Is ‘Ulysses’ an optimistic poem?

1. Is ‘Ulysses’ an optimistic poem? A01, A03, A04

2. Optimism • “to anticipate the best possible outcome” • “expecting the best in all possible ways” • “feeling that all is going to turn out well” • “An outlook on life such that one maintains a view of the world as a positive place”

3. Optimistic • ‘Happy Isles’ – Heaven, a life after death for all, something good will happen at the end. • ‘Utmost bound of human thought’ – Imaginative, always something more to be learnt. • ‘I am part of all that I have met’ – Learn something from everybody, always moving forward

4. Optimistic • ‘free hearts, free foreheads – you and I are old’ …‘some work of noble note, may yet be done’ – this shows that even though they are old there is still hope for the future.

5. Pessimistic • ‘to follow knowledge like a sinking star’ – never going to reach it, always too far away.

6. Different interpretations • ‘life piled on life’ – This could show that life is dull/stressful but could also show the continuous growth of it. • ‘the thunder and the sunshine’ – these are both different views to show the weather (pathetic fallacy), two extremes. • ‘from the eternal silence something more’ – something else to come from death, even though it seems never ending.

7. A04 • ‘And drunk delight of battle’ – The British Empire and the way it conquered new lands. Optimistic because of hope, fresh start, but pessimistic because of the violence. • ‘Death closes all’ – Hallam’s death affected Tennyson profoundly. Seems pessimistic because there is nothing after death, but optimistic about seeing him again. Also clashes with what previously said.

8. Conclusion • Both pessimistic and optimistic. • Show that you have thought about different interpretations, give own view.