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Overview
“Ulysses” is a dramatic monologue written by the British Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson
. Originally composed in 1833, this poem takes up the legendary hero at the center of Homer’s The Odyssey. Homer’s epic recounts the ten-year journey a man named Odysseus took to get home after the end of the Trojan War. Tennyson picks up where Homer left off, adopting the Latin version of the hero’s name: Ulysses. Now home in Ithaca, where he has ruled as king since his return, Ulysses reflects on the thrills of his past and the disappointments of his present. Spurred on by restlessness, he decides to abandon his position as ruler and set off on one last voyage.Read a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “Ulysses.”
