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Question
What is Ulysses’ clarion call to his sailors? How does he inspire them?
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Solution
In the third part of the poem, Ulysses makes a clarion call to his hearty compatriots (i.e.) mariners. They have been with him both during ‘thick and thin’ or thunders or sunshine. Similar to Ulysses they possess “free hearts and free foreheads” (i.e.) their hearts and brains are unburdened by domestic cares and responsibilities. They had frolicsome time fighting along with Ulysses against great warriors and Gods in the past. Ulysses does not want to live in the memory of glory. He believes they need not waste away their precious time in nostalgic memories just recounting their escapades to the younger generation. They can really do ‘ something of noble note’ before the end. He is conscious of the impending death in old age. But he tells it is not “too late to seek a newer world”.
The many “voices of the ocean” call out to the mariners to resume the voyage. Ulysses is not content with having earned a name for himself. He has seen many countries and acquired knowledge of various cultures. Those experiences are not to be taken as accomplishments. They are just an ‘arch leading them to an “untravelled world” and constantly sailing to the ever-expanding horizon. He does not want his compatriots to miss even an hour which could provide them novel experiences in their voyage. He persuades his compatriots to gather at the port as the sails are already puffing up welcoming them all. Their life would be one of fulfillment only when they venture out into the unknown on the seas. He uses emotional bait to his mariners. He highlights the probable outcome of their voyage. They might reach the “Happy Isles” (i.e.) great paradise and meet Achilles, their war hero. No matter how much strength they have, they still have some “strength of will” left to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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| crying | |
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Introduction
The poem ‘Ulysses’ is a dramatic monologue that contains 70 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.
How would Telemachus transform the subjects?
‘He works his work, I mine’ – How is the work distinguished?
Identify the figure of speech employed in the following line.
To follow knowledge like a sinking star.
Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.
… I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and
know not me.
- What does Ulysses do?
- Did he enjoy what he was doing? Give reasons.
Read the set of line from the poem and answer the question that follow.
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
- How is every hour important to Ulysses?
- What does the term ‘Little remains’ convey?
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This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle Well-loved of me,
- Who does Ulysses entrust his kingdom to, in his absence?
- Bring out the significance of the ‘sceptre’.
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Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
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To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Transferred Epithet- It is a figure of speech in which an epithet grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or a thing, it is actually meant to describe.
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Tell him to be a fool ever so often
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