What Is The Mood Of The Poem Ulysses By Lord Tennyson

In the poem, “Ulysses,” author Lord Tennyson writes about the king of Ithaca, Ulysses, who had fought in the Trojan War, and had so deeply enjoyed his many travels that he is bored of ruling over his island home, and once again yearns to explore the world. Tennyson writes this poem in the form of a dramatic monologue, and by using this technique the reader is told details of the main characters life and personality through his speech. This is also accomplished through the way the poem itself is structured and how the stanza’s are divided. According to dictionary.com a dramatic monologue is defined as, “a poetic form in which a single character, addressing a silent auditor at a critical moment, reveals himself and the dramatic situation.” …show more content…
Ulysses is a very egocentric character, and this quality is especially made clear with how the poem is structured, specifically with how the stanzas are divided and the length of each one. The poem is composed of three stanzas, with the first and last stanzas being the longest and the shortest one in the middle. In the first stanza Ulysses very briefly talks about his duties as king and his wife, both of which he describes in the negative. The reader can tell that these aspects of his life mean very little to him as he quickly changes topics and spends the rest of the stanza talking about his love of exploring the world and how his many travels have shaped the person he is and have expanded his wisdom and how he wishes to continue doing so. For example, “And this gray spirit yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star, beyond the utmost bound of human thought,” (lines …show more content…
For example, in the last stanza he specifically addresses these old friends of his, and speaks fondly of them, their past experiences together, and their adventures that wait ahead, “Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me - that ever with frolic welcome took the thunder and the sunshine, and opposed free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old; old age hath yet his honor and his toil,” (lines 46-50). In conclusion, Lord Tennyson is able to share with the reader details of Ulysses life, personality, desires, and goals through his use of the dramatic monologue, which reveals this information through the characters speech, and through his structuring of the stanzas, which shows the reader what the character finds important by how many lines he spends addressing each subject. This poem reveals to us that Ulysses is a man overcome by wanderlust and who prioritizes his love of exploration over his duties to his family and his