A central irony speaks from Lord
Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”. Through an unrhymed jumble of dramatic
monologue—one full of enjambments and breaks in thought—the narrator advocates
for greater clarity of mind as well as dynamism in action. However, this
disparity between form and meaning leads me to believe that Tennyson’s narrator
Ulysses has succumbed to the slowing forces of the world, and though he may desire
to break past both physical and mental boundaries to relive the ways of his
past, efforts remain futile.
Tennyson’s narrator initially describes
life by a “still hearth”. Ulysses finds that the present flickers of movement
at home fail to inspire him or provoke his exploratory spirit; however, hearth’s
homonymy with “Earth” allows the line to also suggest that even the world
itself may be too stagnant for Ulysses’ wishes. Against the confinement of a
still Earth, Ulysses attempts a quest towards greater meaning. His phrases and
thoughts flow on, only to be cut off before the natural endings of lines. Reading
passages such as “As to breathe were life! Life piled on life/ Were all too
little, and of one to me/ Little remains: but every hour is saved/From that
eternal silence” becomes quite jarring; this uneasy meter within the poem again
reflects the lack of correspondence between Ulysses’ ideas and the restricting power
of nature. Enjambments from beginning to end set a tone of struggle, and
Ulysses’ final line seems to seal his fate. Though a great portion of the poem speaks
of glorious images and seeking “beyond the utmost bound of human thought”,
Ulysses ultimately ends upon the word “yield”. Instead of leaving “To strive,
to seek, to find” as his final note, Ulysses acknowledges that he is not in a
position to act towards his goals; rather, he can only softly and subtly “yield”.
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ReplyDeleteSorry about the deleted comment - I just wanted to add something else.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretation of the poem was different from mine but because you used three well thought out observations to back it up, the argument was strong. I liked how you focused on the form of the poem to describe the tone of the poem. I never thought of the last line as that way since the I took the whole phrase "not to yield" instead of isolating the word "yield." Perhaps Tennyson's use of a negative (not to) contrasts with the use of the three actions which, to me, makes it more compelling as if the speaker will never stop "striving, seeking, finding." You do bring up an interesting point though of why the author didn't just end on "to find."
Your comment about the hearth homonymy with earth is a compelling point. I did not originally think about the connection within the two, but I believe there is definitely evidence to back it up. Ulysseus continually says throughout the poem that he wants to spend his time traveling, but at the same time he is alright with dying on his travels. Its possible that he wants to spend his old age taking risks because that may in fact speed up the pathway to his death.
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