Berghahn Books

Tennyson: 'Ulysses'
Author(s): ARNOLD P. HINCHLIFFE
Source: Critical Survey, Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (SUMMER 1973), pp. 64-68
Published by: Berghahn Books
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64 James Booth
Further F. R. Leavis,Revaluation
Reading: theodesandarguesthatKeatsis 'the-great
, London,1936.(Analyses
- theoneAesthete
Aesthete ofgenius.')
Graham Hough,TheRomanticPoets, London,1953.(TracesKeats'spoetic
andrelates
development himtotheRomantic movementas a whole).GleanthBrooks, Historian:
'Keats'sSylvan
without
History in TheWellWrought
Footnotes', , London1949.(Concentrates
Urn ontheironies andparadoxesof
thepoem.)William
Empson,TheStructure Words
ofComplex , London,1951.pp.368-74.(Areply toBrooks
reasserting
theemotional
andpersonal
aspectofthepoem.)

ARNOLD P. HINCHLIFFE

Tennyson: 'Ulysses'

It little
profitsthatan idleking, A rugged people,andthro'soft degrees
Bythisstillhearth, among thesebarren crags, Subduethemtotheuseful andthegood.
Match'dwithan agedwife, I meteanddole Mostblameless ishe,centred inthesphere
Unequallawsuntoa savagerace, Ofcommon duties,decent nottofail
Thathoard, andsleep,andfeed, andknownotme. In offices
oftenderness,andpay
I cannot restfrom travel: I willdrink Meetadoration tomyhousehold gods,
Lifetothelees:alltimes I haveenjoy 'd WhenI amgone.He works hiswork,I mine.
Greatly, havesuffer'd greatly,bothwiththose Thereliestheport;thevessel puffs sail:
her
Thatlovedme,andalone;onshore, andwhen Theregloomthedarkbroadseas.Mymariners,
Thro'scudding drifts
therainy Hyades Soukthathavetoil'd,andwrought, andthoughtwith
Vextthedimsea: I ambecome a name; me-
Foralways roaming witha hungry heart Thateverwitha frolic welcome took
MuchhaveI seenandknown; cities
ofmen Thethunder andthesunshine, andopposed
Andmanners, councils,
climates, governments, Freehearts,freeforeheads- youandI areold;
Myself notleast,buthonour'd ofthem all; Oldagehathyethishonour andhistoil;
Anddrunk delight ofbattle withmypeers, Deathclosesall: butsomething eretheend,
Farontheringing plainsofwindy Troy. Somework ofnoblenote,mayyetbedone,
I ama partofall thatI havemet; Notunbecoming menthatstrove withGods.
Yetallexperience isan archwherethro' Thelightsbegintotwinkle from therocks
:
Gleamsthatuntravell'd world, whose marginfades Thelongdaywanes:theslowmoonclimbs: thedeep
ForeverandforeverwhenI move. Moansround withmany voices. Come,myfriends,
Howdullitistopause,tomakean end, 'Tisnottoolatetoseeka newer world.
To rustunburnish'd, nottoshineinuse! Pushoff,andsitting wellinorder smite
Astho'tobreathe werelife.Lifepiledonlife Thesounding furrows;formypurpose holds
Werealltoolittle, andofonetome To sailbeyond thesunset, andthebaths
Littleremains : butevery hourissaved Ofallthewestern untilI die.
stars,
Fromthateternal silence,something more, It maybe thatthegulfs willwashusdown:
A bringer ofnewthings ; andvileitwere It maybeweshalltouchtheHappyIsles,
Forsomethree sunstostore andhoardmyself, Andseethegreat whom
Achilles, weknew.
Andthisgrayspirit yearning indesire Tho'muchistaken, muchabides;andtho'
To follow knowledge likea sinking star, Wearenotnowthatstrength which inolddays
Beyond theutmost boundofhuman thought. Movedearthandheaven;thatwhich weare,weare;
Thisismyson,mineownTelemachus, Oneequaltemper ofheroic hearts,
To whomI leavethesceptre andtheisle- Madeweakbytimeandfate, butstronginwill
Well-loved ofme,discerning tofulfil toseek,tofind,
To strive, andnottoyield.
Thislabour, byslowprudence tomakemild

twentiethcenturyreader tends to be Stead, in TheNew Poetic[1964], illustratesthe

The condescendingto a poet like Tennyson: modernview thatTennysonand his audience
he is toomoralistic, -
he rambles,he ruminates joined in a pact to deceive themselvesabout
to borrowT. S. Eliot's crushingverb. G. K. themselvesand theirsociety,and used poetry

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 '
Tennyson: UlysseУ 65
to decorate themorallaw. We mistrust bothhis unhappyeventstheone thatconcernsus is the
popularity and his enormous output, and death, in 1833, of Tennyson's close friend
reduce this vast work to a mere handfulof ArthurHallam, since it was this loss which
successfulpoems, of which 'Ulysses' is one. producedpoemslike'Ulysses'and In Memoriam .
Even a sympathetic criticlikeRobin Mayhead Tennysonhimselfadmitted:
writesthatit would be hard to denygreatness There is more about myselfin Ulysses,
ofa kind[italicsmine] to theauthorof'Ulysses' whichwas written underthesenseoflossand
[The PelicanGuideto EnglishLiterature , Vol 6, that all had gone by, but that lifemustbe
p. 242]. The dispute about Tennyson's foughtout to the end. It was more written
greatness is not merely modern. Alfred with the feelingof his loss upon me than
Austin,writingin 1870,askedwhatTennyson's
faultswere and concludedthat his only fault manypoemsin In Memoriam.
was not beinggreatenoughto commitany: [quoted ChristopherRicks,p. 122]

He knowswhat he can do, and he does it. the 'Ulysses',then,is a fightingpoem,and takes
form of a dramatic monologue; sur-
It is delicate, subtle, pathetic, sometimes since Tennysonwrotebad versefor
evensolemn; it is anythingelseyou like; but prisingly, it is a success,althoughit lacks the
it is nevergreat. drama,
naturalnesspoets like T. S. Eliot have shown
[ TheCritical , p. 297]
Heritage using thisform.Tennysoncannoteven create
The volumes of 1830 and 1832 cannot be thatsenseof characterwe feelin the poemsof
entirelydismissedas musicalKeepsake poetry his contemporary,Browning,but he does
sincetheycontainpoems like 'Mariana,' 'The generatea feelingofconfidence.His modelwas
Two Voices' and 'The Lotos Eaters' and they clearly the speeches in Books I and II of
were generallywell received apart from a ParadiseLost, and that source is usefulto the
destructivereview in the Quarterly by J. W. reader in more ways than one since Milton's
Crokerwho hoped to repeatthe successof his speeches demonstratethe art of political
attack on Keats in 1818. Tennyson was speakingand speciousargument.
hypersensitive to criticismand thisattackmay The word 'profits'in the firstline should
explain the ten year silence between 1832 and suggestto us not economicsbut the Gospel
1842, but he also appears to have been accordingto St. Matthew (Ch. 16, v. 26) : the
extremelyreluctant to publish (and expose poem is about rightactionleadingto salvation.
himselfto criticism)and was only compelled The adjective 'idle' nullifiesits noun 'king'
to produce the volume of 1842 when threats while the stillness of the hearth suggests
of publicationfromAmerica could no longer stagnancyrather than cosy restfulness;and
be ignored. But the years 1833- 40 were the crags are 'barren' but we do not pause
richlycreativeand Tennysonwrote'Ulysses,' here to reflectthat crags usually are barren.
'Tithonus,''Morte D'Arthur,''LocksleyHall' Here it seems yet another burden imposed
and sectionsofIn Memoriam . The 1842 volume, upon Ulyssesjust as he is 'match'd' with an
therefore,contained a judicious selection of aged wife- suggesting thatshe is nothis
firstly
early poems and thosenot yet publishedbut matchand secondlythatshe is not his choice.
createdduringthe so-calledsilence. She is 'aged', and it is not until the final
Tennyson was extremely sensitive: Sir sectionof the poem thatUlysses concedes his
Harold Nicolson,in Tennyson: Aspectsof His age too; but then he describes himselfas
Life, Character and Poetry[1923] finds the merely 'old'. The verbs 'mete' and 'dole'
essentialTennysonas 'a morbidand unhappy convey the menial formhis actions have to
mystic'(p. 27) and he is generallythoughtof take, which is reinforcedby the unequal
as our mostmelancholypoet. But considering nature of the laws (but whose faultis that?)
the circumstancesof his early life we might and thesavage natureofa race whoseaimscan
well agree withJ. B. Steane [ Tennyson , 1966, be summedup in one of Tennyson'ssonorous
p. 15] in describing him as 'among the lists: 'hoard', 'sleep' and 'feed'. How could
strongestand most resilient.'Of the many such a people knowor understandthe Ulysses

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66 ArnoldP. Hinchlijfe
who has travelledfar,been honouredamong is satisfactorily arrangedto employthe talents
many races and always enjoyed or suffered of each and Ulyssescan now look down to the
'greatly'? port where the vessel 'puffs her sail'- a
Ulysses now recaptures that gloriouspast: suitablyampleimagetointroducethose'broad
his fame, exploits, his expansive greatness seas' which, ominously, 'gloom' and are
whichrecognises - we are appealed to here- 'dark.' Neverthelessthis is the context for
that the presentstagnationis death to a man 'free hearts' and 'freeforeheads'which have
who has, in the haunting phrase, 'drunk everenjoyedor suffered sunshineand thunder.
delightof battle with my peers,/Far on the Something,Ulyssessuggests,may yetbe done
ringing plains of windy Troy.' Tennyson to complementthe past beforedeath puts an
shiftsdullness (i.e. boredom) swiftlyinto its end to him; fordeath is commonto all and
senseof notremainingbright,withthe cluster would take him fromthe still hearth.Until
of images about rust,burnishingand shining that time life is movement, and Ulysses'
thatrecollectthegleamingworldseen through purpose is to move until stopped. We might
the arch of experience.We have a sense of notice- but only fleetingly - that Tennyson
wastefulneglect; merelyto breatheis notto has shiftedthe yearning,desire,the 'hungry
live, to live is, surely,to 'followknowledge', heart'to thewill: ifthebodyis made weak by
even if this is compared to the pursuitof a time'and fate'(presumablyPenelopeis merely
sinkingstar.Thus Tennysonshifts hisargument aged by time?) thewillremainsstrongand the
fromone emotionalpoint to anotherwith all finalline has fourverbs to confirmthe busy,
the appearance of reasonableness : Ulysses heroic endeavour. But also, noticeably,
findshis domesticcontextdull and boring;it Ulyssesis lonely.He is not understoodby his
is inappropriateto that gloriouslyactive past savage race; he is matched by a wife who
which made him a man of action forwhom cannotunderstandhisdesireto go on roaming,
inactionis bothwastefulandwicked; therefore and though he may love Telemachus he
he mustdo what he has been destinedto do, cannot understanda man whose sphere is
whichis to findout new things: the pursuitof centredon commonduties.Ulyssesmissesnot
knowledge - which is hardly what, in retro- merely the action but the society of other
spect, he could be seen as doing on those active men, his peers, and by gatheringhis
windyTrojan plains.But what ofhis dutiesas antique marinerstogetherhe will once more
a king? findhimselfin a societythat thinkslike him,
Fortunatelythis responsibility can be shif- whose heartsare 'one equal temper'and who
ted. If Ulyssesis not at home at home thereis willnotbe indifferent to thosememoriesofthe
his son Telemachuswho is not merely'Well- pastwhichcompelan escape fromthispresent
loved of me' but also has therightqualitiesto dullness,whichinsistthatone does not givein
'subdue' patientlythis rugged people to 'the or give up, but continue:- 'to strive,to seek,
usefuland thegood'. Conveniently forUlysses to findand not to yield.'
Telemachus is 'centred in the sphere/Of It was thiswholesomeimpression offighting
common duties': his horizonsare, therefore, the good fightwhichstruckthe readersof the
fixed,and hischaracteris limitedto thosefixed 1842 volume: Tennysonhad emergedintothe
horizons by the same process which make daylightto inspirea generationwithhope and
Ulysses' horizonan arch 'wherethro' /Gleams faithin progresswhateverthe difficulties.Sir
thatuntravell'dworld' whosemarginfadesas RobertPeel, forexample,read thepoem with
one approachesit. Telemachus,moreover,is approval and arranged a State pension!
decentand will not failin the small,ordinary Hallam, in his essay of 1831, discussingthe
emotions,like tendernessto loved ones, and 'five distinctiveexcellencies' of Tennyson
ordinary respect for the gods- that is the listed,as the second,his power 'of embodying
householdgods, with a small 'g'. Such gods himselfin ideal characters,or rathermoodsof
are inappropriateto one who 'strove with character, with such extreme accuracy of
Gods' who have,bynow,gota capitalG ! Thus adjustment. . .' [quoted Ricks, p. 75] and
the divisionof labour betweenfatherand son 'Ulysses'has neverlacked praiseforitspower,

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 e 5
Tennyson: Ulysses 67
persuasiveness and moral,uplifting tone,what is not simply a modern response. Goldwin
R. H. Hutton called, in 1888, the 'friendly Smith, in an article of 1885 on 'The War
picture of the insatiable craving for new Passagesin Mauď wrote:
experience,enterprise,and adventure,when Even the Homeric Ulysses, the man of
under the controlof a luminousreason and
self-controlledwill' [The Critical Heritage purpose and action, seeking with most
, definiteaims to regain his own house and
p. 356]. That Tennysonintendedthisimpres- that of his companions,becomes a 'hungry
sion is suggestedby the omissionof the poem
'Tithonus'. The firstversion 'Tithon' was heart,' roamingaimlesslyto 'lands beyond
the sunset,' in the vain hope of being
writtenin 1833 (but notpublisheduntil i860) 'washed down by the gulf to the Happy
and showsanotherway oflookingat Hallam's
death. To say that Tennysonfaced up to it Isles,' merely to relieve his ennui,and
dragging his companionswithhim. We say
would be too positive a descriptionof his he roams aimlessly - we should rathersay,
response.In 'Tithonus'he arguesthatimmor- he intendsto roam, but stands for ever a
talityis not a blessingand whereUlysseslongs listlessand melancholyfigureon the shore.
forlifepiled on lifein grandiloquentmanner
Tithonusyearnsfordeath amidsthypnotically [TheCritical , p. 188]
Heritage
beautifulnature and decay. But is 'Ulysses5 But Tennyson'ssubjectis not the Homeric
really a fightingpoem? As with Satan's Ulysses. Homer gives no account of the last
speechesin Hell thereare doubtson the first voyageor deathofhishero thoughotherpoets
reading and these doubts grow on any say that he was killed by his son Telegonus,
second reading.Ulyssescomplainsof idleness, whose mother was the enchantressCirce.
yetbeingkingof a savage race oughtto keep Tennyson's debt, which he acknowledged,
him busy; he is contemptuousof his wifeand was to Dante, whomeetsUlyssesin Canto 26 of
yet Penelope'shistoryis alwaysat the back of The Inferno among the Counsellorsof Fraud,
our minds.Ulysseswishesto drinklifeto the remindingus thatitwas Ulysseswho suggested
lees but thelees ofwine are bestleftun-drunk. the stratagemof the Wooden Horse at Troy.
And the speakingvoice, in spite of what it Virgil compelsUlyssesto tell the storyof his
says, sounds very much like the voices in lastvoyagewhichappearstohave beenDante's
'Tithonus'and 'The Lotos Eaters': it is weary, inventionand which,althoughit actuallytook
particularlyin a line like 55 which slides place, was briefsince God's whirlwindstrikes
slowly into the 'Moans' of line 56. How the ship and sinks it. There is, therefore,
convenientit is to findone's characterabove interplaybetweenthis poem and the known
subduinga race to the usefuland the good, outcomeof the last voyagejust as Penelope's
which are hardlynegligiblequalities though history is knownand givesthepoemresonances
their achievement requires patience and beyond its intentions. Christopher Ricks
ratherunglamorousindustry;and how con- suggeststhat the recurrentargumentabout
descendingof him to recognise that Tele- how much Ulysses is admired or endorsed
machus is fit for such industry - and, by (much like Milton's Satan) may be neithera
implication, littlemore. For, in spite of that matterof ambivalence nor technicalclumsi-
phrase 'Well-loved of me' the tone is distant ness. He pointsto the awkwardpassage about
and probably dismissive. From line 52 Telemachus and suggeststhat this awkward-
onwards thereis a frequentuse of 'may': it ness may derivefromTennyson'sinabilityto
may be, it may be . . . which rathercontra- writeabout father-son relationshipswith any
dictsthenoteofstrongwillon whichthepoem conviction: the material is recalcitrant.But
ends; and strongwill itself,like restlessness, is the poem is ambivalent.Basil Willey,in More
not exclusivelya good thing.Ulyssesmay be Nineteenth CenturyStudies [1956], includes
a or
meeting challenge avoiding it, and his call Tennyson his group of 'honest Doubters'
in
to action may be a more insidiousformof and showshow an earlypoem like 'The Two
escapismthan lotos-eating:the refusalto be Voices' reveals a basic conflict between
thatdull personwho is good and useful.This science and religion,a conflictthat produces

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68 ArnoldP. Hinchliffe

the pressureswhich make this poem and a opment. [The CriticalHeritage , p. 248]. Whit-
poem like 'Ulysses' so compelling. The man praises him in a suitable metaphorof
unconscioustroublesthe consciousutterance; voyaging:
Hallam's death was the catalystforTennyson
His veryfaults,doubts,swervings, doublings
to writeabout his personaldilemma and the
upon himself,have been typicalof our age.
general problem of the time. This is not a We are like the voyagersof a ship, casting
conspiracyto deceive, rather an attemptto offfornew seas, distantshores.We would
synthesizeor make sense of the two voices in still dwell in the old suffocating and dead
theVictorianage. Tennysonlived as much as
haunts, remembering and magnifying their
possiblein solitude,a melancholyprivateman, and more than
pleasant experiencesonly,
yethe was also Poet Laureate, a public figure once impelledtojump ashorebeforeitis too
and, as Gladstone saw, too intimatelyand
late,and staywhereour fathersstayed,and
essentiallya poet of the nineteenthcenturyto live as theylived.
separate himselffromits leading character-
- the progress of science and a vast
istics It is a dilemma that seems curiously
commercial, mechanical and industrial
devel- appropriateto our times.
Further
Reading:Tennyson: TheCritical
Heritage, London,1967,editedbyJohnJump, is a handsome of
collection
contemporaryreviews andcomments aboutTennyson. Christopher , London,1972,dealswiththe
Ricks,Tennyson
oftheTennysons
'blackblood* indetailas wellas looking
at thepoetry
critically.
Unfortunately thisvolumehasno
Thisdeficiency
bibliography. isremedied inj. В. Steane,Tennyson
, London,1966,a short andreadable of
account
Guide
thepoet.ThePelican Vol6,'FromDickens
Literature
toEnglish toHardy*hasa chapter onTennyson byRobin
Mayhead andthereis a useful inBasilWilley,
chapter More Nineteenth Studies
Century , London, 1956.

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