices of allusion and
imagery to refer to Greek mythology and
to show how bored he is feeling in his
semi-retirement.
Theme and Tone
The theme of Ulysses was dissatisfaction, and
the tone was somewhat bored and somewhat
irritated.
 When Ulysses says, “It little profits that an idle
king,” it shows his boredom. The poem shows
the theme of dissatisfaction strongly in the line,
“Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard,
and sleep, and feed, and know not me. “
 The words idle and aged both show the theme
and tone.

Poetic Devices
Allusion
Symbolism

When Ulysses refers to
Ithaca, Hyades, and Troy,
he is using allusion.
 The lines “That loved me,
and alone; on shore, and
when Through scudding
drifts the rainy Hyades,”
and “And drunk delight of
battle with my peers, Far
on the ringing plains of
windy Troy,” show allusion
to Greek mythology.




Several times in the poem, Ulysses
refers to his people as though they
are animals. This is because that is
what his people are symbols for.
Line 5: Ulysses describes his
subjects like animals; they don't
eat, they "feed" like pigs out of a
trough. Oh, and they "hoard" too,
as if they were getting ready to
hibernate. Some unspecified
animal is here a metaphor for the
citizens of Ithaca.
Line 12: Ulysses compares himself
to a lion or tiger, "roaming" the seas
with a "hungry heart." One of those
animals, or a similar animal, is a
metaphor for Ulysses.
This shows his people as animals.
Poem Interpretation
The poem is really just saying how bored
he is with his semi-retired life. It means
that he is dissatisfied and that he wants
more excitement like he used to get from
sailing.
 The last line of the poem truly shows this.
“Made weak by time and fate, but strong in
will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to
yield.”
 He wants to get away forever just so he
won’t be bored. Truly, he just needs a new
fun activity.

Conclusion

Throughout the poem Ulysses, allusion,
imagery, and symbolism are repeatedly
used. The mood and theme both
represent dissatisfaction and boredom.
The animal symbolism represents the
people of Ithaca who Ulysses sees as
boring tiresome and not having a life.
He doesn’t want to end up like them.
The allusion just show his background of
being a king.
Works Cited
http://www.shmoop.com/ulyssestennyson/dissatisfaction-theme.html
 http://www.portablepoetry.com/poems/alf
redlord_tennyson/ulysses.html
 http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/3
00
 http://www.lordalfredtennyson.com/

The End

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