Poem Warm Up Introduction The poem ‘Ulysses’ is a dramatic monologue that contains lines of blank verse. Ulysses, the King of Ithaca, gathers his men together to prepare for the journey and exhorts them not to waste their time left on earth. Ulysses has grown old, having experienced many adventures at the battle of Troy and in the seas. After returning to Ithaca, he desires to embark upon his next voyage.
His inquisitive spirit is always looking forward to more and more of such adventures. The poem can be divided into three parts -- (i) the thirst for adventure, which does not allow Ulysses to remain in his kingdom as a mere ruler; (ii) Ulysses handing over the responsibility to his son Telemachus, with total confidence in his abilities; (iii) Ulysses’ clarion call to his sailors, urging them to venture into unknown lands. 12th - - Page Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honour’d of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d , not to shine in use! As tho’ 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, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. This is my son, mine own Telemachus , To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle, - Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil This labour, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged