Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’: To Yield or Not to Yield?

Ulysses wants to travel the world instead of ruling Ithaca, as presented in Tenneyson's "Ulysses." Book cover illustration by Alan Lee for "The Wanderings of Odysseus" (2005) by Rosemary Sutcliffe.Public Domain

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” These simple words from “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson became one of the most famous lines in poetry, and with them the acclaimed poet assumes the rousing eloquence that Homer’s epic hero might have had.

Written in 1833, the poem presents us with a portrait of Ulysses, as called by the Romans, or as known by the Greeks, Odysseus, after the events of Homer’s “Odyssey.”