ULYSSES
.....A.L.Tennyson....
TEXT:
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,
'T is 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.
WORD NOTES:
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
1. The speaker of Tennyson 's poem Ulysses is?
Ulysses
2. Ulysses is based on..
Homer's Odyssesy
3. Ulysses is the king of....
Ithaca
4. In what form Ulysses is written?
Dramatic monologue
5. "Matched with an aged wife"- means....
In the company of the speaker's aged wife.
6. I mate and dole .....Means...
I administar and rule
7. "Unequal laws into savage a race"- here savage race refers to...
The people of Ithaca.
8. "I will drink life to the lees" - it means...
The speaker wants to enjoy his life fully.
9. "I will drink life to the lees" - here lees means...
Dregs
10. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"-- here scudding drifts means?
Mass of clouds driven by the wind.
11. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"--what is Hyades?
V - shaped group of seven stars.
12. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"--here the word vexed means...
Made stormy.
13. "Trough scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"-- rainy Hyades is the indication of the.....
Rain storm
14. "Much have I seen and known"- here the speaker is...
Ulysses.
15. "And drunk delight of battle with my peers"- which battle is referred to here?
Battle of Troy.
16. "Far on the ringing plains of windry Troy"- ringing plains means?
Resounding with the din of battle.
17. "Far on the ringing plains of windry Troy"- windry Troy means?
A strong wind blows in Troy
18. "Whose margin fades/ for ever and for ever when I move"-- here the thing spoken of is...
Untravelled world
19. "How dull it is to paise,to make an end,"- here speaker wants to say...
It is boring to be inactive.
20. " To rust unfurnished not to shine in use"- here the comparison is made with a..
Sword.
21. Who is Telemachus?
The son of Ulysses.
22. " To whom I leave the scepter and the isle"-here the phrase means..
Kingdom and kingship.
23. The rhyme scheme used here is..
Blank verse.
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.....A.L.Tennyson....
TEXT:
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,
'T is 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.
WORD NOTES:
- Ulysses- was the king of Ithaca in Greece. A hero of Trojan war.His story is narrated in Homer's Odyssesy.
- Hearth - fireplace
- Crags - rough and rocky land
- Mate and dole - administer and rule
- Unequal laws - unjust laws
- Savage race - uncivilized people of Ithaca
- Hoared- miserly and gather wealth
- Lees - dregs
- Scudding drifts - clouds driven by the wind
- Hyades - V shaped group of seven stars. Their rising and setting were believed to be attended with storm and rain
- Vexed - made stormy
- Dim sea- dark because the sky was overcast with clouds.
- Ringing plains - resounding with the din of battle
- To rust unburnished - lose efficiency through inactivity.
- To breath were life -here breathing is not life. Life is continue struggle.
- Life piled on life - one life is not enough .,but a series of lives..One life being added to another.
- Eternal silence - death
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
1. The speaker of Tennyson 's poem Ulysses is?
Ulysses
2. Ulysses is based on..
Homer's Odyssesy
3. Ulysses is the king of....
Ithaca
4. In what form Ulysses is written?
Dramatic monologue
5. "Matched with an aged wife"- means....
In the company of the speaker's aged wife.
6. I mate and dole .....Means...
I administar and rule
7. "Unequal laws into savage a race"- here savage race refers to...
The people of Ithaca.
8. "I will drink life to the lees" - it means...
The speaker wants to enjoy his life fully.
9. "I will drink life to the lees" - here lees means...
Dregs
10. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"-- here scudding drifts means?
Mass of clouds driven by the wind.
11. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"--what is Hyades?
V - shaped group of seven stars.
12. "Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"--here the word vexed means...
Made stormy.
13. "Trough scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / vexed the dim sea:"-- rainy Hyades is the indication of the.....
Rain storm
14. "Much have I seen and known"- here the speaker is...
Ulysses.
15. "And drunk delight of battle with my peers"- which battle is referred to here?
Battle of Troy.
16. "Far on the ringing plains of windry Troy"- ringing plains means?
Resounding with the din of battle.
17. "Far on the ringing plains of windry Troy"- windry Troy means?
A strong wind blows in Troy
18. "Whose margin fades/ for ever and for ever when I move"-- here the thing spoken of is...
Untravelled world
19. "How dull it is to paise,to make an end,"- here speaker wants to say...
It is boring to be inactive.
20. " To rust unfurnished not to shine in use"- here the comparison is made with a..
Sword.
21. Who is Telemachus?
The son of Ulysses.
22. " To whom I leave the scepter and the isle"-here the phrase means..
Kingdom and kingship.
23. The rhyme scheme used here is..
Blank verse.
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Previous Page:
Home Page:
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