The Long Day Wanes
Memory and Longing in Tennyson's "Ulysses"
(Full poem text here.)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson uses alliteration and anaphora in “Ulysses” to reflect the poem’s larger themes of memory and longing for great deeds and adventure. Tennyson seems keenly interested in the workings of memory and its relation to feelings of regret and longing, and so “Ulysses” becomes an exploration of these themes. These themes form the two driving forces behind Ulysses’ thought process in the poem, and this stream of consciousness is in turn communicated through his dramatic monologue. The monologue centers around an aged Ulysses and takes place long after the events of The Odyssey. Ulysses remembers the glory and excitement of the adventures he had as a younger man, leading him to long for that glory to return. He looks ahead, yearning for a second great adventure, old though he has become. Tennyson links this narrative about memory and longing for the past and its adventures to the poem’s form by using poetic devices that echo the process of recollection and desire. We see this when Tennyson uses alliteration and the repetition of entire words or phrases to mirror the repetition of an event in our mind, which is the act of remembering.
Tennyson draws a causal connection between the themes of memory and longing in “Ulysses.” It is Ulysses’ contemplation of the past that is responsible for his yearning after another journey and the adventure it would entail. Early in the poem, Ulysses says, “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” (lines 13-17). These lines reveal Ulysses’ state of mind: he is thinking back to the past, to the famous feats of his youth. He recollects all of the incredible things he has done and seen and the honor he has been shown. He remembers cities he has visited and wars he has fought, and, as a result, he is filled with longing to travel and have adventure once more. The draw to the “broad seas” and great deeds that is welling up in Ulysses can be found in lines 6 and 7 of the poem: “I cannot rest from travel; I will drink / Life to the lees.” Ulysses feels that he is not experiencing the fullness of life so long as he is confined to his home of Ithaca, and this has made him a “gray spirit yearning in desire” (line 30) as he later describes himself. The excitement and suffering and adventure of Ulysses’ previous travels remain with him and render life at home dull by comparison. Tennyson’s words in lines 51-52 seem to resonate throughout the poem, embodying Ulysses’ deepest passion, “Death closes all; but something ere the end, / Some work of noble note, may yet be done.” Ulysses desires this noble work, this great deed, above all.
Tennyson connects his exploration of Ulysses’ memory and longing for great deeds to the form of the poem as well by using alliteration and repetition. For example, Tennyson employs alliteration to good effect in line 29: “For some three suns to store and hoard myself.” The repetition of the “S” sounds is mirrored in Tennyson’s repetition of entire words and phrases at other points in the poem. He repeats the words “greatly,” “life,” “little,” “work,” “free,” and the phrase “it may be,” among others. For example, in lines 24-26 we read, “As though to breathe were life, Life piled on life / Were all too little, and of one to me / Little remains.” Tennyson uses these repeated words or phrases to reinforce the central concepts of each poem. Nothing makes a concept stand out so well as hearing it multiple times. In fact, we can even get a sense for what the poem is about just by looking at the lists of repeating words above. The keywords in “Ulysses”—“greatly,” “life,” “little,” “free,” “it may be,”—signify Ulysses’ desire for continued greatness and freedom and the possibilities he sees in future travel as well as his sense of captivity at home.
Tennyson uses repeated words to relate back to his interest in memory and longing as well. Memory is the repetition of events in our mind. An event exists in history, and then it repeats itself in our emotions and imagination when we remember it. So when Tennyson writes, “All times I have enjoyed / Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those / That loved me, and alone” (lines 7-8), he is working the concept of memory into the very fabric of the poem. The impact of the repetition of the work “greatly” relies on the use of memory—on our remembering the first “greatly”—even as it subtly evokes the idea of memory at the same time. Tennyson repeats words and phrases to create a mood of longing as well. Longing is a repeating desire that cannot be fulfilled. When someone is deeply longing for something we can easily imagine them uttering a moan, “Oh, oh, oh!” almost like a sob. This type of repetition we naturally associate with regret and longing. In this way, Tennyson’s syntax and diction reflect both memory and longing.
Throughout “Ulysses,” Tennyson blends form and content into a seamless whole. Tennyson draws a causal connection between memory and longing for great deeds, and his exploration of these themes through Ulysses’ dramatic monologue finds its counterpart in his use of repetition both with consonant sounds and entire words and phrases. This blending and harmonizing of form and content creates the power of the poem and fills it with that aura of intensity that neither content nor form alone could engender.