It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
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 people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
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.
Here is a poem for the week. It is Tennyson's Ulysses. In this poem Tennyson takes the medieval hero in Dante's Inferno and Homer's Odysseus from the Odyssey and merges the two to create the speaker in this poem, a mature Ulysses. This is a dramatic monologue and in it we glean a Ulysses that has been in Ithaca for a time now, after returning from the long voyage depicted in the Odyssey. This Ulysses expresses his desires to seek new worlds, the sea beckons, adventure calls and facing all this he feels he cannot rest in his safe and humdrum Ithaca while out in the world there is much to see.
I identify perfectly with this poem and I love it, the words are full of strength and courage, yearning and discoveries. Aside from the general idea the monologue transmits, I also find that this poem proposes unique and interesting ideas. Experience is knowledge that is learned as one moves and travels, learning and seeing new things. Experience is also a vitality that adds energy and drive to one's life. Life isn't what happens as one sits still, in one place, but what one sees and learns as the adventure grows and takes us to new places, sights and people.
Technically, the poem is divided into three parts, in the first he is speaking to the general audience surrounding him, in the second he is referring to Telemachus his son, to whom he is leaving his whole inheritance and Ithaca itself, and in the third part he is referring to his sailors, those who have ventured and battled with him, arming them with courage for the new adventure that begins and the closing of the poem.
As you, dear reader reads this poem I hope its' words infuse you with inspiration and courage. It is a wonderful poem, and it might help if it is read out loud, with ardor.
Here is a poem for the week. It is Tennyson's Ulysses. In this poem Tennyson takes the medieval hero in Dante's Inferno and Homer's Odysseus from the Odyssey and merges the two to create the speaker in this poem, a mature Ulysses. This is a dramatic monologue and in it we glean a Ulysses that has been in Ithaca for a time now, after returning from the long voyage depicted in the Odyssey. This Ulysses expresses his desires to seek new worlds, the sea beckons, adventure calls and facing all this he feels he cannot rest in his safe and humdrum Ithaca while out in the world there is much to see.
I identify perfectly with this poem and I love it, the words are full of strength and courage, yearning and discoveries. Aside from the general idea the monologue transmits, I also find that this poem proposes unique and interesting ideas. Experience is knowledge that is learned as one moves and travels, learning and seeing new things. Experience is also a vitality that adds energy and drive to one's life. Life isn't what happens as one sits still, in one place, but what one sees and learns as the adventure grows and takes us to new places, sights and people.
Technically, the poem is divided into three parts, in the first he is speaking to the general audience surrounding him, in the second he is referring to Telemachus his son, to whom he is leaving his whole inheritance and Ithaca itself, and in the third part he is referring to his sailors, those who have ventured and battled with him, arming them with courage for the new adventure that begins and the closing of the poem.
As you, dear reader reads this poem I hope its' words infuse you with inspiration and courage. It is a wonderful poem, and it might help if it is read out loud, with ardor.
