...parts of the poem in which Ulysses seems to treat his family and his people unfairly are highlighted: It little profits that an idle king, By this still...race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.67 This reading suggests that we are to join Tennyson in condemning Ulysses not only for condescending...

...suitors, then settled down in his rocky island kingdom. He hasn't even heard from Athena lately. He says: It little profits that an idle king, By this still...wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race. Ulysses is bored. He's facing death, not the glorious death of war or adventure, but the humiliating...

...ist, sondern ein Ort der Fremde und Entfremdung. Die, die er dort die Seinen nennt, kennen ihn nicht: A savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. (4-5) Im zweiten Abschnitt spricht er von seiner Unfähigkeit, vom Reisen abzulassen: „I cannot rest...

...untenable. The life to which Ulysses has made his difficult return prompts his opening observation: It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep,...