Question

Present your views on how Tennyson depicts
the Victorian era's quest for knowledge and
esploration in his poem, Ulysses which is
based on the Greek version of Homer's
Odyssey​

Answer 1

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) perfectly followed the Miltonic custom that poetry should be sensuous, pictorial ,and musical.He belongs to Victorian era. 'Ulysses' was first published in 1842. It is a poem written in blank verse.It is a poem based on long lusting of voyage and exploration to seek new lands and thrilling adventures.In this poem we can find the deep attachment of Homer,Dante, and classical mythologies .Tennyson adoptes the character of Ulysses from great ancient poet Homer's 'Odyssey'.

King Ulysses is now back at his home island Ithaca after a long years of Torjon War.Now he doesn't like to rule any more. He wants to discover and gain a lot of knowledge through travel.He says,"I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees ." So he delivers the task of rulling the country to his own son,Telemachus. And he admits that "He works his work ,I mine." He starts for new discoveries with his old comrades till his last breath.He has become now aged. He thinks life is just a like sowrd, you have to polish again and again. For him old age is not the time for rest ,and rest will come only with death.Before that ,till the last moments new wonders and beauties of earth must be explored courageously as far as possible. He says if the gulfs wash them down, it maybe they will touch the Happy Isles as did the great Achilles in Dante's 'Inferno' .There is no limit to this insatiable urge for knowledge and progress, and he will sail on his ship to infinity.

At one moment, Ulysses' discontent seems to mirror that of Tennyson, who would have been frustrated with managing the house in such a state of grief. Tennyson composed Ulysses after the death of his friend,the poet Arthur Henry Hallam (1811–1833) who was too much close to him.His family background was not good ,he was hardly able to maintain it. For that he wants to escape from extreme suffering to new world .That's why he writes ,"To follow knowledge, like a sinking star,/Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. "

I hope it will help you.