Kincaid And Ulysses Comparison
Madi Lowe
January 6,2011
Draft 3
Focusing In To live a life unfulfilled would be to live it without risks. The poems Curiosity written by Alastair Reid and Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson both deal with the desire to live life to the fullest. The meaning of both poems is similar, they both speak of how adventurers experience life. Though they have similar meaning, one has a more formal form, while the other is more free form. Although both poems encourage taking risks and having a focused life, it is present in different ways. In Ulysses, Ulysses is speaking to his men about how it is important to live life at the fullest. After returning from his journey, he must return to ruling Ithica. He finds this immensely boring and wishes that he …show more content…
In the third stanza, Ulysses is speaking to his crew. Ulysses was the only one who made it through his journey alive, so when he speaks to his crew, its only in his imagination. While giving this monologue, he is on his death bed and he needs their support in his final voyage. The death imagery in this stanza is due to Ulysses’ current state of mind. He wants to join his men and: “To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths/ Of all the western starts, until I die/ It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,/ And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.” (ll. 60-64). Even though he knows that death is an unavoidable. Death is a time to look back at life and think about what you accomplished; what mark was left. Ulysses and his crew, shove off to “seek a newer world“ (l. 57), because to him, it is through adventures and achievements that one earns in life that are remembered by after death. This is Ulysses last adventure. He knows he will not return alive, but the thought of dying does not scare him, it entices him, because he would rather die on an adventure that at his
January 6,2011
Draft 3
Focusing In To live a life unfulfilled would be to live it without risks. The poems Curiosity written by Alastair Reid and Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson both deal with the desire to live life to the fullest. The meaning of both poems is similar, they both speak of how adventurers experience life. Though they have similar meaning, one has a more formal form, while the other is more free form. Although both poems encourage taking risks and having a focused life, it is present in different ways. In Ulysses, Ulysses is speaking to his men about how it is important to live life at the fullest. After returning from his journey, he must return to ruling Ithica. He finds this immensely boring and wishes that he …show more content…
In the third stanza, Ulysses is speaking to his crew. Ulysses was the only one who made it through his journey alive, so when he speaks to his crew, its only in his imagination. While giving this monologue, he is on his death bed and he needs their support in his final voyage. The death imagery in this stanza is due to Ulysses’ current state of mind. He wants to join his men and: “To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths/ Of all the western starts, until I die/ It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,/ And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.” (ll. 60-64). Even though he knows that death is an unavoidable. Death is a time to look back at life and think about what you accomplished; what mark was left. Ulysses and his crew, shove off to “seek a newer world“ (l. 57), because to him, it is through adventures and achievements that one earns in life that are remembered by after death. This is Ulysses last adventure. He knows he will not return alive, but the thought of dying does not scare him, it entices him, because he would rather die on an adventure that at his