Ulysses of Tennyson

During the reign of Queen Victorian, England emerged as the most powerful industrial nation in the world. In this era of scientific discovery and an expanding empire, Victorians sought to understand their place in a changing world. As new technologies made travel increasingly possible, new ideas about England's purpose in the World community began to emerge. Many Victorians came to believe that it was their duty to pass on their superior culture to the inferior peoples that they came in contact with. Victorian poets sought to address contemporary concerns arising from England's world dominance in their poetry. In Tennyson's "Ulysses," English ideas concerning expansion are illustrated in the dramatic monologue of Ulysses.

 In "Ulysses," Tennyson creates a character that is arrogant, restless, driven, heroic, and adventurous. Tennyson's Ulysses is the embodiment of Victorian England because the same characteristics given to Ulysses can be attributed to Victorian England. In essence, one could say that Ulysses is England because they share the same values and characteristics. Ulysses' monologue is the monologue of England. For example, the restlessness evident in the beginning of the poem is a characteristic of Industrial Victorian England. Like Ulysses, England is restless in the wake of exploration and technological advancement.

 Furthermore, when Ulysses says, "Much have I seen and known; cities of men / And manners, climates, councils, governments, / Myself not least, but honour'd of them all" (lines 13-15), he brings to light England's knowledge of the world. In addition, the lines illustrate how that knowledge helped to form the prevalent belief in England's superiority. In essence, England becomes a part of all it has seen and thereby represents the best of the world. The conquests of the British Empire provided Victorians with exotic products and material riches. On the same note, Ulysses' arrogance in regard to his knowledge mirrors the arrogance of Victorian England when comparing itself to the rest of the world. According to Queen Victorian, the duty of the British Empire was "to protect the poor natives and advance civilization" (1022). Queen Victoria's statement reveals the commonly held Victorian notion of the cultural, industrial, and scientific superiority of the British Empire. Like Ulysses who sees the great nations of the world and arrogantly replies that his was "honour'd of them all," Victorian England viewed the cultures, peoples, and governments of the rest of the world as inferior.

 In the poem, Ulysses describes Telemachus who will rule in his absence. He uses words such as prudence, blameless, common duties, and tenderness. The images associated with Telemachus bring to mind Queen Victoria and her national image of prudence, duty, and feminine ideas. Like Telemachus, Queen Victoria sought to persuade her people though her dutiful action and image to useful and goodly pursuits. In addition, like Telemachus, Queen Victoria's duty was at home on the isle of England, while her army's soldiers were the heroes of her expanding empire: "He works his work, I mine" (43). During Queen Victoria's reign, the British Empire came to rule more than a quarter of the globe's landmass (1010).

 Ulysses is searching for a way to leave his mark upon the world. His search for glory parallels the desire of Victorian England to spread its culture and ideas to the farthest reaches of the world. Both Ulysses and Victorian England are symbols associated with civilizations searching to achieve glory and increase their empire. When Ulysses says, "Come, my friends, / 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world" (lines 56-57), he might well be a Victorian. In addition, both Ulysses and Victorian England seek to pass on their knowledge to the world: "Some work of noble note, may yet be done, / Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods" (lines 52-54).

 Tennyson reveals the ideas of English expansion and exploration in "Ulysses." Victorian England represents rapid change in both the scientific and social arena. Increasing scientific and technological developments changed England's source of strength, and created new ideas and values for the nation. In the final lines of "Ulysses," Tennyson suggests that it is England's unwavering commitment to progress that has made it the most powerful nation in the world:

 We are not now that strength which in old days

 Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

 One equal temper of heroic hearts,

 Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

 To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield (Lines 66-70).

 In addition, the lines allude to the need for a change in British expansion practices. The "strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven" (Lines 66-67) bring to mind the brutal expansion tactics of the British Empire which sought to reshape and control many civilizations and peoples of the world. The line "One equal temper of heroics hearts" suggests a new way of looking at expansion in which the desire for the material is tempered by compassion. Tennyson suggests that the British Empire's image was weakened by the excesses of its expansion tactics, "made weak by time and fate" (line 69). According to Tennyson, the true power of the British Empire could be found not in its material gains but in its commitment to progress, to self scrutiny, and to change: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" (line 70).

 Tennyson's "Ulysses" is written in blank verse using iambic pentameter. The fact that the poem is held together by meter rather than rhyme is an important stylistic choice appropriate to the theme of progress. The beat in the poem creates a feeling of movement and a natural flowing sound. Like progress, the meter and lack of rhyme in "Ulysses" creates a forward movement of sound within the poem. The rhythm of the poem combines with Tennyson's careful word choices and use of simile, "To follow knowledge like a sinking star" (line 31), to illustrate his unique style and voice. For example, Tennyson's light imagery and blank verse style in "Ulysses" is extremely different from Robert Browning's style exploring rhyming and violent imagery as in his poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came":

 Each step, or feel the spear I thrust to seek

 For hollows, tangled in his hair or beard!

 --It may have been a water-rat I speared,

 But, ugh! It sounded like a baby's shriek (lines 123-126).

 Tennyson used for his subject a figure from ancient times to illustrate the concerns and ideas of his age. Using Greek mythology as a subject, he was able to present an accurate picture of his own time. Many other Victorian poets used subjects from other times to illustrate contemporary concerns. For example, Robert Browning used characters out of Charlemagne legends and history as the speakers in his dramatic monologues to illustrate the concerns of the Victorian age. The use of well-known figures from history and legend to illustrate the social concerns of the Victorian age was common in both the works of Tennyson and Browning. Both Tennyson and Browning used the dramatic monologue form to let their speakers reveal themselves. The dramatic monologue form is characteristically Victorian because it illustrates the contradictory nature of the Victorian tendency for self introspection. The Victorian tendency for self-reflection was in direct contrast to the current cultural ideas which stressed action, production, civic duty and family responsibility (1027). Through the use of the dramatic monologue form, Victorians were able to disguise the self-examining nature of their works by using characters to speak for them.

 "I sometimes hold it half a sin / To put in words the grief I feel," said Tennyson. The variety of disguised or semiautobiographical forms (such as the dramatic monologue) suggests that introspection produced its own moral perplexities.

 The theme of English superiority and expansion appears in many different poetic works of the Victorian age. For example, Browning's "Aurora Leigh" the common belief in England's superiority is illustrated in the opinion of Aurora Leigh's aunt:

 She liked a woman to be womanly,

 And English women, she thanked God and sighed (Some people always sigh in thanking God)

 Were models to the universe (lines 444-446)

 In addition, Robert Browning illustrates the concept of the English Empire in his "Home Thoughts, from the Sea." In the poem, he describes a battle at sea and the desire to do some good for his country: "Here and here did England help me: how can I help England?"-say, / Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to praise and pray, / While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa" (Lines 5). The poem's allusion to England's sea power and Africa illustrate the poem's theme of English Empire.

 In "Ulysses," Tennyson creates a poem that provides a clear picture of the British Empire during the Victorian age. Through the use of Greek mythology, Tennyson brings to life the ideas of his age against the ancient backdrop of Ulysses' world. Tennyson uses Ulysses to personify Victorian England by giving him qualities that are clearly characteristic of the Victorian age. Ulysses is restless like England, heroic like England, and determined like England. In Tennyson's "Ulysses", English thoughts concerning expansion are presented in this characteristically Victorian dramatic monologue form, as are Victorian England's superiority, knowledge, and glory.