Tennyson – Ulysses

also learned how to add subtitles with Davinci Resolve – which is not complicated but is time consuming. I’m sure there is a better way to create the subtitle file for youtube upload – e.g. there is “markup” in the subtitles which I didn’t intend.

The picture is where Tennyson lived from 1853 until his death in 1892. officially it is “Farringford House, in the village of Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight” — the house is now a “luxury hotel” – which means it isn’t really open as a “tourist destination” but if you have the resources you might be able to stay there …

Tennyson wrote “Ulysses” in his early 20’s after the death of a close friend. The “narrator” of the poem is supposed to be “old” Ulysses after his return to Ithaca – maybe 50-ish –

ANYWAY – the “Iliad” is about the end of the Trojan war – with the story centering around Achilles (who gets named dropped near the end of Tennyson’s poem).

The “Odyssey” is a “sequel” to the “Iliad” telling the story of Odysseus’ (original Greek)/Ulysses (Latin/English translation) journey home from Troy – which ends up taking 10 years (after the 10 year siege of Troy)

classical “spoiler alert” — Achilles death and Odysseus coming up with the “Trojan horse” idea allowing the Greeks inside the wall of Troy — happen “off screen” between where the Iliad ends and the Odyssey begins

Odysseus returns home alone (he was King of Ithaca when he left to fight against Troy) – and promptly kills all of the “high ranking suitors” that were trying to coerce his wife (Penelope) into marriage (you know, because Odysseus must have died – since everyone else returned from Troy 10 years ago).

some versions of Homer’s “Odyssey” have Ulysses taking care of business and then the “gods” have to intervene to establish peace – some modern scholars argue for various “alternate endings” e.g. it may have ended with the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope —

Tennyson’s Ulysses picks up the story a couple years (“three suns” might be “three years”?) after the Odyssey. With his family taken care of and his son firmly established as the next ruler, Ulysses wants to go on one last adventure.

Now, if you want to nit-pick – the “mariners” mentions were obviously NOT under Ulysses command on the return from Troy (remember, he loses everything – ship, crew, clothes – EVERYTHING – on the way home). However, that doesn’t mean that they hadn’t all fought together during the (10 year) Trojan war …

I’ll point out (again) that Tennyson was in his early 20’s when he wrote Ulysses. Tennyson wouldn’t meet Emily Sellwood until his mid 20’s (whom he would be married to until his death 42 years later) – so maybe faithful Penelope should get a better treatment than just a passing reference as an “aged wife” – but that is just me nit-picking 😉