Throughout this excellent and memorable poem, the key
focus is on the age of Ulysses, but at the same time his uncompromising desire to carry
on living his life to the full and not to allow himself to stagnate and just sit there,
awaiting death. Note how this wanderlust and desire for adventure is captured towards
the end of the poem:
'Tis not too late to seek a newer
world.
Push off, and sitting well in order
smite
The sounding furrows; for my pupose
holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the
baths
Of all the western stars, until I
die.
Ulysses is not a
character that will let death take him without a fight. He expresses an inexorable
determination to extract every ounce of pleasure, adventure and enjoyment of life and
will not allow himself to meekly and submissively wait for death to take him. Another
moving moment in the poem comes right at the end:
We are not now that strength which in old
days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we
are,--
One equal temper of heroic
hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in
will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to
yield.
Although time will
obviously take our strength away from us, we must remain true to who we are as
individuals and never stop seeking knowledge and adventures. Although our physical
strength will decline and our life will fade away, our will to live never weakens. A
great reminder for those of us who are not as young as we used to
be!
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