The idea of “recycling” old literature is not a foreign concept. Many authors either reference old tales, or mention a character from them in their own stories. Similar to what Dante did, with Achilles and Desdemona in Hell, and Virgil with his story of the Aeneid. As the Romantic Movement turned into the Victorian Era, many poets began to reflect on classic literature of great empires and powerful heroes, similar to what the Greeks had with The Iliad and The Odyssey. English poets used this concept more and more the further they got into their Victorian Era, reminding the people that even though they may be in the decline of their powerful reign, they still have a few things up their sleeves. Lord Tennyson wrote Ulysses to get this exact point across. In Ulysses, Ulysses has grown old, yet he still plans “to sail beyond the sunset”, and even though he has aged, he has accepted it as the gaining of knowledge, and he has acceptance of life with which he sees with optimism. That journey has “ a double meaning; in ancient times, the final voyage had for destination the Underworld” (Sabin).
In the text, Ulysses has accepted his old age, and plans to sail, to the “baths of all the western stars, until I die”. This refers to him that even though he is old, and most people, even in his own kingdom, no longer know who he is, he’s going to do something great which is going to be reverberated across the world once again. “Ulysses's quest is truly one of continuing aspiration: his thirst for new knowledge will never be satisfied; he will continue to seek new knowledge until he dies” (Tennyson, “Ulysses”). Tennyson wrote this poem to remind England that they can still do something that will put them back on the map. By speaking through ...
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...purpose, as England got back in the race.
Works Cited
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"John William Waterhouse's Ulysses and the Sirens." John William Waterhouse's Ulysses and the Sirens. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Children are to be impressionable and easily persuaded. As a father Ulysses want to share a special bond with his daughter as she mirrors his believes through her everyday life and thinking. As someone who is indifferent to his teachings and ideology he feels that he has failed as a father. Even if Una had disagreed with his teachings, it would be preferable to enticing no emotion.
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Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
In Ithaca, the depth of Joyce's irony is displayed. The denouement of this odyssey is perfect for this story, while at the same time leaving us with the exact opposite of the resolution in the tale the book proclaims to emulate. Odysseus' public apotheosis parallels Bloom's private shame. The concise question and answer format which Ithaca adopts, found no where else in the book, is refereed to by many critics as reminiscent of a catechism. The description is well deserved given the overt religious themes in Ulysses. The almost mathematical precision of the text in juxtaposed with gut wrenching emotion surrounding infidelity. The parallels that one can draw between the characters of Ulysses and the Odyssey are perhaps the deepest in Ithaca while the themes and undertones of the work drift further apart.
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Abrams, MH, et al. Eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
Abrams, M. H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, & Co. 1993. 200-254.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed., A, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pp
Grimké, Angelina. “Tenebris.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2013. 1277. Print.
Abrams, M.H., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1993
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...g as it is referred to in this poem is a cultural symbol because of how easily relatable it is to people. However, the poem itself seems to be very personal toward Yeats and his realization of old age and the things that become more important to you as you get older. It can be assumed, though, that the use of the mental picture f sailing was used for a specific reason, to help the culture understand he is talking about a trip where there is no coming back, to a place with perfect balance, just like Byzantium.
Memoriam, The Mutable Locus Amoenus and Consolation in Tennyson's In. "Robert Bernard Hass." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 (1998): 669-687.