Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson. || Text | Summary | Notes

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: 

• 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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The Last Ride Together by Robert Browning. || Text | Summary | Notes

THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER
                ......Robert Browning......

 TEXT:

I SAID—Then, dearest, since ’tis so,   
Since now at length my fate I know,   
Since nothing all my love avails,   
Since all, my life seem’d meant for, fails,   
  Since this was written and needs must be—            5
My whole heart rises up to bless   
Your name in pride and thankfulness!   
Take back the hope you gave,—I claim   
Only a memory of the same,   
—And this beside, if you will not blame;            10
  Your leave for one more last ride with me.   

My mistress bent that brow of hers,   
Those deep dark eyes where pride demurs   
When pity would be softening through,   
Fix’d me a breathing-while or two            15
  With life or death in the balance: right!   
The blood replenish’d me again;   
My last thought was at least not vain:   
I and my mistress, side by side   
Shall be together, breathe and ride,            20
So, one day more am I deified.   
  Who knows but the world may end to-night?   

Hush! if you saw some western cloud   
All billowy-bosom’d, over-bow’d   
By many benedictions—sun’s            25
And moon’s and evening-star’s at once—   
  And so, you, looking and loving best,   
Conscious grew, your passion drew   
Cloud, sunset, moonrise, star-shine too,   
Down on you, near and yet more near,            30
Till flesh must fade for heaven was here!—   
Thus leant she and linger’d—joy and fear!   
  Thus lay she a moment on my breast.   

Then we began to ride. My soul   
Smooth’d itself out, a long-cramp’d scroll            35
Freshening and fluttering in the wind.   
Past hopes already lay behind.   
  What need to strive with a life awry?   
Had I said that, had I done this,   
So might I gain, so might I miss.            40
Might she have loved me? just as well   
She might have hated, who can tell!   
Where had I been now if the worst befell?   
  And here we are riding, she and I.   

Fail I alone, in words and deeds?            45
Why, all men strive and who succeeds?   
We rode; it seem’d my spirit flew,   
Saw other regions, cities new,   
  As the world rush’d by on either side.   
I thought,—All labour, yet no less            50
Bear up beneath their unsuccess.   
Look at the end of work, contrast   
The petty done, the undone vast,   
This present of theirs with the hopeful past!   
  I hoped she would love me; here we ride.            55

What hand and brain went ever pair’d?   
What heart alike conceived and dared?   
What act proved all its thought had been?   
What will but felt the fleshly screen?   
  We ride and I see her bosom heave.            60
There’s many a crown for who can reach.   
Ten lines, a statesman’s life in each!   
The flag stuck on a heap of bones,   
A soldier’s doing! what atones?   
They scratch his name on the Abbey-stones.            65
  My riding is better, by their leave.   

What does it all mean, poet? Well,   
Your brains beat into rhythm, you tell   
What we felt only; you express’d   
You hold things beautiful the best,            70
  And pace them in rhyme so, side by side.   
’Tis something, nay ’tis much: but then,   
Have you yourself what’s best for men?   
Are you—poor, sick, old ere your time—   
Nearer one whit your own sublime            75
Than we who never have turn’d a rhyme?   
  Sing, riding’s a joy! For me, I ride.   

And you, great sculptor—so, you gave   
A score of years to Art, her slave,   
And that’s your Venus, whence we turn            80
To yonder girl that fords the burn!   
  You acquiesce, and shall I repine?   
What, man of music, you grown gray   
With notes and nothing else to say,   
Is this your sole praise from a friend,            85
‘Greatly his opera’s strains intend,   
Put in music we know how fashions end!’   
  I gave my youth: but we ride, in fine.   

Who knows what’s fit for us? Had fate   
Proposed bliss here should sublimate            90
My being—had I sign’d the bond—   
Still one must lead some life beyond,   
  Have a bliss to die with, dim-descried.   
This foot once planted on the goal,   
This glory-garland round my soul,            95
Could I descry such? Try and test!   
I sink back shuddering from the quest   
Earth being so good, would heaven seem best?   
  Now, heaven and she are beyond this ride.   

And yet—she has not spoke so long!            100
What if heaven be that, fair and strong   
At life’s best, with our eyes upturn’d   
Whither life’s flower is first discern’d,   
  We, fix’d so, ever should so abide?   
What if we still ride on, we two            105
With life for ever old yet new,   
Changed not in kind but in degree,   
The instant made eternity,—   
And heaven just prove that I and she   
  Ride, ride together, for ever ride?            110





WORD NOTES:





IMPORTANT QUESTION:


1. What type of poem The last ride Together is?

Dramatic monologue

2. The mood of the poet is...

Optimistic

3. "Since now at length my fate I know "- who is referred to here as I ?

The betrayed lover.

4. "...Only the memory of the same"- what memory is referred to here?

Love affairs

5. "..where pride demur "- what does mean by demur ?

 Hesitate

6. "The blood replenished me again"- what does mean by replenished?

Refilled

7. "My last thought was at least not vain"- what was the last thought.?

To have a last ride with beloved.

8. "So one day more am I deified "- who is deified?

The betrayed lover

9.    "So one day more am I deified " what is the meaning of the word deified?

Exalted to the rank of a daity.

10. What does mean by Billowy bosomed ?

Bosomed flowers fall like waves.

11. " By many benedictions"- what is meant by benedictions?

Blessing.

12. "My soul smoothed itself out"- smoothed out means?

Revealed

13. What is compared to a long cramped scroll ?

The soul of the lover.

14. "A soldier's doing! What atones ?" What is meant by atones ?

Reward

15. What does a soldier get as a reward at last ?

A flag  stuck on his grave.

16. What does a statesman get as reward ?

An inscription of ten lines on the tomb

17. What does a poet get as a reward?

Poverty , old age , sickness.

18. "Could I descry such ?" Who said this?

The lover.

19. "Could I descry such ?" What is meant by descry?

See something at a distance.

20. "I sink back shuddering from the quest"- what is meant by the shuddering?

Horrified.


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