1. Reader Reaction: I wonder if anyone criticized Dante for adding to Homer’s story. I doubt it. I think they probably had other issues with his writing. ‘Ulysses’ is grand and sad. I can’t help feeling for him, if being slightly outraged at the addition to Odyssey.

2. Plot: Odysseus speaks to his people about his reasons for leaving Ithaca.He is tired of the people there and misses the ocean. He wants to know what is beyond the horizon. He is leaving his son, Telemachus, to rule the unruly nation he is king over to sail beyond the horizon.

3. Character: Odysseus – old, tired, bored, adventurous, curious, bold; Telemachus – trustworthy; Penelope – old.

4. Setting: It has been years since Ulysses has returned from his ten-year war and ten-year journey home. What was once his greatest hope has now been revealed to have been a dull place full of savages. He realizes that there is much more to explore beyond the horizon and wishes to travel west until he dies.

5. Point of View: First-person.

6. Objects/Events:

*Stanzas are arranged into two sections of two. The first and third stanzas are relatively short (though uneven); the second and fourth stanzas are relatively long (though also uneven).

*The themes of each stanzas are thus; (1) his situation (2) his reasons (3) his provisions (4) his intentions.

*Odysseus is, loosely, a symbol for age and restlessness. Oftentimes the goal to which one aspires turns out to be nothing more than normality full of stupid people. The stories our elders tell are the stories of great tragedy and difficulty. In a sense, we are addicted to sorrow.

*Several mythological ideas are referred to (all Greek): Hyades causing rain, Battle of Troy, baths, Happy Isles.

*Personification: ‘vessel puffs her sail’

*Mentions a lot of weather: rain, wind, shine, ocean-spray, etc.

*Relatively little figurative language is used.

7. Mood: It is frustrated in its despair of people and those around him. It is disappointed that his ultimate goal in life actually turned out to be bland.

8. Ideas: He is If viewed as a metaphor, the poem addresses several point of restlessness. (1) the dullness of love: with time, love becomes less wonderful. (2) the draw of the unexplored: humanity shall always want to know what is in the ‘bath.’ (3) the sorrow of lost friends: good friends die in the endeavors we have in life. Those friends cannot be replaced. (4) The draw of the afterlife: the opportunity to see the great people we once knew again. (5) the fools that surround: Most of the people in life one meets are fools and burdensome.

9. Style: The sentences are extremely long and heavily punctuated. The entire feel of the poem is that of a formal speech. There is no rhyme, no metre, no structure, so the poem should be conversational. However, it is more poetic than conversation (even a romanticized one). The poem is written as an oration would be written. To fuss with things like rhyme and metre would be to spoil the gravitas of an event.

10. Metre: Free verse. As I said before, had he messed with set feet, the gravitas would have been ruined. As it is, the poem has a very flowing rhythm – a very grand rhythm.

11. Sound: Though there is no rhyme, the visual structure as well as the hard breaks in paragraph lend to a euphonic sound that is generally used in formal speaking. This euphony further adds to the grandeur.

12. Worldview: ‘Ulysses’ is humanist. Man is all there is, and he is the measure of everything. One can only be as good as one can be within. If those men around are fools, why bother with them?