Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of the greatest poets of English Literature. Ulysses is one of his great works.

The legendary Greek hero, Odysseus was the king of Ithaca. He was known to Romans as Ulysses. He fought a victorious war against the city of Troy with the Greeks. He fought many battles as a young man and spent ten years battling in the siege of Troy. Tennyson’s dramatic monologue “Ulysses” tells what the aging hero thinks after he returns home after that victory over Troy.

The poem tells us about the search for adventure in human beings that makes their lives worth living. Tennyson projects an adventurer who is not ready to settle even at his old age and always yearns for more and more adventure.