2.  1833-1901
 Booming economy, rapid
growth
◦ Brutal factory conditions,
filthy slums
 Despite negative aspects,
great optimism
◦ Faith in making everything
right with the world
◦ Attempts to expand
democracy, help the poor

3.  Women
◦ Allowed to attend universities
◦ Workday reduced
 Children
◦ Free grammar schools
◦ Workday reduced
 Living/Working conditions
◦ Public sanitation
◦ Regulated factories and housing
 Business
◦ Repeal of Corn Laws (high taxes on grain)
◦ Free trade

4.  1809-1892
 Most popular poet
of Victorian Era
 Influenced by
Romantic poets
 “One of the finest looking men in the world. A
great shock of rough dusty-dark hair; bright-
laughing hazel eyes…of sallow-brown
complexion, almost Indian-looking.”
 Thomas Carlyle

5.  4th of 12 children
 Educated by his father at a
young age
 Bitter, angry father  unhappy
home environment
 Cambridge University
◦ Bored, disappointed by classes
 Best friend, Arthur Henry
Hallum, died at 22 (stroke)
◦ Devastated Tennyson, inspired work Hallum

6.  Became incredibly
popular in London
 1850  Queen Victoria
appointed him poet
laureate after
Wordsworth died
 1884  made a baron,
added “Lord” to name
◦ First English author to earn
this title for his writing

7.  Speaker: the person who „says‟ the words of a
poem; not necessarily the poet
 Speaker categories:
◦ Fictional or Real
◦ Generalized (not described in specific detail) or
Specific (given a detailed identity)

8.  Tennyson shows different
experiences of time:
◦ Perpetual present (nothing
significant changes)
◦ Restless movement from
past accomplishment into
an unknown future
◦ Loss of the past

9.  Based on Homer‟s epic the Odyssey
 Story of Greek king (Ulysses) who fought in the
Trojan War for 10 years then wandered the seas
for 10 more
 Ulysses returns home to Ithaca and faces old age
 Restless- considers going on another journey

10. 1. Who is the speaker?
◦ (fictional/real, generalized/specific)
2. Lines 1-5, Ulysses says its pointless to do what?
3. L.11-12: What does Ulysses feel he is a symbol of?
4. L.19-21: (a) When is the only time the world‟s “margin
fades” and (b) what does this mean?
5. L.30-32: What does Ulysses‟ “gray spirit” desire?
6. L.43: What does Ulysses mean by “he works his work, I
mine”?
7. L.49: To whom is Ulysses speaking when he says “you
and I are old”?
8. L.52-55: What does he believe may still be done before
“the long day wanes”?
9. L.59-61: What is Ulysses‟ goal/purpose?
10. What is Ulysses‟ overall attitude towards life?