Lord Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’: rhyme and meter
“Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Lord Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’: rhyme and meter
Nefertari Vázquez Gómez
Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” is a dramatic monologue in which the persona seems to be Ulysses, the main character in Homer’s Odyssey, since “The Odyssey”, seems to be also the inspiration for this poem. The last two lines (lines 69-70) of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” produce a dramatic effect by being placed at the end of the poem. This dramatic effect is achieved by using an anaphora that involves infinitive forms of the verbs and the use of comas. And the use of the anaphora helps resembling an epic poem.
If we agree that the persona in the poem is Ulysses, then we may think of the Odyssey directly or indirectly. The Odyssey is an epic poem. An epic poem is an extensive poem that narrates the feats of a hero. Lord Tennyson’s poem achieves to emphasize both the hero and his feats by using lists and the anaphora in the infinitive forms along the poem.
The Odyssey is nowadays also linked to the idea of a long and/or difficult journey. In the same way the stress achieved by placing the coma after the word “greatly” (line 8) manages to make the reader feel this dramatic of epic feeling of adventure and greatness.
The poem seems to be written in iambic pentameter, but as it has been explained the punctuation contributes to break with that feet. The importance of the last two lines is that in that case, since infinitive verbs are formed by two syllables: to and the main verb, in this case: strive, seek, find, yield and the stressed is places in the main verb (bare infinitive), and by means of the listing comas they built an iambic pentameter. These infinitive forms once again refer to the idea of telling a sort of main actions in what an epic poem would recall the story of the hero. It is important to find an iambic pentameter at the end of the poem because it provides contrast. With the use of the anaphora in the infinitive forms the poetic voice; since the reader finds a pattern of stressed and unstressed fords, each infinitive creates the expectation of another.
To sum up, the resolution provided by each infinitive is stronger since it resembles somehow to the march of an army or a group of, in this case mariners walking towards the adventure. Lines 69-70 contrast since they seem organized and separated from the relative disorder of the blank verse since they rhyme. The use of comas gives the reader the idea of a list, the idea of continuity. The succession of infinitives helps reinforce the idea of a never-ending journey.
Bibliography
Herrnstein Smith, Barbara. Closure A Study if How Poems End. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1968. Printed.
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