Ulysses

Ulysses is a poem in blank verse by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, written in 1833 and published in 1842 in his well-received second volume of poetry. An oft-quoted poem, it is a popular example of the dramatic monologue. The central theme of “Ulysses” is that there is a search for adventure, experience and meaning which makes life worth living. Tennyson used Ulysses as the old adventurer, unwilling to accept the settling of old age, longing for one more quest. Tennyson also wrote this in memory of his friend Arthur Hallam. Tennyson based his two-sided view of Ulysses on Book XI of Homer’s Odyssey and Canto XXVI of Dante’s Inferno.